Using Speech to Disturb Consensus: Or, Taking Rhetoric (and its Agonistic Roots) Seriously
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to discuss and criticize – from Aristotle, through Perelman, to Mouffe – the traditional view of rhetoric as a “peace” of words. The principal purpose is to show that it is necessary to understand how rhetoric, and its practice, can represent a real opportunity to question consensus, to disturb it, and that this can be good for the social process and the political space. Democracy cannot be well practiced without rhetoric, without a transmission of rhetorical tools with which individuals can raise their voice with, but also against, others – and their consensus. A well-understood use of rhetoric could rightly be seen as a “school” for practicing disagreement, and how to accept the vulnerability that results from this.References
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