Universal rhetoric

Universal rhetoric is a central concept in Charles Sanders Peirce's philosophy. According to Peirce, the main purpose of universal rhetoric is to consider questions of Inquiry in the context of community,[1] and "the very origin of the conception of reality shows that this conception ultimately involves a COMMUNITY, without definite limits, and capable of a definite increase of knowledge."[2]

Peirce alternatively called it speculative rhetoric,[3] general rhetoric, formal rhetoric, objective logic, or methodeutic.[4] It constitutes the third and last branch of his general theory of signs.[3][4]

  1. ^ Liszka (1996) p.99
  2. ^ Lang, P. (2002) The semiotics of fate, death, and the soul in Germanic culture p.11, quoting from Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Volume 5, Pragmatism and Pragmaticism p.311
  3. ^ a b Houser, Nathan (2002) PEIRCE’S PRAGMATISM AND ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY: SOME CONTINUITIES, 27 AGORA (2002), Vol. 21, n° 2; 11-32
  4. ^ a b Liszka (1996) p.80