Rhetorical Reason
Encyclopedia
"Rhetorical reason" may be defined as the faculty of discovering the crux of the matter, endemic to rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

al invention, that precedes argumentation.

Aristotle's definition

Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

's definition of rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

, "The faculty of observing, in any given case, the available means of persuasion", presupposes a distinction between an art (τέχνη
Techne
Techne, or techné, as distinguished from episteme, is etymologically derived from the Greek word τέχνη which is often translated as craftsmanship, craft, or art. It is the rational method involved in producing an object or accomplishing a goal or objective...

, techné) of speech–making and a cognitively prior faculty of discovery. That is so because, before one argues a case, one must discover what is at issue. How, for example, does one discover available means of persuasion? One does not simply frolic through fertile fields of τόποι
Inventio
Inventio is the system or method used for the discovery of arguments in Western rhetoric and comes from the Latin word, meaning "invention" or "discovery"...

 (topoi), randomly gathering materials with which to build lines of argument. There is a method endemic to rhetoric which guides the search for those lines of argument that speak most directly to the issue at stake.

George A. Kennedy
George A. Kennedy
George Alexander Kennedy is a contemporary scholar of classical rhetoric and literature.Kennedy received his Ph.D. in classics from Harvard University in 1954 with a dissertation entitled "PROLEGOMENA AND COMMENTARY TO QUINTILIAN VIII "...

 explains the distinction when he writes that the work of rhetoric, in Aristotle's view, "is "to discover [θεωρησαι (theoresai)] the available means of persuasion" (1.1.1355b25-6). It is thus a theoretical activity and discovers knowledge. This knowledge, which includes words, arguments, and topics, is then used by the orator as the material cause of a speech. There is thus a theoretical art of rhetoric standing behind or above the productive art of speech-making" (1980, p. 63).

Rhetorical invention
Inventio
Inventio is the system or method used for the discovery of arguments in Western rhetoric and comes from the Latin word, meaning "invention" or "discovery"...

 then, involves more than a techné
Techne
Techne, or techné, as distinguished from episteme, is etymologically derived from the Greek word τέχνη which is often translated as craftsmanship, craft, or art. It is the rational method involved in producing an object or accomplishing a goal or objective...

; it is also a faculty of discovery (dunamis (δύναμις) to theoresai)—rhetorical reason.

The Aristotelian approach to inventio
Inventio
Inventio is the system or method used for the discovery of arguments in Western rhetoric and comes from the Latin word, meaning "invention" or "discovery"...

n further assumes that reasoning employed in decision-making is a kind of probable reasoning.
"It assumes that, although the contingencies of nature and of individuals prevent our obtaining certainty about future political and social affairs, we still can use our reason to discover the best course to pursue. Such reasoning applied to human affairs to make decisions about what should be done is rhetorical reasoning issuing in praxis". (Moss 1986, pp. 2, 3)

Moral inquiry

Judgments about what should be done in the future are generally matters of shared inquiry and are always contingent (based on probability). Shared inquiry, following Wayne C. Booth
Wayne C. Booth
Wayne Clayson Booth was an American literary critic. He was the George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in English Language & Literature and the College at the University of Chicago...

, can be understood as "the art of reasoning together about shared concerns" (1988, p. 108). That is, shared because the judgment is discursively negotiated with reference to both the crux of the matter and in light of what is in the best interest of oneself or some other. Accounting for both Moss and Booth, rhetorical reason may then be conceptualized as a method of "shared moral inquiry", but one must be precise regarding the meaning of the word "moral". "Moral inquiry", within the present context, means inquiry into practical matters (as opposed to mere speculation or scientific inquiry). Hans-Georg Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 magnum opus, Truth and Method .-Life:...

 uses "moral" in this very sense in Truth and Method (p. 314); Albert R. Jonsen
Albert R. Jonsen
Albert R. Jonsen Ph.D., is a biomedical ethicist and author. He is Emeritus Professor of Ethics in Medicine at the University of Washington, School of Medicine, where he was Chairman of the Department of Medical History and Ethics from 1987-1999, and currently is Co-Director of the Program in...

 and Stephen Toulmin
Stephen Toulmin
Stephen Edelston Toulmin was a British philosopher, author, and educator. Influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Toulmin devoted his works to the analysis of moral reasoning. Throughout his writings, he sought to develop practical arguments which can be used effectively in evaluating the ethics behind...

 write that "moral knowledge is essentially particular" (1988, p. 330). Shared moral inquiry is moral, not because it involves questions of morality, but because it attempts to determine what is the right thing to do in contingent cases; where such judgments are not made deterministically. Moral inquiry is conducted in the contingent realm, and is concerned with the particular case. There are moral implications for all such decisions, but that is another matter.

