Description
Book SynopsisThis book aims to recast the way that philosophers understand rhetoric. Rather than follow most philosophers in conceiving rhetoric as a specific way of speaking or writing, it shows that rhetoric is better understood as a dimension of all human discourse and actionwhat the author calls rhetoricity.
This book provides the first philosophical treatment of rhetoricity. It is motivated by two ongoing developments. The first is the debate between Alain Badiou and Barbara Cassin about philosophy's relation to rhetoric. Both Badiou and Cassin are critical of rhetoric, albeit for different reasons. Second, there has been a growing resurgence of interest in rhetoric considering the recent rise in authoritarian politics as well as new forms of propaganda driven by persuasive technologies. This book identifies the common target of Badiou's and Cassin's otherwise incompatible critiques: rhetoric's conception of audience. It offers a fresh take on the new rhetoric project of Chaïm Perelma
