Rereading Aristotle's Rhetoric

In this collection edited by Alan G. Gross and Arthur E. Walzer, scholars in communication, rhetoric and composition, and philosophy seek to “reread” Aristotle’s Rhetoric from a purely rhetorical perspective. So important do these contributors find the Rhetoric, in fact, that a core tenet in this book is that “all subsequent rhetorical theory is but a series of responses to issues raised by the central work.”

The essays reflect on questions basic to rhetoric as a humanistic discipline. Some explore the ways in which the Rhetoric explicates the nature of the art of rhetoric, noting that on this issue, the tensions within the Rhetoric often provide a direct passageway into our own conflicts.

Alan G. Gross is a professor of rhetoric at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. He is the author of The Rhetoric of Science and Starring the Text: The Place of Rhetoric in Science Studies. He is co-editor of Rhetorical Hermeneutics: Invention and Interpretation in the Age of Science and The Scientific Literature: A Guided Tour.

Arthur E. Walzer is a professor in writing studies at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of George Campbell: Rhetoric in the Age of Enlightenment and co-editor of The Viability of the Rhetorical Tradition.