Hermeneutics, Language, Philosophy of, Rhetoric, Science - General & Miscellaneous
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Overview
Rhetorical Hermeneutics asks whether rhetorical theory can function as a general hermeneutic, a master key to texts. The dazzling central essay by Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar questions rhetoric's globally interpretive status; Gaonkar begins with the ubiquity of rhetoric: It is a habit of our time to invoke rhetoric, time and again, to make sense of a wide variety of discursive practices that beset and perplex us, and of discursive artifacts that annoy and entertain us, and of discursive formations that inscribe and subjugate us. Rhetoric is a way of reading the endless discursive debris that surrounds us. Starting from the work of John Angus Campbell, Alan Gross, and Lawrence Prelli on the rhetoric of science, Gaonkar broadens his critique to fundamental issues for any rhetorical theory and develops four questions that cut to the heart of the possibility of a (post)modern rhetoric: How can rhetoric, an art traditionally directed toward practice, transform itself into hermeneutic theory, a mode of reading? Does contemporary rhetorical theory have legitimate theoretical status? Can an intentional, strategic theory of rhetoric survive the poststructuralist, postmodernist critique? Is the case study, the centerpiece of rhetorical and ethnographic scholarship, epistemologically robust enough to bear the weight of a discipline?Editorials
Booknews
Contributors respond to an essay by Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar, who asks whether rhetorical theory can function as a general hermeneutic, whether it has legitimate theoretical status, and whether an intentional, strategic theory of rhetoric can survive the poststructuralist, postmodernist critique. They offer a humanist's response and critical reflection on the rhetorical criticism of science, and discuss issues such as engineering rhetoric and rhetoric as a design art. Includes a reply by Gaonkar. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.Book Details
Published
October 4, 1996
Publisher
Albany : State Univeristy of New York Press, c1997.
Pages
371
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780791431092