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Mere Rhetoric

Welcome to Mere Rhetoric, the podcast for beginners and insiders about the ideas, people and movements who have shaped rhetorical history.

Jan 29, 2014

I hearby dub you, Sir Patrick Stewart! ...Or do I? Speech acts seem to do something, but are there any limits to when they do or don't come off? How Austin's How to Do Things With Words led to a fantastic show down between Searle and Derrida.


Jan 22, 2014

Nope, this isn't the Apple version of Socrates. Isocrates was a major force in shaping rhetoric when it was still developing as a discipline. The criticisms against rhetoric--and against Isocrates himself--led to some of the most important texts in rhetorical history.


Jan 14, 2014

Before we talk about the terms, movements and people who helped form rhetoric, what exactly is rhetoric? And why has this question been driving people crazy for thousands of years?