Dialectic and Classical Rhetoric — Socrates, Plato & Aristotle

Dialectic and Refutation

First sense of dialectic and disputation

This dialectic consists of accepting premises approved by the adversary and then refuting his reasoning and conclusions. This art of refutation corresponds to an argument with significant offensive or defensive value. This is an ad hominem argument, i.e., directed against the adversary.

The Sophists and Rhetoric

The Sophists

They invented rhetoric: the art of speaking to persuade, especially in political and legal discourse. Their pedagogy was argumentation-based: they taught the mechanisms of debate, argument, and persuasion.

Socrates and the Inductive Method

Socrates

Socrates applied the inductive method that goes from the particular to the general and from the general to the particular, from the concrete to the abstract and from the abstract to the concrete.

Plato on Truth and Rhetoric

Plato

Plato distinguishes philosophical work aimed at convincing by seeking truth, being, and ideas, from persuasion—the tasks used by rhetorical sophistry, which rely on affective appeals and act on the feelings of the audience rather than on reason.

• He searches for truth and universal knowledge and opposes the philosophy of fallacious knowledge.
• He opposes rhetoric to reason and dialectic, viewing rhetoric as subordinate to philosophy.

Aristotle on Argument and Rhetoric

Aristotle

In the Topics Aristotle outlines the role of argument, is concerned with reasoning mechanisms and procedures for discussion, and tries to identify the techniques of argument in the dialogues of Plato. He provides the first theoretical treatment of reasoning and demonstration, and develops case logic.

• He qualifies in a systematic manner the mechanisms used to move from premises to conclusions.
• He proposes argumentative techniques based on the principle of non-contradiction, whereby two contradictory things cannot be true simultaneously.

Aristotle classifies oratory and rhetoric into types: deliberative, judicial (forensic), and demonstrative (epideictic). On the other hand, rhetoric in the speech generates the following operative components:

Five Canons of Rhetoric

1. Inventio: Establishing the evidence or reasons for the speech.
2. Dispositio: Arrangement or distribution of these proofs throughout the speech.
3. Elocutio: Verbal composition of the arguments.
4. Actio: Delivery or staging of the speech from the standpoint of the speaker, the addressee, and the message itself.
5. Memoria: Appeal to memory and to other texts that function as models or stereotypes.