This paper is a study of the development of the theories of philosopher Chaim Perelman as he has instigated a modern application for the classical concept called rhetoric. This discussion covers Perelman's writings spanning more than three decades, starting with some of his early considerations of rhetoric as a means to influence, argue, and persuade. His thinking on a subject that had fallen so out of favor with the mainstream as to be no longer mentioned except in the pejorative fashion in traditional discussions has single-handedly returned rhetoric to a topic of serious consideration in the realm of speech communication and modern philosophy.
The Belgian philosopher and law professor has spent his professional career specializing in an unexpected area. Carlin Romano observes:
Chaim Perelman is a grand anomaly. His early training and writings screamed "logical empiricist" . . . And like his country's foremost cultural export - the Belgian waffle - [he] . . . is nothing if not crisp, logical, and linear. So what's he doing devoting his mature career to a disreputable atavism like rhetoric . . . generally defined as flimflam stuff for speech teachers? Rediscovering Western philosophy, that's what (1989, p. 11).
In one of the earliest of Perelman's writings covered in this paper (December 22, 1955), the philosopher asks, "How do we apply reason to values?" He proposes that a starkly mathematical approach, seeking to pinpoint an ultimate truth through the strict application of logic, will not work in matters involving human values. He writes, "Actually, to reason is not only to demonstrate, it is also to be deliberate and to argue" (p. 798). He argues that two mathematicians could never debate two sides of an arithmetic calculation: the calculation has a right answer and a wrong one, and this is an unquestionable, logical fact on which both scientists would agree. Yet values and human judgment are not so clear-cut:...