The Aristotelian deliberative rhetoric model

Authors

  • FRANCISCO ARENAS-DOLZ

Keywords:

Aristotle, deliberation, hermeneutics, political philosophy, rhetoric.

Abstract

This paper gives an in-depth study of how deliberation functions within the framework of Aristotle’s Rhetoric. For Aristotle, rhetoric (whose counterpart he calls dialect) constitutes a fundamental truth about action. Thus, it influences all human knowledge regarding any subject, but especially the practical knowledge involved in deliberation about our behaviour and our approach to problem solving. It argues that Aristotele’s system is not just as a defence of rhetoric in a democratic society, or a defence of a political life informed by a clear idea of what arguments count as politically reasonable, but also provide us with as a novel attempt to understand what it means to speak of practical rationality.

Published

2009-01-07

Issue

Section

RESEARCH NOTES