The themes of the essays in Argumentation Theory and the Rhetoric of Assent all coalesce around the general question: "When, if ever, is assent justified?" The question immediate triggers complex and multifaceted considerations of argument and, ultimately, power. In parsing out the nature of assent, the essays take divers approaches: aesthetic and symbolist, rationalistic and formalistic, field theory, various conceptualizations of a public sphere, etc. Together, they offer an insightful exploration of an exciting new terrain argumentation studies.


 

David Cratis Williams is Assistant Professor of Speech Communication at the University of Missouri, Rolla. Michael David Hazen is Professor of Speech Communication at Wake Forest University.

"An important collection [with] a wealth of insights. . . . In recent years, students of public argumentation have noted with growing dismay that the adjudicative role traditionally assigned to the public in a democracy seems to have diminished significantly. The essays in this book address the factors responsible for this paradoxical state of affairs and offer provocative suggestions for the reclamation of the public sphere for the public. . . . The volume is a spirited reaffirmation of argumentaion's role in contemporary society." —Quarterly Journal of Speech