The future of invention : rhetoric, postmodernism, and the problem of change / John Muckelbauer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Muckelbauer, John, 1969-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rhetoric.

Postmodernism.

Physical Description:

xv, 198 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2008]

Summary:

The Future of Invention links classical rhetorical practices of invention with the philosophical work of Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida and proposes that some of the most crucial implications of postmodern theory have gone largely unattended. Drawing on such classical rhetorical concepts as doxa, imitation, kairos, and topos, and engaging key works by Aristotle, Plato, the Sophists, and others, John Muckelbauer demonstrates how rhetorical invention can offer a nondialectical, "affirmative" sense of change that invites us to rethink the ways in which we read, write, and respond to others.

Contents:

Part I Orientations

Chapter 1 The Problem of Change 3

Chapter 2 Why Rhetoric? Which Rhetoric? 15

The Scope of Rhetoric 16

Humanism, Postmodernism, Performative Ethics 25

Singular Rhythms 33

Chapter 3 How to Extract Singular Rhythms: Affirmative Reading and Writing 37

Styles of Engagement 39

Arguments 41

Affirmative Strategies 43

Part II Intensities

Chapter 4 Imitation and Invention 51

Reproduction: Repetition of the Same 57

Variation: Repetition of Difference 65

Inspiration: Difference and Repetition 72

Refrain 77

Chapter 5 Itineration: What Is a Sophist? 79

Sophistic Targets, Sophistic Topography 85

Resembling Thought 87

Seeing and Time 90

Returns 97

Chapter 6 Situatedness and Singularity 99

Situations and Synthesis 108

Kairos 114

Situatedness as Singularity 120

Chapter 7 Topoi: Replacing Aristotle 123

Aristotle's Place 129

Rhetoric's Place 133

Scholarly Style 138

Chapter 8 The Future of Invention: Doxa and "the Common" 143

The Time of Invention 144

Doxa and the Common 150

The Time of Invention (echoes) 164.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-192) and index.

ISBN:

9780791474198

0791474194

OCLC:

145431744