Abstract or Keywords
This article examines Wayne C. Booths legacy as a teacher and scholar through the concept of rhetoric as mutual inquiry that he develops from Modem Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent (1974) through The Rhetoric of Rhetoric (2004). Booth's work connects the political and pedagogical in pragmatic and productive ways that serve the humanitarian ambition to teach civic literacy while alleviating potential anxieties over politicizing rhetoric and writing classrooms. This article turns on Booth's pivotal question "When should you and I change our minds?" emphasizing that learning how to be persuaded is as important a critical and civic capacity as learning how to persuade. After suggesting limitations with the Aristotelian appeals for persuading oneself, we discuss Booth's definition of rhetoric as "the art of discovering warrantable beliefs and improving those beliefs in shared discourse" and the ways it minimizes logos-centric arguments while emphasizing refreshed approaches to engaging ethos and pathos. Finally, we illustrate a pedagogy that helps students develop ethical trusting and empathetic listening with implications for a rhetorical education and public discourse that are mutually nonviolent and sustainable.