Routledge Adaptive Rhetoric: Evolution, Culture & Persuasion

Adaptive Rhetoric challenges the dominant cultural-only approach to rhetorical scholarship by integrating evolutionary biology into the study of persuasive behavior. Traditional rhetoric analysis has overlooked how biology-our bodies and brains-fundamentally shapes and constrains rhetorical acts. This Routledge book presents a biocultural paradigm that moves beyond human exceptionalism, demonstrating how understanding both biological and cultural influences deepens our comprehension of rhetoric. By combining evolutionary psychology with rhetorical theory, the work offers scholars and students a more complete framework for analyzing persuasion across historical and contemporary contexts. This volume is essential for those seeking to understand the intersection of nature and culture in communication.