Books by David L. Marshall
Vico and the Transformation of Rhetoric in Early Modern Europe
Famed as the most original thinker in the Italian philosophical tradition, Giambattista Vico (166... more Famed as the most original thinker in the Italian philosophical tradition, Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) has been the object of much scholarly attention but little consensus. In this new interpretation, which deals with the entirety of Vico’s oeuvre, David L. Marshall situates Vico in the political context of early modern Naples and makes an original argument for his significance as a theorist who adapted the discipline of rhetoric to modern conditions. Marshall presents Vico’s work as the overcoming of a contradiction. On the one hand, as a Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Naples, Vico had a deep investment in the explanatory power of classical rhetorical thought, especially that of Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. On the other hand, as a historian of the failure of Naples as a self-determining political community, he had no illusions about the ease with which democratic and republican systems of government could be established in the non-classical world. Yet, as Marshall demonstrates, by jettisoning the assumption that rhetoric only illuminates direct, face-to-face interactions between orator and auditor, Vico reinvented rhetoric for a modern world in which the Greek polis and the Roman res publica are no longer taken to be paradigmatic for political thought.
Reviews
Marshall’s book on Vico is very original. Almost every master concept of Vico’s thought is visited and interpreted in a personal way: the verum-factum principle, Providence’s meaning, ingegno, the art of etymology, “degnità” or axioms, “poetic wisdom,” “the true Homer.” Particularly interesting are the parts on the relation between orator and audience, the discovery of implicit parallels between ancient Rome and eighteenth-century Naples, and the role of the piazza. Very impressive is Marshall’s thesis that Vico theorized the transposition of topics to experimental natural philosophy. Usually Vichian scholars have always denied that, according to Vico, man can be said to know nature. On this account, however, Vico’s verum-factum principle is no longer incapable of being applied to the study of physical phenomena. These audacious perspectives deserve great attention.
Andrea Battistini
University of Bologna
In his landmark book Vico and the Transformation of Rhetoric in Early Modern Europe, David Marshall demonstrates that Vico is once again pivotal in a modern age broadly conceived, where sober sciences newly engage the irrationalisms of emotion, language, and human history. We can now celebrate the first major, English-language monograph on Vico in over a decade at the same time that we enjoy expert guidance through a range of concerns that traverse Vico’s work; Marshall’s book serves as an excellent primer on the interlocking fields of modern epistemology after Descartes, the prehistory of Peircean pragmatism, early modern European intellectual history across four literatures (English, German, French, and Italian), and the history of rhetoric, which serves as a key to the rest. This is a deeply responsible book that moves chronologically through Vico’s entire oeuvre—including some notable rediscoveries in the archives and beyond—at the same time that it honors the weirdness that makes Vico indispensable.
Daniel M. Gross
University of California, Irvine
This book is one of a kind. That Vico was a professor of rhetoric, wrote a textbook on rhetoric, and taught rhetoric throughout his long career is frequently forgotten as a key to understanding his work. While several authors have given significant attention to the rhetorical basis of Vico’s thought, none has placed Vico at the center of the development of rhetoric in the modern period, as Marshall’s study does. The reader of this work gains a full, original, and rewarding account of Vico’s place in intellectual history not to be found elsewhere, and done in a manner that is a pleasure to read.
Donald Phillip Verene
Charles Howard Candler Professor of Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy
Director, Institute of Vico Studies
Emory University
Papers by David L. Marshall
The Intrication of Political and Rhetorical Inquiry in Walter Benjamin
Scholars have largely ignored Walter Benjamin’s assertion that his work was a continuation of ini... more Scholars have largely ignored Walter Benjamin’s assertion that his work was a continuation of initiatives begun by Giambattista Vico and Carl Gustav Jochmann. But Benjamin’s assertion is important. It situates his work in a tradition of rhetorical inquiry. In turn, rhetorical inquiry ought to be understood as a form of political thought. This article traces the intrication and development of Benjamin’s rhetorical and political interests from his early work on Trauerspiel through a sequence of texts written before and after the fall of the Weimar Republic in 1933, up to and including the various redactions of the Kunstwerk essay.
