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Herbert Spencer and the Rhetoricians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

George B. Denton
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Extract

Whenever Herbert Spencer mentioned the origin of his works, he always insisted upon the freedom of his thought from the influence of others. This claim, though attacked in the case of several of his writings, has remained unquestioned as regards The Philosophy of Style. Indeed, so unusual has this essay appeared to all readers that, with the recognition that it possesses much originality, has gone, apparently, the conviction that it was made by Spencer from whole cloth. Thus much Spencer himself did not claim; yet perhaps even Spencer—always a little blind to the influences upon his work—would not have recognized the extent of his indebtedness.

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Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , 1919, pp. 89 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1919

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References

1 Paragraph 2.

2 The psychological sources of Spencer's essay are the subject of another study by the writer.

3 The section heads appeared for the first time when the essay was republished in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative, 1858. New paragraphs were interpolated, and some changes in the division of paragraphs were made. The paragraph numbering used here corresponds to the paragraphing in Westminster Review.

4 The references are to the following editions: Kaimes's Elements of Criticism, edited by Abraham Mills (New York, Mason Brothers, 1858); Campbell's The Philosophy of Rhetoric, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, Archbald Constable & Co. and John Fairbairn; London, T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1816); Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, 3 vols., 12th edition (London, T. Cadell and W. Davies; Edinburgh, W. Creech, 1812); Whately's Elements of Rhetoric (New York, Sheldon & Co.).

5 Introduction, Sec. 2, pp. 23–24.

6 Bk. ii, ch. vi, sec. i, pt. ii, vol. ii, pp. 34–36.

7 For a discussion of the widest significance of Spencer's principle, see the Introduction of ‘The Philosophy of Style’ together with ‘An Essay on Style,‘ by T. H. Wright, edited by Fred N. Scott (Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1892).

8 Pt. iii, ch. i, sec. 2, pp. 303–304.

9 Bk. iii, ch. ii, sec. i, vol. ii, p. 256.

10 Bk. iii, ch. ii, sec. ii, pt. i, vol. ii, p. 267.

11 Bk. iii, ch. iv, sec. iii, vol. ii, p. 391.

12 Bk. iii, ch. iv, sec. i, vol. ii, p. 360.

13 Lect. vi, vol. i, p. 119.

14 Pt. iii, ch. ii, sec. 5, p. 339.

15 See Blair, Lect. vi, vol. i, p. 117.

16 Lect. xiii, vol. i, p. 314; see also Kaimes, ch. xviii, sec. 3, p. 283.

17 Bk. iii, ch. i, sec. 1, vol. ii, p. 165.

18 Bk. iii, ch. ii, sec. 1, vol. ii, p. 168.

19 Bk. ii, ch. vii, sec. 1, vol. ii, pp. 105–124.

20 Bk. iii, ch. iii, sec. 2, vol. ii, p. 300.

21 Bk. iii, ch. iii, sec. 2, vol. ii, pp. 299–300.

22 Bk. iii, ch. iii, sec. 2, vol. ii, p. 305.

23 Bk. iii, ch. iii, sec. 2, vol. ii, p. 308.

24 Bk. iii, ch. iii, sec. 2, vol. ii, p. 312.

25 Bk. iii, ch. iii, sec. 3, vol. ii, p. 350.

26 Ch. xviii, sec. 2, p. 279. See also p. 281.

27 Ch. xviii, sec. 2, p. 269.

28 Bk. iii, ch. iii, sec. 1, vol. ii, p. 294; ibid., sec. 2, vol. ii, pp. 303–304.

29 Bk. iii, ch. iii, sec. 3, pt. ii, vol. ii, p. 350.

30 Bk. iii, ch. v, sec. 2, vol. ii, p. 400–401.

31 Ch. xviii, sec. 2, p. 268.

32 Pt. iii, ch. i, sec. 3, p. 306.

33 Ch. xviii, sec. 2, p. 280.

34 Lect. vii, vol. i, pp. 135–136.

35 Pt. v, ch. iv, sec. 499.

36 Lect. xiv, vol. i, pp. 333–334.

37 Bk. iii, ch. i, sec. 2, pt. ii, vol. ii, pp. 195–196.

38 Lect. xiv, vol. i, p. 340.

39 Lect. xv, vol. i, p. 344.

40 Bk. iii, ch. ii, sec. 1, vol. ii, p. 263; see also p. 258.

41 Pt. iii, ch. ii, sec. 3, pp. 325–327.

42 Ch. iv, p. 120.

43 Lect. iv, vol. i, p. 74.

44 Pt. iii, ch. ii, sec. 9, p. 356.

45 Lect. vii, vol. i, p. 135 ff.

46 Lect. vi, vol. i, pp. 128–132.

47 Lect. vi, vol. i, p. 122.

48 Lect. vi, vol. i, p. 130.

49 Lect. xxxviii, vol. iii, p. 82.

50 Pt. iii, ch. iii, sec. 4, p. 388.

51 Lect. vi, vol. i, p. 123.

52 Pt. ii, ch. ii, sec. 12, p. 366.

53 David Duncan, Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer (New York, Appleton, 1908, 2 vols.), p. 147. An extract from a letter by Spencer, disclaiming, in general, the influence of others upon his work.