TOPOS – TOPIC – ARGUMENTATION SCHEME
1. Topic
In general vocabulary, the word topic refers to (MW, Topic):
- 1 a: one of the general forms of argument in probable reasoning
b: argument, reason - 2
a: a heading in an outlined argument or exposition
b: the subject of a discourse or of a section of a discourse
The two meanings of topic go from topic1 a formal, inferential pole (meaning 1) to a substantive pole (meaning 2). They correspond to the two different meanings of argument used in its definition, see (to) argue, argument.
— Topic1: According to (1), argument in a “reasoning” context, means “argument1”. Correspondingly, a topic1 here is an argument1 scheme or an argumentation derived from such a scheme. In this sense, it can be seen as a translation of the Greek word topos.
— Topic2: According to (2), argument in an “exposition” and “subject” context, means argument3. Correlatively, a topic2 is an argument3, that is to say, the matter, the content of a discourse.
2. Topos
In contemporary English, the word topos is defined as “a traditional or conventional literary or rhetorical theme or topic” (MW, Topos).
2.1 Topos as “Argumentative Scheme” and “Topic1”
In Greek, the word topos (pl. topoi) has the basic meaning of “place”. In argumentative rhetoric, topos is used metaphorically to refer to “the place where arguments are found”; a topic is an argumentative scheme.
Thus the Greek word topos is translated as topic by Freese and as argumentative line by Rhys Robert in their respective translations of Aristotle’s Rhetoric.
In Latin, the corresponding word is locus (pl. loci), which also means “place”, translated as topic by Hubble in his translation of Cicero’s Topica, as “presumptive proof” by Caplan in his translation of the Rhetorica ad Herennium, etc. In a famous metaphor, Cicero defines the argumentative places (Lat. loci, sg. locus) as “the name given by Aristotle to the ‘regions’ from which arguments are drawn” (Top, I, 8, p. 387). “Region” is translated from the Latin sedes, which also means “position, ground”; the loci are the foundations or “patterns” of arguments (id., I, 9, p. 389).
In the argumentation in language theory, the concept of an inferential topos is redefined as a pair of semantically related predicates, see topos in semantics.
2.2 Topos as “topic2”
In the substantive sense, a topic (topos, commonplace) is an endoxon, a formulaic element corresponding to an answer to a « topical question »; or the whole discourse developing such a formula, « the lawyer developed the topos of the well-known peaceful character of the Syldavians« , see doxa. Such discourses are suspected of being false and insincere, because they are traditional:
it is not easy to distinguish fact from topos in these documents (OD, Topos)
2.3 Topos in Literary Analysis
The concept of topos (pl. topoi) was introduced into literary analysis by Ernst-Robert Curtius to refer to a substantial, traditional idea that the writer develops, comments on and expands in the light of the circumstances. From a cultural and psychological point of view, a topos is “an archetype, […] a representation of the collective unconscious as defined by C. G. Jung” (Curtius [1948], vol.1, p.180).
For example, the topos of “the old man and the child” is consistently exploited in advertisements for wealth management and inheritance arrangements.
The topoi can be used to fill an obligatory discursive slot. Thus, at the end of a presentation, the speaker declares that “he is quite ready to submit to possible negative observations, objections or even refutations, which are really considered as a contribution to a better understanding of his own data.
Curtius’ suggestions have led rise to an important research trend on the topoi, especially in Germany (Viehweg, 1953; Bornscheuer 1976, Breuer & Schanze 1981).
3. Common place
1. In argumentation theory, the term commonplace corresponds to the Latin locus communis, translated from the Greek topos.
Often reduced to place (locus, pl. loci), an inferential commonplace is an inferential topos, or argument scheme.
– A substantive commonplace is an endoxon, a formulaic expression of common thought. Traditional rhetoric specialized in the argumentative use of substantive commonplaces.
2. In the general vocabulary, the expression commonplace is synonymous with cliché, both having the same depreciative orientation. Topos can be used with the same value.
3. In literary analysis, a commonplace is a “substantial topos”, in the sense of Curtius [1948].
4. Argument Schemes
The terms argument type, or argument scheme, or presumptive proof unambiguously denote a general, formal, inferential scheme.
The terms topic and commonplace are ambiguous between a formal and a substantive meaning.
The term argument line is somewhat ambiguous, since it can be used to refer to an argument scheme or to a whole, coherent argumentative strategy, see argument scheme; collections (I).
4. Line of Argument
The term argument line can refer to:
— A discourse that develops a series of co-oriented or convergent arguments, developed by the same arguer or by allied arguers to support a conclusion, either in the same interaction or in different verbal or written interventions.
– Marginally, to an argument scheme.