Ethos is all
Reader comment on: Freedom For Religion

Submitted by George T. Karnezis, Mar 4, 2008 14:24

Father Neuhaus's critique suggests again that a key, perhaps THE key of any argument is its ethos dimension, i.e. the character of the arguer. While not attacking Nussbaum directly, there are all sorts of hints from Neuhaus (see first sentence of last pargraph) that Nietzsche's observation that in philosophy the one element that may be most persuasive in a philosophy is the temperament of the philosopher. Just how the ethos is determined, and whether its presence is to be read out of rather than into the proponent's language, is a fascinating question worthy of deep rhetorical study which these days is taught less and less to our students.

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