Abstract
This study examines the concept of argumentation empirically, to correct the normative conception of argumentation adopted by most scholars since Aristotle. They are not interested in what argumentation is, but in what it ought to be. The pre-Aristotelian approach is preferable, because it recognizes that argumentation, although it includes persuasion, also embraces other eristic techniques in which the speaker does not necessarily seek to persuade, but simply to prevail. This broader descriptive and pragmatic analysis explains the different ways in which discourse actually occurs and particular arguments succeed, leaving in a secondary place the opinion of each author on how they should be.
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Notes
Where Aristotle himself refers his Topics [100a29, 104a8], 1990c. It should be noticed that he emphasizes the dialectical syllogism in the Topics and the enthymeme in the Rhetoric. This could help to explain the apparent contradiction.
“…habet enim rationem et propositionem, non habet conclusionem: ita est ille inperfectus syllogismus.”.
FERRATER MORA says that this work is considered an appendix of the Topics.
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With the support of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq.
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I thank my friend and colleague Mortimer Sellers, University of Baltimore, for the careful review of the English language.
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Adeodato, J.M. Rhetorical Construction of Legal Arguments. Int J Semiot Law 35, 1857–1877 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-021-09879-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-021-09879-x