TY - JOUR
T1 - Theory/Criticism
T2 - A Functionalist Approach to the “Specific Intellectual” Work of Rhetorical Criticism
AU - Wilson, Kirt H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Western States Communication Association.
PY - 2020/5/26
Y1 - 2020/5/26
N2 - In this essay, the author uses a functionalist perspective to explore the tension between theory and criticism within contemporary rhetorical criticism. Theory and criticism, he argues, exist as the suspension of distinct but mutually constitutive practices. When scholars consider “theory/criticism” in this manner, several functions become evident: theory/criticism organizes the vocabulary necessary to analyze contradictory rhetorical phenomena; it authorizes the value and legitimacy of critical practice, and it makes intervention possible in the lived spaces and structures of specific intellectuals.
AB - In this essay, the author uses a functionalist perspective to explore the tension between theory and criticism within contemporary rhetorical criticism. Theory and criticism, he argues, exist as the suspension of distinct but mutually constitutive practices. When scholars consider “theory/criticism” in this manner, several functions become evident: theory/criticism organizes the vocabulary necessary to analyze contradictory rhetorical phenomena; it authorizes the value and legitimacy of critical practice, and it makes intervention possible in the lived spaces and structures of specific intellectuals.
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U2 - 10.1080/10570314.2019.1696982
DO - 10.1080/10570314.2019.1696982
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85076500773
SN - 1057-0314
VL - 84
SP - 280
EP - 296
JO - Western Journal of Communication
JF - Western Journal of Communication
IS - 3
ER -