Figure, ground and presence: A phenomenology of meaning in rhetoric

Abstract

This essay seeks to breathe new life into Perelman's notion of presence and to build the case that presence, properly understood, is the single most consequential and fruitful idea in the New Rhetoric. Specifically, this essay argues that Perelman's description of presence draws our attention to a crucial and often overlooked psychological limitation—our inability to consciously render meaning in more than one way at once. By conducting a phenomenological investigation of presence this essay seeks to explore these limitations and their implications for rhetorical theory and theorists.

Key words:

• presence
• phenomenology
• Perelman
• Gestalt psychology
• time
• meaning