All of the admissions research says that prospective students and their parents want to know something about the mysterious people who do the professing. They want to ask questions in a public forum; they want to visit classes; they want private meetings with department chairs; and they want admissions people to call them on the phone to explain…

Discusses the importance of persuasion in business and offers four essential steps to effective persuasion: establish credibility, identify common ground, use vivid language and compelling evidence, and connect emotionally with the audience. (JOW)

Argues that the best way to understand many public relations situations is to explore communication. Asserts that successful public relations can be described in terms of one of three primary communication functions (informing, persuading, or refuting). Describes this continuum of communication purposes, and a series of theoretical postulates.…

This paper contends that views of science as "objectivist" or "subjectivist" not only represent inaccurate and extreme positions on a continuum but also obscure the importance of argument in the scientific enterprise. It examines the role of argument in the objectivist view of science by exploring the analysis of Henry Johnstone, Jr., of the…

Examines how public discourse engages and redirects the constitutive powers of human communication. (JK)

Examines the concept of the universal audience as the basic factor of Chaim Perelman's rhetorical theory and concludes that it is subject to the same criticism as Rousseau's general will and Kant's categorical imperative. (JMF)

The two Alger Hiss perjury trials of 1949 provide an opportunity to compare two different aspects of trial drama: courtroom drama and crime drama. Much recent scholarship on legal rhetoric has acknowledged the dramatic quality of courtroom communication, which results in part from the physical appearance of the courtroom and the style of language…

Considers the evolution and present status of the field of communications as a perspective from which to evaluate future directions. Expresses concern that technology may cut off the roots out of which theories of argument, language, interpersonal communication, and ethics and values have grown. (MS)

Reviews the philosophical stance of ethical relativism. Notes that relativism is sometimes accused of being caught between moral impotence and self-contradiction. Argues that grounding relative ethical values in rhetorical communication allows relativists to judge other cultures without inconsistency. (PD)

Explores the assumptions underlying the role of values in rhetorical interactions, the meaning of "logic" in relation to "good reasons," a reconceptualization of "good reasons," implementation of a "logic of 'good reasons'," and the uses of hierarchies of values in assessing rhetorical reasoning. (JMF)

Suggests that effects rather than motives or methods become the definitive way of measuring the ethical quality of discourse. Also suggests that the supposed dichotomy between absolutist and relativist approaches to moral judgments is mistaken. Approaches to moral judgment are seen as applications of consensual rules which follow a quasi-juridical…

In the past, rhetorical criticism relied heavily on an Aristotelian approach; critics judged a speech by how well it fulfilled the speaker's purpose and persuasion was the accepted goal of rhetoric. Political and academic forces have brought about a methodological perspectivism or pluralism of rhetorical theory, and in turn, caused a shift from…

The primary goal of presidential crisis rhetoric appears to be the unification of the people of the United States in support of presidential policy. John F. Kennedy's crisis speaking corresponded both to his conceptions of presidential leadership and to those of the people. If the President of the United States is seen as the personification of…

Discusses the tradition of rhetorical theory and scholarship to sketch the chief characteristics of public communication. Suggests some implications for the study and criticism of contemporary media discourses of a rhetorical nature. (JK)

Focuses on the interdependence of rhetoricity and literarity. Reviews some historical, functional, formal, generic, and aesthetic aspects to determine if there is any clear distinction between the rhetorical and the literal. Concludes that no distinction exists and that rhetoricity is ubiquitous: it is present in every communication process. (PD)