If the idea is true that a theory is an abstract model that explains an objective phenomenon, where objective means anything that exists independent of individual human volition, then the best known example of such a rhetorical theory would be Lloyd Bitzer's famous rhetorical situation. Bitzer has argued that a rhetorical act comes into being when people respond in words to objectively recognizable structures which he calls exigencies. Exigencies are the critical moments in civic life when something needs to be said in order to do something that needs to be done. Bitzer, in effect, offers a rhetorical theory that is based on a stipulative definition of rhetoric. Thus, there is a secure definition of rhetoric and therefore a secure rhetorical theory. Bitzer invoked the long-standing presumption of the division between theory and practice which can be traced to Aristotle and Cicero. Plato left rhetoricians with the impression that if they are going to teach something, they have to break it down into first principles, because rational discourse needs valid definition. However, despite what tradition has taught, rhetorical theory cannot be separated from rhetorical practice, and the situation (institutionalized theorization) that brings rhetorical theory about is the rhetorical tradition itself. Thus, Bitzer's theory is a part of a rhetorical situation from the start. Therefore, the hope of a rhetorical theory in the sense of a disinterested description needs to be abandoned. (CR)