This essay provides an analytic development of a philosophy of rhetoric which focuses its concern on social reality. According to this philosophy, the activity of the human mind invents symbolic constructions of reality. Primary socialization is interpreted as a rhetorical process which tends to maintain prevailing reality constructions. Subsequent communicative interactions (secondary socialization) perform the rhetorical functions of reinforcing or modifying the effects of primary socialization. Language and universes of discourse are the ultimate rhetorical products, which constitute the symbolic matrix that governs human action within a society. This philosophy of rhetoric as reality construction encompasses the traditional concerns of the field, recognizes the validity of conceptual and empirical research, and provides a perspective which may emerge as the new paradigm for research in the discipline. (AA)