The rhetorical turn: three key elements for its understanding

Abstract

This article addresses the re-signification of the concept of rhetoric in the context of rhetorical turn. It argues that the growing interest in rhetoric as a discipline, and especially in the rhetorical aspects of philosophical discourse, is closely related to three main factors: its epistemological background, its instrumentalization in research as meta-discourse or comparative epistemology, and the rediscovery of its representative function, which has not only allowed for a deeper understanding of this discipline beyond its persuasive function but has also extended the scope and implications of the latter.