This paper explores the rhetorical basis of a major paradigm change in meteorology, from a focus on inductive observation to deductive, mathematical reasoning. Analysis of Cleveland Abbe's "The Physical Basis of Long-Range Weather Forecasts" demonstrates how in his advocacy for a new paradigm, Abbe navigates the tension between piety to tradition…

Traditionally, the Older Sophists were conceived as philosophical skeptics who rejected speculative inquiry to focus on rhetorical methods of being successful in practical life. More recently, this view has been complicated by studies revealing the Sophists to be a diverse group of intellectuals who practiced their art prior to the categorization…

Critical, postmodern, and constitutive rhetorics are typically guided by an ethical stance opposing domination and marginalization. However, this stance often functions as an unreflective morality operating outside the constitutive practices of rhetoric itself. To locate an ethical stance within rhetorical practice, we can turn to Isocrates, who…

Robert Hooke's "Micrographia" (1665) holds an important place in the history of scientific visual rhetoric. Hooke's accomplishment lies not only in a stunning array of engravings, but also in a "pedagogy of sight"--a rhetorical framework that instructs readers how to view images in accordance with an ideological or epistemic program. Hooke not…

Prevailing idealist and materialist theories of rhetoric fail to account for the continual circulation and recirculation of "racism" as a scientific discourse. An alternative theory of modal materialism addresses this problem by suggesting that the properties of all being are constituted through three distinguishable forms of matter that include…

This somatic genealogy of Dramatism's core terms--symbolic action, attitude, identification--argues for the importance of keeping rhetoric, rhetorical theory, and rhetorical pedagogy more closely tied to bodies that generate, induce, and respond to rhetoric. It does so by examining Burke's use of Sir Richard Paget's theory that spoken language…

Describes the nature of the relationship between hermeneutics and rhetoric to clarify rhetoric's epistemic function and, in turn, to provide important theoretical directives for rhetorical criticism. (JMF)

In 1923 the emerging Chinese advocates for the development of science successfully launched a war against the so-called "metaphysical ghosts," who believed that science was inadequate to address the fundamental questions of human life. An important and far-reaching spiritual effect of this "holy war" was to give rise to an…

The author discusses the historical, philosophical and rhetorical means of inquiry of Giambattista Vico. (Author/MF)

States why the equation of logos with logic is untenable in light of Aristotle's conceptions of the nature of man and the nature of rhetoric. (Author)

Explores the rhetorical problem of concretizing the ideal via the relationship between form and fact in Richard Weaver's theory of truth. Reveals that reliance on analogic form permits Weaver's arguments to function externally and internally. Suggests that analogic structure, example, and analogy are fundamental ways of rhetorical knowing. (JMF)

Examines recent attempts by a number of theorists to develop a "rhetoric of the human sciences." Argues that contemporary tendencies to elevate rhetoric at the expense of such traditional notions as scientific objectivity, ontology, and epistemological foundationalism are mistaken. (JK)

Discusses the evolution of Burke's conception of form and explains how he combines form, substance, idea, and audience appeal into a single critical principle. Argues that his theory is important because it provides a rationale for combining language, idea, and appeal. (JMF)

Discusses John Stuart Mill's nineteenth century treatise and reveals that it embodies the tenets of a sophisticated theory of argument. Makes clear the implications of that theory for contemporary rhetoric. (JMF)

Explores the complex linkages between K. Burke and F. Nietzsche, particularly regarding Burke's concept of perspective by incongruity, motive, terministic screens, and dramatism. Focuses on how Nietzsche's philosophy helped shape Burke's views on the nature of language and the effects language produces. Considers Nietzsche's influence on Burke's…