In recent years many rhetorical studies have been “too politically correct by half” with scholars’ politics being used as substitutes for rigor. More recently, however, this tendency seems to have abated a little bit and interesting “new directions” are now being considered, such as serious consideration of a neo-Sophistic view of rhetoric as symbolic magic, a line of endeavor that I have attempted to pursue since I finished my dissertation, which more or less pioneered such study, in 1982.

Dr. Schedel, whose main research interest is in rhetoric, has been teaching public speaking for over 20 years. He was asked to weigh in on the current state of rhetorical studies.  You may ask him follow up questions here, or by e-mailing him at jschedel@medaille.edu