Guide(s) for the Perplexed

Philosophy & Rhetoric Feb 2015

Alan Blum York University

Abstract

Abstract This article compares science and the novel as different rhetorical strategies for representing relationships to the limits of knowledge and what seems unknown. I draw on Kenneth Burke's (1957) figure of “equipment for living” to revive the question of the value of knowledge and art for life, identifying the comparison between science and the humanities itself as a social phenomenon and focusing on the uses and rhetorical value of such disciplines and of literature for life in a period ruled by concerns for so-called applied knowledge and dreams of its transfer and dissemination. In this way, I try to escape from a notion of rhetoric limited solely to social interaction and the mutual persuasiveness of selves in order to develop, by linking rhetoric to subjectivity, a rhetorical approach to the consciousness of a subject conceived as relating to the limits of what can be known.

Journal: Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published: 2015-02-01
DOI: 10.5325/philrhet.48.1.0054
Open Access: Closed
Topics: rhetorical theory

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Also cites 4 works outside this index ↓

Blum, Alan. 2012. “The Enigma of the Brain and its Place as Cause, Character and Pretext in the Imaginary of …

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Gans, Eric. 1982. “Beckett and the Problem of Modern Culture.” SubStance 11 (2): 3–17.

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Pickstock, Catherine. 2001. “The Problem of Reported Speech: Friendship and Philosophy in Plato's Lysis and S…

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Rancière, Jacques. 2004. “The Politics of Literature.” SubStance 33 (1): 10–24.

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