The Trivium (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric)

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This Sunday: The Trivium (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric)
and the medium of Language (Oral, Written, Digital)

Description:

This week we will examine the Trivium—grammar, logic, and rhetoric—and how it encodes a philosophy of language that shapes thought itself.
We will also consider the medium or technologies of language—oral, written, and digital—and how each adds a distinctive depth to the notion of thought. When taken together, the Trivium and these three “technologies” of language reveal transformative correspondences:

• Grammar ↔ Oral language → voice, presence
• Logic ↔ Written language → inscription, order
• Rhetoric ↔ Digital language → performative, persuasive

Grammar and orality, taken together, present the world (or reality) as the spoken word, characterized by presence, myth, and memory. Oral culture depends on repetition and communal participation; meaning is performed, not stored. Grammar, in this sense, becomes the art of relation—the way words live through the voice rather than as rules on a page.

Martin Heidegger, in his 1959 work On the Way to Language, described language as “the house of Being”; the spoken word discloses a world before it is ever reduced to text.

Logic and writing, in turn, present the word as a system of inscription, rationalization, codification, and abstraction. Writing separates the word from the speaker, creating both distance and objectivity—the preconditions of logic. Authority shifts from the speaker’s presence to the text itself; the written word becomes the guarantor of truth.

Michel Foucault, in his 1969 work, The Archaeology of Knowledge, distilled discourse as a system—writing as a mode of power and a site of knowledge formation.

Finally, rhetoric and digitality, taken together, present the return of the performative word. In the digital age, language is increasingly networked, algorithmically mediated, and entangled with image and text—a new form of orality. Digital media collapse the distinctions between writing and speech, creating a paradoxical simultaneity of immediacy and mediation. The rhetorical dimension reemerges through persuasion, identity performance, and narrative play.

Katherine Hayles, in her 1999 work How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics, explores how digital media reorganize the processes of thinking, writing, reading, and, ultimately, language itself.

We hope you'll join Plato’s Cave and the Orlando Stoics for this thought-provoking discussion. (Check back for possible updates.)

Scott, I think we may push for Idealism as a several part series in the near future…Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Shelling, etc…but for next week here’s what I came up with for next Sunday given what was mentioned after you and Steve had to drop off…

All,
Please give suggestions for any changes/adds/deletions…my first pass attempt for next week:

DATE: Sunday 11/02/25

TITLE: The Trivium (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric) and the medium of Language (Oral, Written, Digital)

DESCRIPTION
This week we will examine the Trivium—grammar, logic, and rhetoric—and how it encodes a philosophy of language that shapes thought itself. We will also consider the medium or technologies of language—oral, written, and digital—and how each adds a distinctive depth to the notion of thought. When taken together, the Trivium and these three “technologies” of language reveal transformative correspondences:
Grammar ↔ Oral language → voice, presence
Logic ↔ Written language → inscription, order
Rhetoric ↔ Digital language → performative, persuasive
Grammar and orality, taken together, present the world (or reality) as the spoken word, characterized by presence, myth, and memory. Oral culture depends on repetition and communal participation; meaning is performed, not stored. Grammar, in this sense, becomes the art of relation—the way words live through the voice rather than as rules on a page. Martin Heidegger, in his 1959 work On the Way to Language, described language as “the house of Being”; the spoken word discloses a world before it is ever reduced to text.
Logic and writing, in turn, present the word as a system of inscription, rationalization, codification, and abstraction. Writing separates the word from the speaker, creating both distance and objectivity—the preconditions of logic. Authority shifts from the speaker’s presence to the text itself; the written word becomes the guarantor of truth. Michel Foucault, in his 1969 work,The Archaeology of Knowledge, distilled discourse as a system—writing as a mode of power and a site of knowledge formation.
Finally, rhetoric and digitality, taken together, present the return of the performative word. In the digital age, language is increasingly networked, algorithmically mediated, and entangled with image and text—a new form of orality. Digital media collapse the distinctions between writing and speech, creating a paradoxical simultaneity of immediacy and mediation. The rhetorical dimension reemerges through persuasion, identity performance, and narrative play. Katherine Hayles, in her 1999 work How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics, explores how digital media reorganize the processes of thinking, writing, reading, and, ultimately, language itself.
We hope you'll join Plato’s Cave and the Orlando Stoics for this thought-provoking discussion.
READING MATERIALS

The Trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivium

Martin Heidegger - On the Way to Language
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger/language.html

Michel Foucault - The Archaeology of Knowledge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Archaeology_of_Knowledge

Katherine Hayles - How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_We_Became_Posthuman

SIGN UP TO INTRODUCE A FUTURE TOPIC OR VOLUNTEER FOR THE FORUM DIALOG PANEL:
Members are invited to submit a relevant forum topic to Organizer (Steve) that you would like to introduce for a future discussion. The introduction should be about 15-20 minutes. You may also volunteer to be a member of the Forum Dialog Panel. Preference is given if you participated in the topic selection (usually following the previous Sunday's forum), and you contributed content ideas, and you suggested reading material.

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Orlando Stoics are Welcome
https://www.meetup.com/orlando-stoics/

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