Twenty-Third Biennial Conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric (ISHR), Radboud University, Nijmegen, July 27–31, 2021

The Society calls for twenty-minute conference papers focusing on historical aspects of the theory and practice of rhetoric. This year’s specific conference theme or focus is “Topics and Commonplaces in Antiquity and Beyond.”

Topical invention originated in ancient Greece and was developed and used throughout the western intellectual tradition as a systematized method of finding arguments to discuss abstract, philosophical questions, as well as specific questions determined by circumstances of time and space. Commonplaces are part of topical invention. They reflect commonly accepted views and ideas such as the benefits of peace vs. the harm caused by war, and can be geared to provide arguments which confirm, suggest, or create consensus. Studying topics and their application from a historical perspective thus highlights how persuasive texts reflect and contribute to the shaping of the intellectual and sociocultural contexts in which they are situated. We invite papers on the theory and practice of topics in all regions, periods and cultures. But of course we also welcome papers on both the theory and the practice of rhetoric in all periods and languages, and on its relationships with poetics, philosophy, politics, religion, law, and other aspects of the cultural context.

Proposals are invited for 20-minute presentations delivered in one of the six languages of the Society, viz. English, French, German, Italian, Latin and Spanish. The Society also welcomes panel proposals consisting of three or four speakers dealing with a common theme, so as to form a coherent set of papers.