Rhetoric, doxa, and experience in Barthes

There are several problems concerned with the use of the term 'rhetoric' by French author Roland Barthes. These problems can be gleaned from his lifelong career of analyzing rhetoric, first as a technical concept belonging to a historical discipline. This was followed by studies of rhetoric as a means of persuasive communication that is totally applicable to contemporary society. The most important point to consider in Barthes' use of the term 'rhetoric' is that Barthes collapses the notion of truth and generally accepted public opinion into one.