Barilli traces rhetoric from its Greek origins to today's media technologies, emphasizing its changing status as it impinges on ethics, politics, art, and philosophy within the larger history of Western culture.

In The Science of Culture and the Phenomenology of Styles, Renato Barilli examines the history of artistic style in relation to scientific discovery. Applying an innovative analysis, he illustrates the subtle, yet intrinsic, connection between paradigm shifts in the sciences and in the arts. Barilli argues that there are "homologies," or equivalences, between specific discoveries or inventions and revolutionary advances in artistic techniques. He draws upon the pioneering work of Lucien Goldman, who provides the fundamental definition of "homology," as well as the theories of Luciano Anceschi...

In The Science of Culture and the Phenomenology of Styles, Renato Barilli examines the history of artistic style in relation to scientific discovery. Applying an innovative analysis, he illustrates the subtle, yet intrinsic, connection between paradigm shifts in the sciences and in the arts. Barilli argues that there are "homologies," or equivalences, between specific discoveries or inventions and revolutionary advances in artistic techniques. He draws upon the pioneering work of Lucien Goldman, who provides the fundamental definition of "homology," as well as the theories of Luciano Anceschi...