As a rhetorical figure, the example is constitutively split between the structural vocations of the Greek "paradeigma" (emphasizing illumination and belonging) and the Latin "exemplum" (emphasizing detachment and exclusion). This bifurcation enables the example to function as a strategic resource of ambiguity. Christine de…

So much has been written about feminism and composition that it may seem that there is little left to be said. But one question to ask is what scholars gain by keeping up the debate--that is, instead of asking how feminism relates to composition, what should be asked is why feminism insists on a relation to composition. A look at Elizabeth Flynn's…

Interest in the sophists has recently intensified among rhetorical theorists, culminating in the notion that rhetoric is epistemic. Epistemic rhetoric has its first and deepest roots in sophistic epistemological and rhetorical traditions, so that the view of rhetoric as epistemic is now being dubbed "neo-sophistic." In epistemic…

This paper focuses on one of the central concepts of Mikhail Bakhtin's philosophy of language: his theory of the utterance as speech genre. Before exploring speech genres, the paper discusses Bakhtin's ideas concerning language--both language as a general system, and the use of language as particular speech communication. The paper considers…

Analyzes the compatibility of science with rhetorical inquiry. Provides definitions of rhetorical and scientific inquiry and delineates their plurality of current transformations. Discusses when these transformations are incompatible and when they are compatible. (KEH)

Outlines two flaws in G. Thomas Goodnight's theory of the public sphere. Argues that Goodnight's distinction between the technical and public spheres is untenable and that modification of his position to recognize the technical nature of public argument strengthens the formulation. Suggests other more applicable terms to describe Goodnight's…

Discusses the nature, scope, and clarity of both David Tukey's and Jeffery Bineham's claims (presented in previous articles in this issue). Analyzes their exchange from the standpoint of one whose work is being neither attacked nor defended. Evaluates Bineham's critique of Tukey's position, Bineham's own counterargument, and the case study Bineham…

Examines Nietzsche's diverse writings on the sophists. Discusses his "genealogical" method of reading in which he situates the sophists as pivotal figures in fifth-century Greece. Examines three features of the sophists' teachings: their rhetorical model of language, their critique of epistemology, and their "immoralism."…

Offers a poststructuralist feminist reading of the "Encomium" that also attempts to explore its cultural and historical contexts. Aims to gain an appreciation for Gorgias' task and tap into the collective or "monumental" discourse foundation that underwrites the whole situation. (RS)

Rejects the aesthetic view of rhetoric advanced by Steve Whitson and John Poulakos in an earlier issue of this journal. Insists that a "knowledge-oriented rhetoric" is required to provide for the rationale, ethical deliberation, and intelligent resolution of serious questions of public policy. (SR)

Suggests that composition theorists broaden interdisciplinary conversation to include new, less reductive concepts of the self and its relation to society and tradition. Discusses the self and concord individualism, the self and Parisian constructivism, and the recent work of Donald Davidson. (PRA)

Juxtaposes Kenneth Burke's rhetorical theory (an exemplar of mainstream rhetorical theory) with Starhawk's rhetorical theory (an exemplar of feminist rhetorical theory) to suggest ways in which the patriarchal bias of many rhetorical theories limits an understanding of rhetoric. Suggests boundaries that circumscribe the rhetorical theories of both…

Relates an interview with "the contemporary sophist" Stanley Fish, where he discusses John Milton, composition theory, and his role as a social constructionist. (PRA)

Considers why James Magee has converted the titles (more particularly, poemlike utterances) of plastic works of art to an oral/communication medium. Discusses Magee's titles as they dissolve the frame, and hence its conventional significance as a marker of apprehensibility. (RS)

Notes that little has appeared in the literature on the relations of the postmodern intervention to the work of rhetoric past and present. Argues that the advent of the postmodern challenges the historiographic method of most histories of rhetoric. Argues that the historian of rhetoric is engaged in cultural politics that cannot be avoided. (RS)