La retorica che cura. Per un approccio retorico alla psicoanalisi

The aim of this article is to look at talking cure as a typically rhetorical action. We refer in particular to the word’s ability to relieve pain or even heal, a capacity already recognized in Greek thought, where the comparison of word and pharmakon was widespread. We intend to use the case of the healing word as an emblematic example of the continuity between natural dimension and institutional-cultural dimension. We believe that an investigation aiming to bring these aspects together can find a fruitful reference point in ancient Greek culture. The main advantage lies in our opinion in the fact that a series of dualisms, now so ingrained in modern culture as to be difficult to get over, had less weight in Greek culture. These include the ones between soul and body and between cognition and emotion. We will reefer to the whole classical rhetoric and not, as more usually, only to elocutio’s components. Indeed, recovering all the conceptual richness of classical rhetoric allows us to consider it as an anthropological reflection and this approach makes the comparison between rhetoric and psychoanalysis more stimulating and productive.