A great part of what we associated today with informal Logic and Argumentation Theory had its origin in the Ars topica or Topica, the art of finding arguments in order to defend a point of view, a court case or a doctrine. The systematization of this art is to be found in two works by Aristotle, Topics and the Rhetoric. Curiously, Aristotle never defined in these texts what he means by a topic (τόπος) or, in his Latin translation, a place of an argument (locus argumentorum). However, it seems clear that a topic is an argumentative strategy that is based on semantics and pragmatics rules about which we will talk in this lecture.

Those argumentative strategies are used in Dialectic and Rhetoric, two disciplines that, according to Aristotle, are not sciences because they do not deal with a defined genus of objects. And they correspond to two different communicative situations. Dialectic deals with the strategies that a participant must follow in a dialogue with other people in order not to fall into contradiction with themselves. The dialectical syllogism is distinguished from the scientific syllogism by the fact that it relies on endoxa—that is, commonly accepted ideas. In Rhetoric, the focus is on the strategies that must be followed by a speaker who wishes to persuade their audience. Consequently, the exposition of the loci of argumentation is different in the Topics and in the Rhetoric. In his Topics, Aristotle organized the loci using the predicables (genus, property, definition, accident), which were of great importance in the Logic of Late Antiquity. In Rhetoric, the topos of the “greater and the lesser” (whoever can do the more difficult can do the easier) plays a decisive role.

For the transmission of the ars topica to the Middle Ages, Cicero’s book Topics was important. Cicero wrote this work at the request of a friend interested in forensic argumentation. The book is valuable as a source of knowledge about Roman law and about Stoic logic. However, Cicero does not develop a logical theory there; instead, he provides a series of practical strategies to be used in the forensic sphere. Cicero’s text was the object of an important commentary by Boethius (In Ciceronis Topica), in which he systematizes what is found in Cicero’s Topics. Boethius also wrote a book on Topics (De topicis differentiis), where he presents his own conception. In that text, Boethius offers original thought that shows differences from Aristotle’s conception.

 In our lecture we will focus mainly on three themes: the analysis of the concept of topos, the distinction between dialectical topics and rhetorical topics, and the evolution of the concept of topos from Aristotle to Boethius

Bibliography

Aristotle. Les topics. Translation to French J. Brunschvig. Belles Lettres: Paris, 2002

Aristotle. On Rhetoric. A Theory of civic Discourse.  Translated by Georg Kennedy. 2a ed. Oxford University Press, 2007

Boethius.  In Ciceronis Topica. Translated by E. Stumpf. Cornell University Press, 2010

Boethius. De topicis differentiis. Translated by E. Stumpf. Cornell University Press,2009

Cicero. Topics. Translated by Tobias Reinhardt. Oxford University Press, 2003

Rubinelli, S. Ars Topica.  The classical Technique of constructing Arguments from Aristotle to Cicero. Springer,2009