Rethinking “the public”: The role of emotion in being‐with‐others

This essay attempts to resolve the controversy surrounding the status and constitution of “the public” by turning to Martin Heidegger's description of what it means to be with others and how such an existence is oriented by emotions. It then provides a reading of Aristotle on the pathé and emphasizes how his analysis enables critics to make more meaningful assessments of the use of emotion in rhetorical discourse. The third section of the article illustrates this point with an examination of pathos in Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”