Ars Topica The Classical Technique of Constructing Arguments from Ar
Ars Topica is the first full-length study of the nature and development of topoi, the conceptual ancestors of modern argument schemes, between Aristotle and Cicero. Aristotle and Cicero configured topoi in a way that influenced the subsequent tradition. T
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Argumentation Library VOLUME 15
Series Editors Frans H. van Eemeren, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Scott Jacobs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Erik C. W. Krabbe, University of Groningen, The Netherlands John Woods, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
ARS TOPICA The Classical Technique of Constructing Arguments from Aristotle to Cicero
Sara Rubinelli University of Lugano, Lugano, Switzerland
Introduction by David S. Levene
123
Sara Rubinelli Universita della Svizzera italiana Via Buffi 13 6904 Lugano [email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4020-9548-1
e-ISBN 978-1-4020-9549-8
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9549-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008940855 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com
To Hans B. Gottschalk and Peter J. Schulz «I was afraid my soul would be blinded if I looked at things with my eyes and tried to grasp them with any of my senses. So I thought I must have recourse to conceptions and examine in them the truth of realities.» (Plato’s Phaedo 99e)
Preface
1. Why I Wrote This Book From the time of Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1958) onwards, argument schemes have been a major concern of argumentation theory. By ‘argument schemes’ I mean the principles that reveal the internal organization of arguments, and on which speakers rely in defending a standpoint at issue by means of certain premises. Argument schemes are praised for their analytical, evaluative and normative roles. As I illustrate in this book, the concept of argument scheme goes back to the ancient world. It was first systematised in the Greek context by Aristotle and subsequently presented to the Roman public as an aid to argumentation by Cicero. Aristotle called an argument scheme a topos (the Greek τόπος, plural: topoi, in Greek τόποι) which corresponds to the Latin locus (plural: loci), and developed a system of topoi based around them. About 300 years later, Cicero proposed a system of loci which was explicitly linked to Aristotle’s. There are many more or less recent works on the concept of topos1 in Aristotle and Cicero, and there are also a few essays that underline the link between topoi and argument schemes.2 Some of these works are written with great clarity, rigor, intelligence and scholarship. What then is my excuse for adding another study to this glut? The answer is straightforward. Despite this extensive research, the nature, use and meaning of topos within the classical tradition – above all the works of Aristotle and Cicero on the subject – have not previously been properly understood. This not only has conse
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