Petrus Ramus and Ramism

Ramism was a collection of theories on rhetoric, logic and pedagogy based on the teachings of Petrus Ramus, a French academic, philosopher and Huguenot convert who was murdered in 1572 during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in August.

According to Jonathan Israel, Ramism

despite its crudity, enjoyed vast popularity in late sixteenth-century Europe, and at the outset of the seventeenth, providing as it did a method of systematizing all branches of knowledge, emphasizing the relevance of theory to practical applications [...].

Development of Ramism

Audomarus Talaeus (Omer Talon) was an early French disciple and writer on Ramism. The work of Ramus gained early international attention, with Roger Ascham corresponding about him with Johann Sturm, teacher of Ramus and collaborator with Ascham; Ascham supported his stance on Joachim Perion, one early opponent, but also expressed some reservations. Later Ascham found Ramus's lack of respect for Cicero, rather than extreme proponents, just unacceptable.

After Ramus died, his ideas had influence in some (but not all) parts of Protestant Europe. His influence was strong in Germany and the Netherlands, and on Puritan and Calvinist theologians of England, Scotland, and New England. He had little effect on mainstream Swiss Calvinists, and was largely ignored in Catholic countries. The progress of Ramism in the half-century roughly 1575 to 1625 was closely related to, and mediated by, university education: the religious factor came in through the different reception in Protestant and Catholic universities, all over Europe. The works of Ramus reached New England on the Mayflower.

Ramus was killed in 1572, and a biography by Banosius (Théophile de Banos) appeared by 1576. His status as Huguenot martyr certainly had something to do with the early dissemination of his ideas. Outside France, for example, there was the 1574 English translation by the Scot Roland MacIlmaine of the University of St Andrews. Ramus's works and influence then appeared in the logical textbooks of the Scottish universities, and equally he had followers in England.

As late as 1626 Francis Burgersdyk divides the logicians of his day into the Aristotelians, the Ramists and the Semi-Ramists.  These last endeavoured, like Rudolph Goclenius of Marburg and Amandus Polanus of Basel, to mediate between the contending parties. Ramism was closely linked to systematic Calvinism, but the hybrid Philippo-Ramism (which is where the Semi-Ramists fit in) arose as a blend of Ramus with the logic of Philipp Melanchthon.

Opposition to Ramism

Ramism, while in fashion, met with considerable hostility. The Jesuits were completely opposed. The Calvinist Aristotelian Theodore Beza was also a strong opponent of Ramism. Similarly the leading Lutheran Aristotelian philosopher Jakob Schegk resolutely rejected Ramus and opposed his visit to Tübingen. In Heidelberg the efforts of Giulio Pace to teach Ramist dialectic to Polish private students were forbidden.

Where universities were open to Ramist teaching, there still could be dislike and negative reactions, stemming from the perceived personality of Ramus (arrogant, a natural polemicist), or of that of his supporters (young men in a hurry). There was tacit adoption of some of the techniques such as the epitome, without acceptance of the whole package of reform including junking Aristotle in favour of the new textbooks, and making Ramus an authoritative figure. John Rainolds at Oxford was an example of an older academic torn by the issue; his follower Richard Hooker was firmly against "Ramystry".

Gerhard Johann Vossius at Leiden wrote massive works on classical rhetoric and opposed Ramism. He defended and enriched the Aristotelian tradition for the seventeenth century. He was a representative Dutch opponent; Ramism did not take permanent hold in the universities of the Netherlands, and once William Ames had died, it declined.

Mid-century, Ramism was still under attack, from Cartesians such as Johannes Clauberg, who defended Aristotle against Ramus.

                                        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramism