Thursday, June 20, 2013

Rhetoric, Between the Theory and Practice of Politics


 As one of the consequences of the lingering process of corrosion of the rationalist assumptions of the Enlightenment project, in the last decades we have witnessed an attempt in different areas of the humanities to revive the central role rhetoric used to have in antiquity. Despite its political origins, however, the contribution of political theory to this important endeavor has only come of late, as more and more theorists have started to expose the rhetorical nature of politics in multiple manners: showing how it can be used to offer more sophisticated accounts of public deliberation, more attentive toward emotive aspects and contexts; or revealing it as an important manifestation of practical reason; or studying its presence in canonical thinkers and critical moments in the history of political thought; or finally, taking it as an inspiring source for a post-foundationalist emancipatory political theory. This variety of approaches testifies to the pervasiveness of the rhetorical dimensions in the whole realm of politics, from action to theory. The aim of this conference is to bring together scholars coming from disciplines such as political theory, philosophy, history, literature, or communication, to debate the multifaceted significance of rhetoric in politics and to explore new ways to incorporate a ‘rhetorical perspective’ in the study of political thought. Our hope is that this event could offer an important moment to assess and foster the still incipient revival of rhetoric in this area.

Keynote Speakers:Bryan Garsten (Yale University), Benedetto Fontana (Baruch College, CUNY), Marco Geuna (University of Milan), James Martin (Goldsmiths, University of London), Javier Roiz (Complutense University of Madrid), Eugene Garver (St. John's University), Kari Palonen (University of Jyväskylä)
Participants:Salvatore di Piazza (University of Palermo), Francesca Piazza (University of Palermo), Mauro Serra (University of Salerno), James David Hodgson (University of York), Lisa S. Villadsen and Christian Kock (University of Copenhagen), Katia A. Lima (University of Sherbrooke), Andreas Hetzel (University of Darmstadt), Annika Thiem (Villanova University), Sophia Hatzisavvidou (Goldsmiths, University of London), Maria Paula Lago (CEHUM), Nomi Claire Lazar (University of Ottawa), Marko Stamenkovic (Ghent University), Marina Lacroix (independent scholar) and Thomas van Neerbos (University of Amsterdam), Erik De Bom (KU Leuven), Olivia Leboyer (IEP Paris), Stuart Ingham (University of Exeter), Daniel Blanch (CIDEFA Intercultural Research Centre), Francisco Corrales (independent scholar), Russell Bentley (Southampton University), Larissa M. Atkison (University of Toronto), David Erland Isaksen (Texas Christian University), Henry Kelly (Trinity College Dublin), Steven Leddin (University of Limerick), Ozgur Emrah Gurel (University of Amsterdam), Juan Luis Conde (Complutense University of Madrid), Jesús Tovar (Autonomous University of Mexico State) and Carlos Moreira (Autonomous University of Baja California), Jorge Loza-Balparda (Complutense University of Madrid), Chris Tallent (Brown University), Geoff Bright, John Schostak (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Jill Schostak (independent scholar), Jonas Van Vossole (CES Coimbra / Ghent University), David Marshall (University of Pittsburgh), Neil Foxlee (University of Central Lancashire), Samuel Hayat (University Paris 8 / CRESPPACSU), Simon Lambek (University of Toronto), Daniel Schut (University of Amsterdam), Arnaldo M. A. Gonçalves (Portuguese Catholic University), José A. Colen (CEHUM), Attila Gyulai (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Keith Topper (University of California, Irvine), Matthew Hoye (European University Institute), Don Paul Abbott (University of California, Davis), Neofytos Aspriadis (University of Piraeus), Athanassios N. Samaras and Dogani Myrsini (University of Piraeus)Alexandru I. Cârlan and Alexandra Zaharia (National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest)
CEHUM – Grupo de Teoria Politica, University of Minho
Braga, Portugal
June 21-22, 2013