Recasting Rhetorical Invention with Giambattista Vico

Session Submission Type: Panel Discussion

Abstract

Giambattista Vico is an influential figure in the history of rhetoric, but he is often overlooked in the discipline for his contribution to rhetorical invention and imagination. This panel discusses the relevance of Vico as a rhetorical theorist and the contemporary application of his work. The papers focus on Vico’s theories of rhetorical invention and their impact on political participation, modes of citizenship, epistemic functions of testimony, designs of rhetoric, and scientific arguments.

Sub Unit

• American Society for the History of Rhetoric

Chair

• John Lyne, Univ of Pittsburgh

Respondent

• Debra Hawhee, University of Pittsburgh