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If Descartes’ main aspirations are directed towards a “first truth,” it follows necessarily that the sphere of pure possibilities, and with it the sphere of “probability,” is excluded from philosophy. Thus Descartes ignores, for example, both the art of rhetoric and history, as fields in which “the probable,” rather than the truth prevails.

— Ernesto Grassi Rhetoric as Philosophy (1980)

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More quotes by Ernesto Grassi

The art of eloquence belongs to the realm of probability because it constantly directs its glance at the specific, variable psychic state of the audience.

Rhetoric as Philosophy (1980)

Vico claims that the aim of philosophy is the problem of "finding," and he identifies the theory of "finding" with "topical philosophy.” …

Rhetoric as Philosophy (1980)

In Quintilian’s expositions there appears a note of melancholy when he discovers that toward the decline of life, the ratio sneaks in gradually, choking up insight into the original.

Rhetoric as Philosophy (1980)

Thus the true philosophy is rhetoric, and the true rhetoric is philosophy, a philosophy which does not need an “external” rhetoric to convince, and a rhetoric that does not need an “external” content of verity.

Rhetoric as Philosophy (1980)

The true philosophy is rhetoric, and the true rhetoric is philosophy, a philosophy which does not need an “external” rhetoric to convince, and a rhetoric that does not need an “external” content of verity.

Rhetoric as Philosophy (1980)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ernesto Grassi (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.