George Campbell

1719-1796 · Scottish · Philosophy of Rhetoric, Faculty Psychology, Philosophy of Language, Christian Evidences

The word eloquence, in its greatest latitude, denotes that art or talent by which the discourse is adapted to its end.

George Campbell was Principal of Marischal College in Aberdeen and a founding member of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society — the "Wise Club" — which met to examine David Hume's philosophy at close range. His two books both come out of that engagement: a reply to Hume on miracles, and a rhetoric built on the new science of the mind.

Topics George Campbell addresses

• the four ends of discourse
• the understanding
• the imagination
• the passions
• the will
• eloquence as adaptation to its end
• vivacity
• moral evidence
• intuitive evidence
• testimony as an original principle
• experience, analogy and chance
• the argument from miracles
• the reply to Hume
• reputable use
• national use
• present use
• the canons of verbal criticism
• grammatical purity
• perspicuity
• the connexion of argument and passion
• sympathy in the hearer
• the association of ideas
• the principles of translation
• biblical interpretation

Questions to put to George Campbell

The Ends of Discourse and the Faculties

• What do you mean when you say eloquence is discourse adapted to its end?
• Why do you divide discourse into four ends rather than treating persuasion as the single goal?
• How does addressing the understanding differ from addressing the will?
• Can a piece of discourse serve more than one end at once?
• Why does persuasion require both argument and passion together?

Evidence, Testimony and Belief

• What's the difference between intuitive evidence and deductive evidence?
• Why do you think testimony is an original principle of belief rather than something we learn from experience?
• How do children's beliefs show that testimony doesn't come from experience?
• What are the different kinds of moral evidence and how do they work?
• How should we weigh testimony against experience when they conflict?

Hume on Miracles

• What's wrong with Hume's argument that we should never believe miracle reports?
• Does Hume's rule against miracles prove too much by ruling out any sufficiently unusual event?
• How would you respond to someone who says extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence?
• What would it take for testimony to outweigh our experience that certain events don't happen?
• Why did you write a whole book answering Hume's chapter on miracles?

Usage and the Standard of Correctness

• Why do you say use is the sole arbiter of what's correct in language?
• What do you mean by reputable, national and present use?
• Can logic or etymology ever override established usage?
• How should we decide between competing usages when good writers disagree?
• Why isn't it enough to follow the rules the grammarians lay down?

Translation and the Preacher's Office

• What does faithful translation require — rendering the words or rendering the sense?
• Why did you produce your own translation of the four Gospels?
• How should a preacher handle a text when speaking to the congregation before him?
• What's the difference between explaining what a text meant and making it mean something to your hearers?
• Does the preacher's authority come from the text itself or from how he delivers it?

Converse with George Campbell on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in George Campbell's own writing, cited to the page.