The Topics
of
Argument
Julie Tedder
2010 - 2011
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.
The Special Topics
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.
Three Special Topics:
• Ceremonial (Epideictic)
• Judicial
• Deliberative
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
Ceremonial Address
• The Praiseworthy (Virtuous)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Courage
Temperance
Justice
Liberality
Magnanimity
Prudence
Gentleness
Ceremonial Address
• The Blameworthy
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Cowardice
Incontinence
Injustice
Illiberality
Meanness of spirit
Rashness
Brutality
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
Judicial Questions
• Evidence
–
–
–
–
What is the evidence
Method of evidence gathering
Reliability of evidence
Credibility of witnesses
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?
Judicial Questions
• Motives or causes:
intention, motives, character of
doer and victim, extenuating
circumstance
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
The Common Topics
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”.
Five Categories of
Common Topics:
•
•
•
•
•
Definition
Comparison
Relationship
Circumstance
Testimony
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.
Definition by Division
• B, C, and D comprise A.
• A is composed of B, C, and D.
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
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
Circumstance
Arguing 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?)
Testimony
Emphasis on who is speaking
•
•
•
•
•
•
Authority
Testimonial
Statistics
Maxim/Proverb
Law
Precedent
• Oath/Affidafit
• Witnesses
• Supernatural
Force/Events
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!