Abstract

This work analyzes Rorty's public discourse from three critical frameworks in an effort to suggest the continuing usefulness of traditional rhetorical criticism over against postmodern critical rhetoric. Three rhetorical concerns are prominent: text, theory, and criticism. An ideological critique of Rortyan rhetoric addresses the alleged disappearance of the text. An abductive analysis speaks to the continuing usefulness of traditional rhetorical theory, especially as pertains to rational argumentation. And a metaphorical analysis, informed by the thought of Michael Polanyi, speaks to the putative impossibility of rhetorical criticism in the postmodern turn. After comparing Rortyan and Polanyian rhetorical culture, this work sums the matter thus: Polanyi's thought makes rhetorical criticism plausible, despite the detractions of critical rhetors, by framing personal and public cultures not in Rortyan terms of contingency, irony, and solidarity but in terms of freedom, commitment, and conviviality