Norms of Rhetorical Culture

By Thomas B. Farrell

Book Overview

Rhetoric is widely regarded as a kind of antithesis to reason. Here, 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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300053851
• ISBN13: 9780300053852
• Release Date: October 1993
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Essential rhetorical philosophy

This is a difficult book to review. Farrell's command of his subject is awe-inspiring and the argument complicated enough to warrant several reads. The central project of the book is a unification of Aristotelean philosophy on practical reason (phronesis) and Habermasian theory on proper public adress. What Farrell attempts is nothing less than a contemporary foundational philosophy of rhetoric in direct opposition to post-modern critics of "reason" (Foucault and Baudrillard are mentioned). His vision is of a republican political culture where rhetoric creates public character and ultimately enables community. The best parts of the book are the many readings of great and small rhetorical exchanges. Better than the sometimes impenetrable (though always erudite) philosophical passages, they convince that rhetorical culture is a possibility, and perhaps even a dessirable one.