From the Critique of the Dichotomy between Facts and Values to the Redefinition of the Place of Science in the New Rhetoric

The word “rhetoric”, which has crossed the centuries, can be found at the confluence of various disciplines (philosophy, linguistics, law, communication). It is much less spontaneously associated with the sciences. However, Perelman suggests a kinship between his concerns and the work of certain epistemologists (e.g. Polanyi, Kuhn, Gonseth). Above all, we would like to show how, through a rather formal mechanism and a wise limitation of its programme, the New Rhetoric manages, in our opinion, to escape the pitfall of absolute relativism.

The word “rhetoric”, which has crossed the centuries, can be found at the confluence of various disciplines (philosophy, linguistics, law, communication). It is much less spontaneously associated with the sciences. However, Perelman suggests a kinship between his concerns and the work of certain epistemologists (e.g. Polanyi, Kuhn, Gonseth). Above all, we would like to show how, through a rather formal mechanism and a wise limitation of its programme, the New Rhetoric manages, in our opinion, to escape the pitfall of absolute relativism.