The Value of Rhetoric: The New in Rhetorical Thought

Abstract

This article takes as its starting point the modern description of rhetoric as a threat to imagination in order to ask the question concer-ning rhetoric’s ability to think the new. Against the modern fragmentation of the rhetorical tradition, the focus then turns to the structuralist reinteg-ration of rhetoric, how this has been based on an obscure relationship between linguistic and economic value, and how in particular Ernesto Laclau has dealt with this issue. Through Laclau’s concept of the empty signifier and Marx’s concept of the general equivalent, three potential rea-dings of Laclau’s theory of rhetoric and linguistic creation are then explo-red. These readings reveal the danger of modelling an understanding of language and rhetoric on the value-form, not least since an insufficient recognition of this model also undermines Laclau’s concept of rhetoric.

Cite

APA

Stagnell, A. (2024). Retorikens värde: Kan retoriken tänka det nya? Rhetorica Scandinavica, 89, 86–102. https://doi.org/10.52610/rhs.v28i89.315

@article{stagnell2024,
  author  = {Stagnell, Alexander},
  title   = {Retorikens värde: Kan retoriken tänka det nya?},
  journal = {Rhetorica Scandinavica},
  volume  = {89},
  number  = {},
  pages   = {86--102},
  year    = {2024},
  doi     = {10.52610/rhs.v28i89.315}
}