Between Reason and Power
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Abstract
Lawyers are trained rhetoricians. Yet, both lawyers and rhetoric are often understood as manipulative, not concerned with truth or reason. This paper argues that the skill of the lawyer is not necessarily or essentially manipulative, but instead gives access to a special kind of truth akin to Kant's understanding of judgment. Using Kant's Critique of Judgment, the paper sketches a sympathetic account of rhetoric, explaining its emotional, metaphorical, and aesthetic elements as necessary ways to see how to apply abstract reason to concrete situations as judges and lawyers must.