Page 24 - Žagar, Igor Ž. 2021. Four Critical Essays on Argumentation. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 24
four critical essays on argumentation
fruitful rhetorical concepts. It is therefore probably high time that we an-
swer the crucial question: what are topoi?
Back to the foundations: Aristotle and Cicero
It is quite surprising that none of the quoted works even mention the or-
igins of topoi, their extensive treatment in many works and the main au-
thors of these works, namely Aristotle and Cicero. As mentioned earli-
er, the definition, borrowed from Kienpointner (mostly on a copy-paste
basis), does not stem from their work either: it is a hybrid product, with
strong input from Stephen Toulmin’s work The Uses of Argument, pub-
lished in 1958. All this is even more surprising because today it is almost a
commonplace (a topos of its own, if I may say so) that for Aristotle a topos
is a place to look for arguments (which is true), a heading or department
where a number of rhetoric arguments can be easily found (which is true
as well), and that those arguments are ready for use—which is a rather big
misunderstanding. According to Aristotle, topoi are supposed to be of two
kinds: general or common topoi, appropriate for use everywhere and any-
where, regardless of situation, and specific topoi, in their applicability lim-
ited mostly to the three genres of oratory (judicial, deliberative, and epid-
eictic). Or, as Aristotle (Rh. 1358a31–32, 1.2.22) puts it: ‘By specific topics I
mean the propositions peculiar to each class of things, by universal those
common to all alike.’
The Aristotelian topos (literally: ‘place’, ‘location’) is an argumenta-
tive scheme, which enables a dialectician or rhetorician to construe an
argument for a given conclusion. The majority of Aristotle’s interpret-
ers see topoi as the (basic) elements for enthymemes, the rhetorical syllo-
gisms.11 The use of topoi, or loci, as the Romans have called them, can be
traced back to early rhetoricians (mostly referred to as sophists) such as
Protagoras or Gorgias. But while in early rhetoric topos was indeed un-
derstood as a complete pattern or formula, a ready-made argument that
can be mentioned at a certain stage of speech (to produce a certain ef-
fect, or, even more important, to justify a certain conclusion)—an under-
standing that largely prevailed with the Renaissance as well—most of the
Aristotelian topoi are general instructions allowing a conclusion of a cer-
tain form (not content), to be derived from premises of a certain form (not
content).
11 An important and more than credible exception in this respect is Sara Rubinelli
with her excellent and most thorough monograph on topoi, Ars Topica. The Classical
Technique of Constructing Arguments from Aristotle to Cicero, Argumentation
Library, Springer, 2009.
24
fruitful rhetorical concepts. It is therefore probably high time that we an-
swer the crucial question: what are topoi?
Back to the foundations: Aristotle and Cicero
It is quite surprising that none of the quoted works even mention the or-
igins of topoi, their extensive treatment in many works and the main au-
thors of these works, namely Aristotle and Cicero. As mentioned earli-
er, the definition, borrowed from Kienpointner (mostly on a copy-paste
basis), does not stem from their work either: it is a hybrid product, with
strong input from Stephen Toulmin’s work The Uses of Argument, pub-
lished in 1958. All this is even more surprising because today it is almost a
commonplace (a topos of its own, if I may say so) that for Aristotle a topos
is a place to look for arguments (which is true), a heading or department
where a number of rhetoric arguments can be easily found (which is true
as well), and that those arguments are ready for use—which is a rather big
misunderstanding. According to Aristotle, topoi are supposed to be of two
kinds: general or common topoi, appropriate for use everywhere and any-
where, regardless of situation, and specific topoi, in their applicability lim-
ited mostly to the three genres of oratory (judicial, deliberative, and epid-
eictic). Or, as Aristotle (Rh. 1358a31–32, 1.2.22) puts it: ‘By specific topics I
mean the propositions peculiar to each class of things, by universal those
common to all alike.’
The Aristotelian topos (literally: ‘place’, ‘location’) is an argumenta-
tive scheme, which enables a dialectician or rhetorician to construe an
argument for a given conclusion. The majority of Aristotle’s interpret-
ers see topoi as the (basic) elements for enthymemes, the rhetorical syllo-
gisms.11 The use of topoi, or loci, as the Romans have called them, can be
traced back to early rhetoricians (mostly referred to as sophists) such as
Protagoras or Gorgias. But while in early rhetoric topos was indeed un-
derstood as a complete pattern or formula, a ready-made argument that
can be mentioned at a certain stage of speech (to produce a certain ef-
fect, or, even more important, to justify a certain conclusion)—an under-
standing that largely prevailed with the Renaissance as well—most of the
Aristotelian topoi are general instructions allowing a conclusion of a cer-
tain form (not content), to be derived from premises of a certain form (not
content).
11 An important and more than credible exception in this respect is Sara Rubinelli
with her excellent and most thorough monograph on topoi, Ars Topica. The Classical
Technique of Constructing Arguments from Aristotle to Cicero, Argumentation
Library, Springer, 2009.
24
