Abstract
It is a disciplinary commonplace to identify Plato as the enemy of rhetoric. While it is also common to suggest a more complex role for Plato and his dialogues in contemporary rhetorical studies, this is often treated as a revision of his traditional role. In this article, I question the historicity of the narrative that Plato is the historical enemy of rhetoric. I investigate the role that Plato played in the rhetorical tradition from Demosthenes to Du Bois and compare it to how he is framed in the contemporary discipline - first, in disciplinary histories and second, in contemporary theory. What I find is a distinct disconnect between his traditional treatment and the contemporary construction of his place in the tradition.
- Journal
- Rhetorica
- Published
- 2019-09-01
- DOI
- 10.1353/rht.2019.0001
- CompPile
- Search in CompPile ↗
- Open Access
- Closed
- Topics
- Export
- BibTeX RIS
Citation Context
Cited by in this index (0)
No articles in this index cite this work.
Cites in this index (0)
No references match articles in this index.
Related Articles
-
Philosophy & Rhetoric Oct 2025The Intellectual and Cultural Origins of Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca’s New Rhetoric Project: Commentaries on and Translations of Seven Foundational Articles, 1933–1958 ↗Christopher W. Tindale
-
Philosophy & Rhetoric Apr 2025Peter A. O’Connell
-
Philosophy & Rhetoric Sep 2024Jake Cowan
-
Writing Center Journal 2024Using Content Analysis and Text Mining to Examine the Effects of Asynchronous Online Tutoring on Revision ↗Susan Lang, Clinton Morrison Jr,; Kathleen Brawley
-
Philosophy & Rhetoric Dec 2022Eric King Watts