The Implications of Robert Brandom's Inferentialism for Intellectual History
Quentin Skinner’s appropriation of speech act theory for intellectual history has been extremely ... more Quentin Skinner’s appropriation of speech act theory for intellectual history has been extremely influential. Even as the model continues to be important for historians, however, philosophers now regard the original speech act theory paradigm as dated. Are there more recent initiatives that might reignite theoretical work in this area? This article argues that the inferentialism of Robert Brandom is one of the most interesting contemporary philosophical projects with historical implications. It shows how Brandom’s work emerged out of the broad shift in the philosophy of language from semantics to pragmatics that also informed speech act theory. The article then goes on to unpack the rich implications of Brandom’s inferentialism for the theory and practice of intellectual history. It contends that inferentialism clarifies, legitimizes, and informs intellectual historical practice. And it concludes with a consideration of the challenges faced by inferentialist intellectual history, together with an argument for the broader implications of Brandom’s work.
The Current State of Vico Scholarship
Reviewing Daniel Strassberg, "Das Poietische Subjekt: Giambattista Vicos Wissenschaft vom Singulä... more Reviewing Daniel Strassberg, "Das Poietische Subjekt: Giambattista Vicos Wissenschaft vom Singulären" (Munich: Fink 2007), Andrea Battistini, ed., "Giambattista Vico e l'Enciclopedia dei Saperi" (Lecce: Pensa Multimedia, 2007), Sabine Marienberg, "Zeichenhandeln: Sprachdenken bei Giambattista Vico und Johann Georg Hamann" (Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 2006), Nicola Badaloni, "Laici Credenti all'Alba del Moderno: La Linea Herbert-Vico" (Florence: Le Monnier Università, 2005), Jacques Chabot, "Giambattista Vico: La Raison du Mythe" (Aix-en-Provence: Edisud, 2005), Olivier Remaud, "Les Archives de l'Humanité: Essai sur la Philosophie de Vico" (Paris: Seuil, 2004), Giambattista Vico, "Synopsis of Universal Law," Donald Phillip Verene (trans.), "New Vico Studies," 21 (2003): 1-22, Giambattista Vico, "On the One Principle and One End of Universal Law,' John D. Schaeffer (trans.), "New Vico Studies," 21 (2003): 23-274, Giambattista Vico, "On the Constancy of the Jurisprudent," John D. Schaeffer (trans.), "New Vico Studies," 23 (2005): 1-308, Giambattista Vico, "Dissertations," John D. Schaeffer (trans.), "New Vico Studies," 24 (2006): 1-80.
Reviewing Josef Kopperschmidt (ed.), Heidegger über Rhetorik (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 2009), Anthon... more Reviewing Josef Kopperschmidt (ed.), Heidegger über Rhetorik (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 2009), Anthony McElligott (ed.), Weimar Germany (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), Joachim Radkau, Max Weber: A Biography, trans. Patrick Camiller (Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2009), Nancy S. Struever, Rhetoric, Modality, Modernity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), Andreas Kalyvas, Democracy and the Politics of the Extraordinary: Max Weber, Carl Schmitt, and Hannah Arendt (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), Stephan Kampowski, Arendt, Augustine, and the New Beginning: The Action Theory and Moral Thought of Hannah Arendt in the Light of Her Dissertation on Augustine (Grand Rapids, MI, Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans, 2008), Edward Skidelsky, Ernst Cassirer: The Last Philosopher of Culture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), A. Dirk Moses, German Intellectuals and the Nazi Past (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), and Philippe-Alain Michaud, Aby Warburg and the Image in Motion, trans. Sophie Hawkes (New York: Zone, 2004).
