Petitioning the King: The Case of Provincial Printers in Eighteenth-Century France |
| |
Authors: | Hans V Hansen Jane McLeod |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Philosophy, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4, Canada;(2) History Department, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada |
| |
Abstract: | This essay studies an argumentative practice in eighteenth-century France by exploring the persuasiveness of some petitions
to obtain printer licences. Those who wanted to enter the printing business in eighteenth-century France had to obtain licences
from the King to do so. The French government had established limits to the number of printers it would permit to operate
in the realm; hence, there was competition for any vacancy that became open. Thus, the context is that of trained printers
in provincial towns, most of them with their own printing equipment, applying to the government in Paris for the highly valued
licences to run printing businesses. We examine a small number of the original petitions and give an account of their persuasive
capacity by (a) noticing the narrative character of the letters and (b) distinguishing between propositional and affective
attitudes. Our view is that a reconstruction of the petitions as reasonable persuasive discourse is possible when it is noticed
how the two kinds of attitudes can be combined to promote the same end. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|