Deconstructing the rhetoric of philosophy

In this paper an attempt is made to demonstrate the rhetorical thrust of philosophy. Contrary to the traditional assumption, it is argued that rhetoric rather than logic motivates philosophizing. The “irrationalism” of Gorgias, the Sophist, as well as rhetorical elements in Socratic thought, are considered in this regard. This particular form of irrationalism is construed as a liberation from the fetters of rationalistic illusion. Next, a brief investigation of Nietzsche's “deconstruction” of language and knowledge is undertaken. He is seen to operate in the same (sophistic) tradition. Then there is a section on the contemporary deconstructionist approach of Jacques Derrida and Paul de Man who expose tropic activity within philosophical discourse itself. Finally, the interaction of Derrida and Heidegger is briefly examined, together with an assessment of the hermeneutical implications of the deconstructionist approach

Art · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Metaphysics · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Socratic method · Sophist · Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Hegel · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

• Blindness and Insight. Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism

  Donald Maddox, Donald L Maddox et al.•Books Abroad•1972

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• Philosophy and Rhetoric

  John D Schaeffer, Philosophy Documentation Center•New Vico Studies•1996

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• Forgetting the Text

  David Couzens Hoy•boundary 2•1979

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• Deconstruction

  Christopher Norris•Deconstruction Theory and Practice•1982

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• Blindness and Insight

  Paul De Man•Poetics Today•1984

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• The Epistemology of Metaphor

  Paul De Man•Critical Inquiry•1978

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