NORMS OF RHETORICAL CULTURE.

Farrell, Thomas B.

ISBN 10: 0300053851 / ISBN 13: 9780300053852

Published by Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1993

About this Item

x, 374 pages of text including bibliography and index. Hardcover binding. Unclipped dustjacket with minimal shelfwear; protected in archival mylar. A few pages creased at top edge from paperclip. Size: Octavo (8vo). Seller Inventory # 007052

Bibliographic Details

Title: NORMS OF RHETORICAL CULTURE.

Publisher: Yale University Press, New Haven, CT

Publication Date: 1993

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very good+ condition

Dust Jacket Condition: Very good+ condition (DJ)

Edition: First Edition.

Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis:

Rhetoric is widely regarded by both its detractors and advocates as a kind of antithesis to reason. In this book Thomas B. Farrell restores rhetoric as an art of practical reason and enlightened civic participation, grounding it in its classical tradition - particularly in the rhetoric of Aristotle. Farrell also offers a critique of the dominant currents of modern humanist thought, which bear principal responsibility for the disparagement of the rhetorical tradition.
Farrell argues that rhetoric is not antithetical to reason but is a manner of posing and answering questions that is distinct from the approaches of analytic and dialectical reason. He develops this position in a number of ways: through a series of bold reinterpretations of Aristotle's Rhetoric; through a detailed appraisal of traditional rhetorical concepts as seen in modern texts from the Army-McCarthy hearings to Edward Kennedy's memorial for his brother, Mario Cuomo's address on abortion, Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique, and Vaclav Havel's inaugural address; and, through a fresh appraisal of theories on the character of language and discourse found in contemporary philosophy, literary criticism, anthropology, deconstructionism, Marxism, and especially in Haberinas's critical theory of communicative action.