Inspirational Quotes by Richard M. Weaver (American Rhetorician)

Richard M. Weaver (1910–63,) fully Richard Malcolm Weaver, Jr., was an influential American scholar and conservative philosopher. He is primarily known as an intellectual historian, political philosopher, mid-20th-century conservative, and authority on modern rhetoric.

Born in Asheville, North Carolina, Weaver obtained his A.B. in English from the University of Kentucky in 1932. He completed a master’s degree at Vanderbilt University in 1934 and a PhD from Louisiana State University in 1943. Weaver dedicated his academic career as a professor of English composition at the University of Chicago to deeply analyze the principles that mold societies and individuals. As a Platonist philosopher and cultural critic, he staunchly advocated for preserving traditional values. He stressed the significance of language and rhetoric in shaping public discourse.

Weaver’s well-known work, Ideas Have Consequences (1948,) strongly criticized the erosion of moral and cultural foundations of modernity. Other notable works are The Ethics of Rhetoric (1953,) Visions of Order: The Cultural Crisis of Our Time (1964,) and The Southern Tradition at Bay (1968.) The Southern Essays of Richard M. Weaver (1987) emanated from his association with scholars who promoted traditionalist conservatism in the 1940s and 1950s, particularly within the Southern political tradition.

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