The paper continues the rhetorical line of research of the public sphere, approaching it from a general theoretical perspective. The goal of the present paper is twofold: it strives to understand the nature of the rhetorical personification of the public sphere, that is, the rhetorical slide from the many to the one, and it strives to identify the rhetorical roots of the public sphere, that is, reveal its general bases and biases. The paper traces four shifts in the discussion of the public sphere: From autonomy to inclusion, from ethnocentric to global, from transparency to mediation, and from logocentric to nonlinear. The role of time in the process of building the public sphere is underscored, presenting its dynamic as a complex topological process. It is also noted why and how this dynamic should be viewed as a tropological process.

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This paper explores a new approach to communication science as ‘practical theory’. Three main types of communication science as ‘practical theory’ are analyzed: (1) ‘practical theory’ as mapping; (2) ‘practical theory’ as engagement; and (3) ‘practical theory’ as transformation. Special attention is given to the ways in which ‘practical theory’ is reflected in the following epistemological paradigms: (1) knowledge by discovery; (2) knowledge by interpretation; and (3) knowledge by criticism.