Abstract

Wayne Booth's neologism rhetorology, introduced in 1981, hasn't caught on in rhetorical scholarship. Nevertheless, in this essay I hope to revive rhetorology by harmonizing it with Paul Woodruff's work on reverence. I show how harmonizing these terms makes each more comprehensible. In order to illustrate how reverence and rhetorology might be made more practical I also analyze two arguments in the health care debate leading up to the passing of the Affordable Health Care for America Act in early 2010. Ultimately I hope to show that rhetorology is a reverent rhetorical practice, one that can help us restore a needed sense of communal reverence in contemporary democracy.

Degree

MA

College and Department

Humanities; English

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2010-06-24

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd3656

Keywords

reverence, rhetorology, Wayne Booth, Paul Woodruff, civility

Language

English

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