Perelman’s new rhetoric

Abstract

This chapter discusses Perelman’s New Rhetoric and its application in a legal context in the form of a legal logic. In his New Rhetoric Perelman describes the argumentative techniques a speaker can use to convince his audience. In his application of the general New Rhetoric in his legal logic, Perelman discusses the argumentative techniques that are used by lawyers to convince a legal audience. Section 4.2 describes Perelman’s general argumentation theory. Section 4.3 specifies how the ideas of this general theory are applied in his legal argumentation theory. Section 4.4 discusses applications of Perelman’s ideas in the literature of legal argumentation. The chapter concludes with Sect. 4.5, providing a summary of the insights offered by Perelman’s theory with respect to the analysis and evaluation of legal argumentation.