Epistemic Rhetoric

Epistemic rhetoric. What exactly is it? In his article Three Meanings of Epistemic Rhetoric (1979), Barry Brummett asserts that it is the "relationship between knowledge and discourse." Perhaps an easier way to understand it though is by clearly and simply defining the three different sub-meanings that are part of epistemic Rhetoric.




But first, let's define epistemic: of, relating to, or involving knowledge; cognitive

METHODOLOGICAL RHETORIC:

"Leads people to realize the truth about an objective and unitary reality"
     A "discovery of truth" or a "conduit of knowledge"
          "Provides a contest between competing versions of truth"
               Only one reality and one truth can explain things
         

SOCIOLOGICAL RHETORIC:

               Leads to the discovery that all truth is problematic
          It has "limited or no action in the material realm"
      "Material reality and truth about it are absolute, but social reality is created in discourse."
"the discipline of rhetoric is not seen as continuous between ancient times and the present."

ONTOLOGICAL RHETORIC:

"Rhetoric create all of what there is to know"
     "reality is always apprehended through the constructs of meanings"
          "rhetoric as a dimension of all activity rather than as an activity in its own right"
               "the view of truth implied by the ontological view is a relative one"