Department of English

About Robin Reames

My research explores the relationship between language and metaphysics (the understanding of what is) in the ancient Greek rhetorical tradition. Aspects of this relationship were explored in my first book, Seeming and Being in Plato's Rhetorical Theory (2018) and edited volume Logos without Rhetoric: The Arts of Language Before Plato (2016).

I am also the editor, with Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg, of the 3rd edition of The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present (2020). My most recent book, The Ancient Art of Thinking for Yourself: The Power of Rhetoric in Polarized Times (2024) is written for a general audience and introduces key concepts from the ancient rhetorical tradition that can help readers navigate the complex and polarizing politics of today. Other work has appeared in Psyche, Epochê, Humanities Journal, The Journal of Comparative and Continental Philosophy, Philosophy and Rhetoric, Rhetorica, and Rhetoric Society Quarterly. I teach courses in the history and theory of rhetoric and literary history.