topos
topos,a standard form of rhetorical argumentation or a variably expressible literary commonplace.
In classical rhetoric, inventio aids the orator to find elements of persuasion: topoi or loci are both the places where such elements (especially plausible argumentative patterns) lurk, and those patterns themselves (e.g. Aristotle Rhetorica 2. 22–3; Quintilian Institutio oratoria 5. 10); if universally applicable (in various senses) they can be called topoi or loci communes. They are the habitual tools of ordinary thought but can also be studied and technically applied. No two rhetoricians provide the same catalogue, but some of the more familiar topoi include arguments ad hominem or a fortiori, from homonymy or etymology, from antecedents or effects.
Although in this sense the ancient discussions remain important for contemporary analyses of everyday argumentation, the...
[The entire page is 471 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