Understood with precision then, rhetorical reason guides and φρόνησις
Phronesis
Phronēsis is an Ancient Greek word for wisdom or intelligence which is a common topic of discussion in philosophy. In Aristotelian Ethics, for example in the Nicomachean Ethics it is distinguished from other words for wisdom as the virtue of practical thought, and is usually translated "practical...

 (phronesis) drives moral inquiry. The aim of moral inquiry is sound moral judgment, but judgment in hard cases is frustrated because the crux of the matter is hedged in by a potentially limitless parade of particulars.

Rhetorical reason manages particulars by systematically determining the relevance of issues and identifying the στάσις
Inventio
Inventio is the system or method used for the discovery of arguments in Western rhetoric and comes from the Latin word, meaning "invention" or "discovery"...

 (stasis, which is the most relevant of the relevant issues). Now ascribing relevance, per se, is an act of phronesis
Phronesis
Phronēsis is an Ancient Greek word for wisdom or intelligence which is a common topic of discussion in philosophy. In Aristotelian Ethics, for example in the Nicomachean Ethics it is distinguished from other words for wisdom as the virtue of practical thought, and is usually translated "practical...

(Tallmon, 2001 & 1995a, b). Hence, rhetorical reason is a modality of phronesis
Phronesis
Phronēsis is an Ancient Greek word for wisdom or intelligence which is a common topic of discussion in philosophy. In Aristotelian Ethics, for example in the Nicomachean Ethics it is distinguished from other words for wisdom as the virtue of practical thought, and is usually translated "practical...

and also, as Aristotle famously notes, a counterpart of dialectic
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...

. That is, it depends upon practical wisdom for its proper work, and, in that work, it operates much like dialectical inference, only its proper domain is the particular case as opposed to the general question.

Hence, viewed as a guide to resolving tough cases, rhetorical reason is constituted by:
  • topical logic
    Topical logic
    Topical logic is the logic of topical argument, a branch of rhetoric developed in the Late Antique period from earlier works, such as Aristotle's Topics and Cicero's Topica. It consists of heuristics for developing arguments, which are in the first place plausible rather than rigorous, from...

     (which guides inquiry by managing particulars)
  • stasis
    Inventio
    Inventio is the system or method used for the discovery of arguments in Western rhetoric and comes from the Latin word, meaning "invention" or "discovery"...

    (which guides inquiry toward the crux of the matter)
  • sensitivity to maxims
    Maxim (philosophy)
    A maxim is a ground rule or subjective principle of action; in that sense, a maxim is a thought that can motivate individuals.- Deontological ethics :...

     (which signal when the inquiry has taken a turn away from the instant case)
  • dialectical inference (which helps clarify the issue at stake,) and the entire enterprise is driven by
  • phronesis
    Phronesis
    Phronēsis is an Ancient Greek word for wisdom or intelligence which is a common topic of discussion in philosophy. In Aristotelian Ethics, for example in the Nicomachean Ethics it is distinguished from other words for wisdom as the virtue of practical thought, and is usually translated "practical...



Individuals exercise rhetorical reason, but its excellence is realized in the public arena (i.e., in shared inquiry, by referencing pooled wisdom).

See also

  • Rhetoric
    Rhetoric
    Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

  • Casuistry
    Casuistry
    In applied ethics, casuistry is case-based reasoning. Casuistry is used in juridical and ethical discussions of law and ethics, and often is a critique of principle- or rule-based reasoning...

  • Dialectic
    Dialectic
    Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...

  • Practical reason
    Practical reason
    In philosophy, practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act. This contrasts with theoretical reason , which is the use of reason to decide what to believe. For example: agents use practical reason to decide whether to build a telescope, but theoretical reason to decide which of two...

  • Phronesis
    Phronesis
    Phronēsis is an Ancient Greek word for wisdom or intelligence which is a common topic of discussion in philosophy. In Aristotelian Ethics, for example in the Nicomachean Ethics it is distinguished from other words for wisdom as the virtue of practical thought, and is usually translated "practical...

  • Rogerian argument
    Rogerian argument
    Rogerian argument is a conflict solving technique based on finding common ground instead of polarizing debate.-Origin:American psychologist Carl R. Rogers described his "principles of communications," a form of discussion based on finding common ground...

  • Stasis (argumentation theory)
  • Maxims
    Maxim (philosophy)
    A maxim is a ground rule or subjective principle of action; in that sense, a maxim is a thought that can motivate individuals.- Deontological ethics :...

  • Techne
    Techne
    Techne, or techné, as distinguished from episteme, is etymologically derived from the Greek word τέχνη which is often translated as craftsmanship, craft, or art. It is the rational method involved in producing an object or accomplishing a goal or objective...

  • Chaim Perelman
    Chaim Perelman
    Chaïm Perelman was a Polish-born philosopher of law, who studied, taught, and lived most of his life in Brussels. He was among the most important argumentation theorists of the twentieth century...

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