In search of Ariadne's thread: A review of the recent literature on rhetorical theory

Abstract

Despite its apparent diversity and confusion, the recent literature reflects a consistent attempt to revise the “modern” conception of the relationship between rhetoric and epistemology. Recent scholars stress that rhetoric functions not only to transmit, but also to generate, knowledge. This epistemic view of rhetoric appears in a number of different forms, ranging from a moderate emendation of traditional theory to a radical, neo‐sophistic conception of language and reality. Such “postmodern” approaches challenge many of the metatheoretical assumptions of the discipline, including those that bear on the ethics of rhetoric and on the “subject‐matter” of rhetorical inquiry.