The Origin and Character of Hannah Arendt's Theory of Judgment
Hannah Arendt’s theory of judgment has been the object of considerable interest in the last three... more Hannah Arendt’s theory of judgment has been the object of considerable interest in the last three decades. Political theorists in particular have hoped to find in her theory of judgment a viable account of how diverse modern societies can sustain a commitment to dialogue in the absence of shared basic principles. A number of scholars, however, have critiqued Arendt’s account of judgment in various ways. This article examines criticisms from Richard Bernstein, Ronald Beiner, George Kateb, Jürgen Habermas, and Linda Zerilli. On the basis of early sources from Arendt’s manuscripts and Denktagebuch that have not been used in these debates, this article contends that Arendt’s position on judgment can be defended against these critics and that her account warrants further exploration.
The Polis and its Analogues in the Thought of Hannah Arendt
Criticized as a nostalgic anachronism by those who oppose her version of political theory and lau... more Criticized as a nostalgic anachronism by those who oppose her version of political theory and lauded as symbol of direct democratic participation by those who favor it, the Athenian polis features prominently in Hannah Arendt's account of politics. This essay traces the origin and development of Arendt's conception of the polis as a space of appearance from the early 1950s onward. It makes particular use of the Denktagebuch, Arendt's intellectual diary, in order to shed new light on the historicity of one of her central concepts. The article contends that both critics and partisans of Arendt's use of the polis have made the same mistake: they have presumed that the polis represents a space of face-to-face immediacy. In fact, Arendt compared the polis to a series of analogues, many of which are not centered on direct exchanges between political actors and spectators. As a result, Arendt's early work on the polis turns out to anticipate many of the concerns of her later work on judgment, and her theory of the polis becomes a theory of topics.
Recent Research on Roman Rhetoric
Reviewing Robert Morstein-Marx, "Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Roman Republic" (Ca... more Reviewing Robert Morstein-Marx, "Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Roman Republic" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), Joy Connolly, "The State of Speech: Rhetoric and Political Thought in Ancient Rome" (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), William J. Dominik and Jon Hall (eds.), "A Companion to Roman Rhetoric" (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007).
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Books by David L. Marshall
Reviews
Marshall’s book on Vico is very original. Almost every master concept of Vico’s thought is visited and interpreted in a personal way: the verum-factum principle, Providence’s meaning, ingegno, the art of etymology, “degnità” or axioms, “poetic wisdom,” “the true Homer.” Particularly interesting are the parts on the relation between orator and audience, the discovery of implicit parallels between ancient Rome and eighteenth-century Naples, and the role of the piazza. Very impressive is Marshall’s thesis that Vico theorized the transposition of topics to experimental natural philosophy. Usually Vichian scholars have always denied that, according to Vico, man can be said to know nature. On this account, however, Vico’s verum-factum principle is no longer incapable of being applied to the study of physical phenomena. These audacious perspectives deserve great attention.
Andrea Battistini
University of Bologna
In his landmark book Vico and the Transformation of Rhetoric in Early Modern Europe, David Marshall demonstrates that Vico is once again pivotal in a modern age broadly conceived, where sober sciences newly engage the irrationalisms of emotion, language, and human history. We can now celebrate the first major, English-language monograph on Vico in over a decade at the same time that we enjoy expert guidance through a range of concerns that traverse Vico’s work; Marshall’s book serves as an excellent primer on the interlocking fields of modern epistemology after Descartes, the prehistory of Peircean pragmatism, early modern European intellectual history across four literatures (English, German, French, and Italian), and the history of rhetoric, which serves as a key to the rest. This is a deeply responsible book that moves chronologically through Vico’s entire oeuvre—including some notable rediscoveries in the archives and beyond—at the same time that it honors the weirdness that makes Vico indispensable.
Daniel M. Gross
University of California, Irvine
This book is one of a kind. That Vico was a professor of rhetoric, wrote a textbook on rhetoric, and taught rhetoric throughout his long career is frequently forgotten as a key to understanding his work. While several authors have given significant attention to the rhetorical basis of Vico’s thought, none has placed Vico at the center of the development of rhetoric in the modern period, as Marshall’s study does. The reader of this work gains a full, original, and rewarding account of Vico’s place in intellectual history not to be found elsewhere, and done in a manner that is a pleasure to read.
Donald Phillip Verene
Charles Howard Candler Professor of Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy
Director, Institute of Vico Studies
Emory University
Papers by David L. Marshall