Rhetorical aspects of comparison

The paper discusses comparison as a transsemiotic and trans-medial structure of thinking and as a rhetorical figure. It presents epistemological, ontological, axiological and persuasive aspects of this figure, and analyzes the functions it fulfils. As a tool and a method of researching, ordering, and assessing texts, comparison lies at the heart of the development of the humanities. Comparison is also the essential element of forms of interpretation, especially of linguistic, semiotic and medial translations. It makes possible to recognize allusions, paraphrases, adaptations, pastiches, parodies, stylizations, plagiarisms, and forgeries. The rhetorical nature of comparison is particularly visible in comparative interpretations, which emphasize some aspects and neglect others. Advertising and political persuasion exploit persuasive and manipulative functions of comparison.