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The Topics of Argument

The Topics of Argument. Julie Tedder 2010 - 2011.

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The Topics of Argument

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  1. The Topicsof Argument Julie Tedder 2010 - 2011

  2. Within rhetorical invention, the topics or topoi are basic categories of relationships among ideas, each of which can serve as a template or heuristic for discovering things to say about a subject. "Topics of invention" literally means "places to find things." Aristotle divided these into the "Common" and "Special" topics of invention.

  3. The Special Topics

  4. You have an occasion, you have a reader, and you have a message (your response to the essay prompt). The next thing you need to consider is what type of rhetoric you going to be using.The special topics help you with this. They define the purpose of your essay. There are three special topics, one dealing with issues of the PAST, one dealing with issues of the PRESENT, and one dealing with issues of the FUTURE.

  5. Three Special Topics: • Ceremonial (Epideictic) • Judicial • Deliberative

  6. Ceremonial Address • Praising and Blaming • Virtue and Vice • Tied to the PRESENT – whether someone or something is noble or base • Examples: Graduation speeches Memorial services Dedications

  7. Ceremonial Address • The Praiseworthy (Virtuous) • Courage • Temperance • Justice • Liberality • Magnanimity • Prudence • Gentleness

  8. Ceremonial Address • The Blameworthy • Cowardice • Incontinence • Injustice • Illiberality • Meanness of spirit • Rashness • Brutality

  9. Judicial Address • Deal with Justice and Injustice • Deals with whether an act of the PAST is right or wrong, whether someone is guilty or innocent. • Examples: The Declaration of Independence Editorials denouncing policy Forensic Courtroom Cases

  10. Judicial Questions • Evidence • What is the evidence • Method of evidence gathering • Reliability of evidence • Credibility of witnesses

  11. Judicial Questions • Definition • What specifically is the charge being made? • What is the legal definition of the alleged injustice? • Written, promulgated law • Unwritten, natural law • Rights: positive and negative • Who was harmed?

  12. Judicial Questions • Motives or causes: intention, motives, character of doer and victim, extenuating circumstance

  13. Deliberative Address • Deals with the good, the worthy, the advantageous / the bad, the unworthy, the disadvantageous • Deals with FUTURE decisions that must be made (goodness for goodness’ sake, advantageous to most/some) • Examples: Henry’s Speech to the Virginia Convention Congressional or Supreme Court decisions Declarations of War

  14. The Common Topics

  15. Now that you have considered your occasion, reader, type of rhetoric, special appeals as well as generated a thesis statement, you need to dig into the specific content of your particular essay.To this end, you use the common topics, a list of topics from which you ‘invent’ arguments for each paragraph of the essay about your subject, “A”.

  16. Five Categories of Common Topics: • Definition • Comparison • Relationship • Circumstance • Testimony

  17. Definition by Genus • A is B, meaning A (as a category) belongs within the category of B. • All men are mortal beings. • Socrates is a man. • Some college students are taxpayers. • No professors are college students.

  18. Definition by Division • B, C, and D comprise A. • A is composed of B, C, and D.

  19. Comparison • Argument of similarity • Made to show similarity when difference is the most obvious quality • Argument of difference • Made to show difference when similarity is the most obvious quality • Argument of degree • Greater/lesser, more/less, better/worse arguments • Frequently inverts the common perception

  20. Relationship • Cause and effect • Key issue is adequacy. • Multiple causation and/or effect • Antecedent-consequent • Result of human decision-making • Consequent is likely, not certain • Contraries • Establishing opposite or opposing conditions • Contradictories • Denial or negation only

  21. CircumstanceArguing from present knowledge • Future fact • Prediction • Past fact • Recreating the past • Possiblity/Impossibility • A fortiori argument (If one thing is likely, how much more likely is something stronger? If one thing is not likely, how much less likely is something weaker?)

  22. TestimonyEmphasis on who is speaking • Authority • Testimonial • Statistics • Maxim/Proverb • Law • Precedent • Oath/Affidafit • Witnesses • Supernatural Force/Events

  23. Through understanding the Topics of Invention, we can not only more efficiently compose our own arguments, but we can better discern the purpose of the arguments of others!

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