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Saving Persuasion: A Defense of Rhetoric and Judgment – Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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In the words from Bryan Garsten’s subtitle, rhetoric and judgment are implicitly under attack. His book will provide a defense that will not end a war that began at least as early as Plato’s Gorgias (448d-449b) with charges that rhetoric is a technique without content. The Greek Sophists, like Protagoras, countered with the boast that rhetoric could produce virtue, or at least good citizenship. This war between anti-rhetoricians and rhetoricians continues, with no end in sight, which is an instructive point about the entire project of which Garsten is part. Garsten mentions the “attack on classical rhetoric” (4), and does more than hint that the agon plays an intrinsic role in the narrative: “The politics of persuasion is a politics of disagreement and controversy. Although those who are trying to persuade in any instance seek to end the immediate dispute in their favor, ultimately they also have a stake in the continued availability of persuasion when the next disagreement arises” (21

BMCR 2007.02.18 Saving Persuasion: A Defense of Rhetoric and Judgment Bryan Garsten , Saving persuasion : a defense of rhetoric and judgment . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. xii, 276 pages ; 25 cm. ISBN 9780674021686 . $45.00. Review by Bruce Krajewski , Texas Woman's University. BKrajewski@mail.twu.edu In the words from Bryan Garsten’s subtitle, rhetoric and judgment are implicitly under attack. His book will provide a defense that will not end a war that began at least as early as Plato’s Gorgias (448d-449b) with charges that rhetoric is a technique without conten

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