![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
It is argued that rhetorical scholars, for the most part, have not considered power rhetoric in the context of institutional authority and power systems within which rhetoric operates. It is suggested that symbolic acts of power (threats and promises) in the context of conflict resolution are within the rhetorical domain and that their consideration re‐focuses the attention given to invention, strategic choices, and ethical questions. With the introduction of power, the focus of rhetoric during conflict shifts from questions of truth and justice in which issues concerning the relationships among proofs and propositions are paramount to questions of power in which a different set of issues concerning the relationship among conflicting parties become paramount. This essay compares issues related to truth and justice and those related to power in the context of confrontation within the institutional setting.