With no neglect not even minimizing the permanent conflict between those who aspire to grasp the essence of things and those who pursue the assent of their audiences, the author of this article studies the strained relations between rhetoric and philosophy. He wants to show up how both of them share democracy as a common ground and as an endless exercise in a good argued way of life. Taking the known conflict between sophists and philosophers as a starting point, and getting along through the intellectual events that marked a breakdown between philosophy and rhetoric and a gap in modern thought, the author stresses the current relevance a philosophy inspired on rhetoric might have today. So, he examines Plato's, Aristotle's, Descartes', Ricœur's and, mainly, Perelman's contributions to this debate.