Modern Rhetorical Theory
Modern rhetorical theory expands rhetoric from the art of persuasive oratory to a general theory of symbolic action, identification, and the situated practice of all discourse.
Definition
Modern rhetorical theory is the body of twentieth- and twenty-first-century scholarship that reconceives rhetoric as the study of how symbols induce cooperation, frame reality, and constitute audiences across all forms of discourse.
Scope
This area covers the twentieth-century revival and transformation of rhetoric. It includes Kenneth Burke's dramatism and theory of identification, the new rhetoric of argumentation developed by Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, theories of the rhetorical situation and its exigences, and the rhetorical analysis of science and inquiry. It treats how rhetoric reconceived itself as central to meaning-making rather than mere ornament.
Sub-topics
Core questions
- How does rhetoric extend beyond persuasion to symbolic action and identification?
- What constitutes a rhetorical situation and its demands?
- How can argumentation be reasonable without formal proof?
- Is even scientific and factual discourse rhetorical?
Key concepts
- identification and consubstantiality
- dramatistic pentad
- rhetorical situation and exigence
- universal audience
- symbolic action
Key theories
- Identification and dramatism
- Kenneth Burke reframes rhetoric around identification—the achieving of consubstantiality between speaker and audience—and analyzes motives through the dramatistic pentad of act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose.
- The new rhetoric of argumentation
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca recover argumentation as the rational pursuit of audience adherence in matters that cannot be demonstrated, restoring rhetoric's place alongside formal logic.
History
After centuries in which rhetoric was reduced to style and figures, the twentieth century saw a sweeping revival. I. A. Richards relocated rhetoric within the study of meaning and misunderstanding; Kenneth Burke developed a comprehensive theory of symbolic action; Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca recovered argumentation theory in their 1958 treatise. American speech-communication scholarship, including Bitzer's analysis of the rhetorical situation, institutionalized rhetoric as a research field.
Debates
- Where does rhetoric reside?
- Theorists dispute whether rhetorical force originates in objective situations that call discourse into being, as Bitzer argued, or is constructed by rhetors and audiences, with critics emphasizing the rhetor's role in defining exigence.
Key figures
- Kenneth Burke
- Chaim Perelman
- Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca
- Lloyd Bitzer
- I. A. Richards
Related topics
Seminal works
- burke1969rhetoric
- perelman1969
- bitzer1968
Frequently asked questions
- What is the 'new rhetoric'?
- It names the twentieth-century revival of rhetoric, especially Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's theory of argumentation and Burke's theory of identification, which broadened rhetoric beyond classical persuasion into a general account of how discourse shapes understanding and action.