Students in Dr. Nicole Pfannenstiel’s summer 2025 writing seminar crafted blog posts exploring Rhetoric & Composition. Over the next several weeks, we will share their work in this space to bring visibility to their posts and offer a variety of perspectives on pertinent topics within Rhetoric & Composition. These posts are written by graduate students currently in the MA and M.Ed. English programs.
Is Rhetoric Rhetorically Relevant in our Modern World?
By: George Botelho
One problem seen with trying to inherently define rhetoric is that it sometimes gets caught up and molded by the field of discourse that it is attempting to capture and thus is codified to simple human discourse (Lundberg 247).The current use of rhetoric in our modern world should focus on the use of rhetoric in the public square, that is the internet. Will we all write off the internet at some point? Of course! But by and large writing occurs more through a digital medium in the modern era. So, what does that do to rhetoric? It further compounds a complicated subject. One of the most powerful things about rhetoric is its cultural adaptability, and we see this play out through digital media.
As Andrews mentions in A Theory of Contemporary Rhetoric modern rhetoric should “…one that embraces the fictive as well as the ostensibly “real”; is fit for purpose in the digital, multimodal world of communication; and, crucially, has an aesthetic dimension” (24). New rhetorical theory holds its foundation as a vehicle of communication while still being flexible enough to appeal to all audiences. Andrews also explored the Quintilian and Kinneavy idea that rhetoric holds the three-point model of I, You, and It. “I” meaning the author of a piece, “You” meaning the audience, and “It” meaning the text or product.
In a digital age even the most benign piece of communication is a multi-model product, reaching audiences that will receive communications that maybe the author didn’t intend. This conversation extends beyond just your intended purpose as an author. Modern day rhetoric is still tied tightly to craft, and that craft has become complicated further by social media and living in a complex communicative ecosystem. Quintilian mentions “…the art is to find the right number of elements, in the right order, that suit the purpose of the communication” (Andrews 24). We must be careful in trying to apply older rhetorical theory to our modern-day situations that we don’t get bogged down solely in technical jargon but understand that it is still an art that can be trained in to be more effective through different mediums.
Modern day rhetoric can be utilized in powerful ways within the digital realm. Donna LeCourt outlines the different types of actions that can result from different rhetorical spaces in her book Social Mediations as forming solidarity, increasing persuasive power, readying for action, uptake of differences between groups or people, and changing and respecting others’ views (88). Identifying these taxonomies in our modern online environment allows us to be effective communicators and apply older rhetorical theory to the faced paced, ever changing digital world we live in.
Works Cited
Andrews, Richard. A Theory of Contemporary Rhetoric, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/millersville-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1356315.
Christian O. Lundberg. “Letting Rhetoric Be: On Rhetoric and Rhetoricity.” Philosophy & Rhetoric, vol. 46, no. 2, 2013, pp. 247–55. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5325/philrhet.46.2.0247. Accessed 8 July 2025.
LeCourt, Donna. Social Mediations. Available from: VitalSource Bookshelf, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2024.