Philosophy & Rhetoric Nov 2013

Rhetorical Argumentation and the Nature of Audience:

Christopher W. Tindale University of Windsor

Abstract

ABSTRACT Theories of argumentation that give serious attention to rhetorical features, such as those of Aristotle and Chaïm Perelman, assign an important role to the audience when considering how argumentation should be constructed and evaluated. But neither of these theorists provides ways of thinking about audience that is adequate to the range of questions raised by this central concept. In this article, I explore one of these questions—that of audience identity—and consider the degree to which this issue has been recognized by the theorists in question and how we might move from their conceptions of it to a better understanding of the importance of identity in argumentation and how it should be treated.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2013-11-01
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.46.4.0508
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
classical rhetoric rhetorical criticism argument
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Shecaira et al. (2018)
    Legal Audiences
    Argumentation
  2. Sigler (2015)
    The New Rhetoric’s Concept of Universal Audience, Misconceived
    Argumentation

References (29) · 1 in this index

  1. Aristotle. 1984. The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation. 2 vols. Ed. Jonathan Barnes…
  2. Aristotle. 2007. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. Trans. George A. Kennedy. Oxford: Oxford Universit…
  3. Booth, Wayne C. 2004. The Rhetoric of Rhetoric: The Quest for Effective Communication. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
  4. Cialdini, Robert B. 1984. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. New York: William Morrow.
  5. Crawford, Neta. 2002. Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Decolonization, and Humanitarian Interve…
     ↗
Show all 29 →
  1. Crosswhite (1997)
    The Rhetoric of Reason: Writing and the Attractions of Argument
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Dewey, John. 1927. The Public and Its Problems. New York: Henry Holt.
  3. Ede, Lisa. 1989. “Rhetoric Versus Philosophy: The Role of the Universal Audience in Chaim Perelman's The New …
  4. Farrell, Thomas B. 1993. Norms of Rhetorical Culture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
     ↗
  5. Garver, Eugene. 2004. For the Sake of Argument: Practical Reasoning, Character, and the Ethics of Belief. Chi…
  6. Govier, Trudy. 1999 The Philosophy of Argument. Newport News, VA: Vale Press.
  7. Gross, Alan G., and Ray D. Dearin. 2003. Chaim Perelman. Albany: State University of New York Press.
  8. Hamblin, C. L. 1970. Fallacies. London: Methuen.
  9. Kornprobst, Markus. 2008. Irredentism in European Politics: Argumentation, Compromise, and Norms. Cambridge: …
     ↗
  10. O'Keefe, Daniel. 1990. Persuasion: Theory and Research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
  11. Perelman, Chaïm. 1982. The Realm of Rhetoric. Trans. William Kluback. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dam…
  12. Perelman, Chaïm. 1989. “The New Rhetoric and the Rhetoricians: Remembrances and Comments.” In The New Rhetori…
  13. Perelman, Chaïm, and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca. 1969. The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation. Trans. John…
  14. Ray, John W. 1978. “Perelman's Universal Audience.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 64 (4): 361–75.
     ↗
  15. Ryan, Eugene. 1984. Aristotle's Theory of Rhetorical Argumentation. Montreal: Bellarmin.
  16. Sen, Amartya. 2006. Identity and Violence. New York: Norton.
  17. Sperber, Dan, and Deidre Wilson. 1986. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univers…
  18. Tindale, Christopher W. 2004. Rhetorical Argumentation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  19. Tindale, Christopher W. 2006. “Perelman, Informal Logic and the Historicity of Reason.” Informal Logic 26 (3)…
     ↗
  20. Tindale, Christopher W. 2010a. Reason's Dark Champions: Constructive Strategies of Sophistic Argument. Columb…
  21. Tindale, Christopher W. 2010b. “Ways of Being Reasonable: Perelman and the Philosophers.” Philosophy and Rhet…
     ↗
  22. Tindale, Christopher W. 2011. “Out of the Space of Reasons: Argumentation, Agents and Persons.” Pragmatics an…
     ↗
  23. Willard, Charles A. 1989. A Theory of Argumentation. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
  24. Wilson, Deirdre, and Dan Sperber. 2012. Meaning and Relevance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 17 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Res Rhetorica Apr 2026
    Logos in ancient Greek discourse on rhetoric: An overview ↗
    Arkadiusz Sokolnicki
    classical rhetoric rhetorical criticism discourse analysis argument
  2. Poroi Feb 2026
    Using Stasis Theory as a Heuristic for Examining Epistemological Dilemmas in a Post-Truth Landscape ↗
    Bruce Bowles
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis argument
  3. Res Rhetorica Jan 2026
    Ethos – between vir bonus and VIA: Virtue ethics in contemporary rhetorical education ↗
    Agnieszka Budzyńska-Daca
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory argument
  4. Rhetorica Jan 2026
    The Daimonion of Isocrates: Anti-Socratic Polemics and the Power of Politikoi Logoi in the Philippos ↗
    Tobias Hirsch
    classical rhetoric rhetorical criticism discourse analysis argument
  5. Philosophy & Rhetoric Oct 2025
    The 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
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis revision argument collaborative writing editorial matter