ABSTRACT
From such a perspective emerges a sort of logic of language that is the same as, or at least homologous to, a logic that is to be found paradigmatically in theological thought about God-"theo-logics", the author might say, adopting a certain rhetoric of religion. All are instances of a widespread turn back to rhetoric as a primary rather than only a derivative form of knowing. Rhetoric turns out to be indispensable to disclosing meaning and even to revealing truth. In historical perspective, these movements can be considered as a latter-day renaissance of the rhetorically based humanism of the Renaissance, of which Dante is a premier representative. Dante's poetry in the Paradiso embodies this classic notion of self-reflection and turns it in the direction of the revolution of modern consciousness in ways anticipating our most innovative thinking in both philosophy and rhetoric today.
