Aristotle And Contemporary Rhetorical Studies

Ever since the beginning of the twentieth century,Aristotle‘s Rhetoric has attracted much attention in western rhetorical studies.Given Aristotle‘s prestigious status in modern scholarship,many scholars in China seem to take it for granted that classical rhetoric,especially Aristotelian rhetoric,still serves as the main source in the construction of contemporary rhetorical theories or that Neo-Aristotelianism remains the unreplaceable basis of contemporary rhetoric.An investigation and reconsideration of the ?Neo-Aristotelianism? reveal that this view is problematic in several aspects.Firstly,the apparent lack of unity and other problems in the text of Rhetoric itself has aroused constant controversies since its earliest readings,which increases the difficulties in its study and understanding.Although disparate interests are shown in ?Aristotelian rhetoric,? it is actually composed of a whole range of re-contextualied or re-formulated versions of Aristotelian terms and conceptions involved in the theorization of rhetoric as a modern discipline.Some of the re-contextualied Aristotelian concepts and categories are even so far from Aristotle‘s elaboration in Rhetoric that they are likely to further deepen people‘s misunderstanding when connected to Neo-Aristotelianism.Secondly,Aristotle has no longer been considered as the representative of classical rhetoric by most of the historians of rhetoric;instead,they argue for a re-assessment of the sophist tradition and agree on taking Isocrates-Ciceronian tradition as the most influential in the history of rhetoric.Lastly,contemporary rhetoricians represented by D.Gaonkar contend that the terms,conceptions and formats of traditional rhetoric are too ?thin? to be of great value in modern theorization of rhetoric.Therefore,scholars of rhetoric should broaden the source of theory and absorb the achievements in related fields such as linguistics,sociology,anthropology,and literary criticism.Further more,a reexamination of the history of rhetoric shows that it is not Neo-Aristotelianism that promotes the renaissance of contemporary rhetoric,but the original and comprehensive rhetorical theories established respectively by Chaim Perelman and Kenneth Burke.The canonization of Perelman‘s and Burke‘s theories shows that the most vital rhetorical theory of the present is not a ?modernized? Aristotelian rhetoric,but those that feature a connection with modern rhetorical practices,that reflect on its characteristics as an interdisciplinary inquiry,and that have been applied in the analysis of a vast variety of rhetorical practices.