| This thesis focuses on the political writings of French philosopher Jacques Ranciere and the relevance of this body of work to contemporary rhetorical scholarship. The overarching claim is that Ranciere advances an implicit rhetorical theory of politics and the subject, which treats political action and modes of subjectivization as two interdependent rhetorical performances that are at once disruptive of order and constitutive of political subjects. The Introduction situates Ranciere's political theory within post-foundational or post-Cartesian theories of the subject. Chapter One reconstructs his critique of classical visions of logos and argues that his political theory conceives of rhetoric as logos in action for the establishment of a truly universalist logos, which simultaneously presupposes and demonstrates the equality of any and every speaking being. Chapter Two maintains that Rancierian politics contains a tacit theory of decorum that remixes and redescribes the classical constellation of rhetoric, social practice, politics, and aesthetics. |
