Research

Between 1992 and 2015, the Seminar for General Rhetoric compiled the world's most comprehensive specialised encyclopaedia on rhetoric in twelve volumes. In the Historisches Wörterbuch der Rhetorik (HWRh) [Historical Dictionary of Rhetoric], both the classical and modern terms of this discipline are listed by specialised scholars. The HWRh forms the theoretical frame of reference for national and international rhetoric research. 

The series ‘neue rhetorik - new rhetoric’, edited by Prof Dr Joachim Knape, Prof Dr Olaf Kramer, and Prof Dr Dietmar Till, comprises monographs and collected works that deal with the problems and results of current rhetoric research; it promotes the development of theory and explores current communication practice. The volumes break new ground conceptually in the exploration of the old topic of rhetoric in a cultural and social context and document the contemporary relevance of rhetoric in its theoretical approach and also in its perspective on the modern knowledge society.

As a discipline that deals with the cultural embedding, the mode of expression and effect of communication, and in particular with questions of textuality, rhetoric is, alongside philosophy, one of the oldest theoretically systematised fields of knowledge in Europe. Since antiquity, the history of rhetoric has repeatedly given rise to works that speak of a ‘new rhetoric’. A closer look reveals that the new consists partly in reformulations of traditional knowledge about rhetoric, partly in updates of classical theories, but also partly in contemporary new approaches that bring new perspectives into play.

The Forschungszentrum für Wissenschaftskommunikation (FfW) [Research Centre for Science Communication] emerged from the Seminar for General Rhetoric, is headed by Prof Dr Olaf Kramer and coordinates both science communication research and the continuing education programme in science communication at the University of Tübingen. Science Notes, Jugend Präsentiert, RHET AI Center, KoKoKom, and other projects are based there.

The FfW pursues four goals:

1. the rhetorical-theoretical and interdisciplinary scientific foundation of science communication,
2. to increase the reach, variety of formats and quality of science communication
3. to enable effective science communication under different situational and medial conditions,
4. to establish the University of Tübingen as a nationally and internationally visible centre for science communication research.

In the SFB 1391 Andere Ästhetik [CRC 1391 Other Aesthetics], Prof Dr Dietmar Till and Dr Frank Schuhmacher are investigating the linguistic and cultural areas of Germany and Italy in a comparative and transdisciplinary combination of rhetoric and linguistics. The Collaborative Research Centre deals with questions such as: Why does art move us? What do we understand by aesthetics? And how does a look at pre-modern Europe change our understanding of the aesthetic? Key concepts such as amplificatio (intensification) or argutia (perspicacity), which originate from classical rhetoric and are understood as aesthetic figures of reflection, are to be systematised for the first time with the help of linguistic and rhetorical-literary approaches and made fruitful for the analysis of various types of texts from the period.

Since 2023, Prof Dr Olaf Kramer has headed the public project of the CRC 1391 Other Aesthetics. The publicity project aims to effectively communicate research concerns and project results to the scientific and general public. A particular focus is on the potential of science communication for the humanities. To this end, innovative public engagement practices are being developed and researched. A doctoral project investigates how topics in the humanities are perceived and become relevant in social discourse.