ABSTRACT:
This paper proposes a dialogue between ancient rhetoric and the dialogic analysis of discourse, based on the oeuvre of Mikhail Bakhtin and the Circle. It aims to examine how teachings of rhetoric echo in the Bakhtinian thought, seeking consonances and dissonances between them. We propose a dialogue with Aristotle’s rhetoric and then with Plato’s criticism to its use and functioning. Our goal is to understand the relations and dialogic possibilities between rhetoric and the Circle’s oeuvre, arguing for the productivity of their alliance to the understanding and production of discourse and argumentation. Taking into account that they agree on several points, but also acknowledging the criticisms in the works of the Bakhtin Circle as regards rhetoric, we find it important to understand them so that this theoretical alliance can be grounded on reliable epistemological bases and be productive.
KEYWORDS:
Rhetoric; Argumentation; Bakhtin and the Circle; Aristotle; Plato