Abstract

I propose to read Rhetoric as a presentation of the art of public discourse. I believe that in this sense its conception rests on three capital ideas, namely rhetoric is an antistrophos to dialectic; its function is not to persuade but to contemplate the available means of persuasion in each case; rhetoric is like some offshoot of dialectic and of ethical study which is rightly called politics. and vindicate the condition and quality of rhetoric as a fully entitled art of speech; places it in the realm of deliberative public discourse. Finally, a few notes about the topicality of some Aristotelian ideas in the debate on democracy and collective deliberation will lead to the conclusion that Aristotle, without being one of us, is one of ours.