ABSTRACT
For postmodern philosophers and literary theorists, rhetoric is in vogue and formal logic distinctly unfashionable. For the purposes of critical analysis the classical distinction between rational argument and literary style should be reinstated because the ‘collapse’ of the reason/rhetoric binary can function both to diminish the precision of critical analysis and to endorse logically faulty or specious argument. In Britain rhetoric was not such an important element of university English, in spite of Richards’s influence. But as classical rhetoric was being revived in America, British philosophy was undergoing its linguistic turn. Twentieth-century philosophers and literary critics have been increasingly willing to admit that there is no possibility of philosophy escaping rhetoric entirely. Boundary rhetoric is conscripted by those theorists wishing to deconstruct the high art/popular culture binary. Spatial rhetoric can work in postmodernism’s favour to consolidate implicit claims to political efficacy and professional competence.
