<EM>Ars Topica is the first full-length study of the nature and development of <EM>topoi, the conceptual ancestors of modern argument schemes, between Aristotle and Cicero.
Aristotle and Cicero configured <EM>topoi in a way that influenced the subsequent tradition. Their work on the <EM>topos-system grew out of an interest in creating a theory of argumentation which could stand between the rigour of formal logic and the emotive potential of rhetoric. This system went through a series of developments and transformations resulting from the interplay between the separate aims of gaining rhetorical effectiveness and of maintaining dialectical standards.
<EM>Ars Topica presents a comprehensive treatment of Aristotle’s and Cicero’s methods of <EM>topoi and, by exploring their relationship, it illuminates an area of ancient rhetoric and logic which has been obscured for more than two thousand years.
Through an interpretation which is philologically rooted in the historical context of <EM>topoi, the book lays the ground for evaluating the relevance of the classical approaches to modern research on arguments, and at the same time provides an introduction to Greek and Roman theory of argumentation focussed on its most important theoretical achievements.
ARS TOPICA 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 deve