Page "Rhetoric" Paragraph 31

Over the 20th century, with the influence of social constructionism and pragmatism, this tradition began to change.

Robert L. Scott states that rhetoric is, in fact, epistemic.

His argument is based on the belief that truth is not a central, objective set of facts but that truth is based on the situation at hand.

Scott goes as far as stating that if a man believes in an ultimate truth and argues it, he is only fooling himself by convincing himself of one argument among many possible options.

Ultimately, truth is relative to situated experiences, and rhetoric is necessary to give meaning to individual circumstances.

Researchers in the rhetoric of science, have shown how the two are difficult to separate, and how discourse helps to create knowledge.

This perspective is often called " epistemic rhetoric ", where communication among interlocutors is fundamental to the creation of knowledge in communities.