Symbolising Violence: Rhetoric as a Foucauldian Dispositive

In order to better determine the conceptual space in which rhetoric could emerge, I use the Foucauldian notion of 'dispositive'. Seen from this perspective, rhetoric, even before being a technique, should be regarded as the theoretical context in which not only did the Western tradition first address the problematic relationship between language and violence, but also dealt with some of the inevitable implications that any mode of symbolization of violence brings with it.