The New Rhetoric

A sure way of setting value on a thing is to put it forward as something difficult or rare.

Even the multitude appreciates that which stands out, that which is rare and difficult to attain.

High estimation of the unique is the basis of Gracian's maxims for courtiers who should appear unfathomable and mysterious.

The value of what is unique can be expressed by opposing it to the usual, the ordinary, the vulgar.

The unique is original, stands out from other things and for this reason it is remarkable and pleasing.

Quintilian advised orators not to charge since most things can seem without importance by the very fact that a price is set upon them.

Rebel against the fungible and mechanical, against that which can be universalized.

To one person a certain animal is just one specimen of a species; to another the same animal is a unique being.

The value of an encounter with another originates in the fact that the meeting is "unique of its kind" (Marcel).

To consider people as interchangeable, to fail to see what makes the particular quality of their personality, is to lower them.

Preference granted to the probable over the improbable, or to the easy over the difficult, are both arguments relating to quantity.

If everyone were just there could be no use for courage, whereas all might be courageous, and still justice would be of no use.

An argument from quantity, the superiority of that which is accepted by the greater number, forms the basis of democracy and common sense.

The general validity of something good can also be defined as something whose use cannot be made superfluous by any other good thing.

Rousseau is fond of this kind of reasoning.

That which is more desirable is that which is more useful at every season; e.g., justice rather than courage: for justice is always useful.

A quantitative argument of durability justifies value attached to truth as that which is eternal in contrast to opinions that are unstable.

Even when Plato contrasts truth with opinion it is by means of an argument of quantity, for he holds it to be something commanding of all.

"The whole is *better* than a part" seems to be a translation of preference taken from the axiom "the whole is greater than a part."

Where books do not reach, the newspaper enters. Where the newspaper does not reach, the pamphlet circulates.