Inventing topoi in the progymnasmata: : Kefalaion as the organon of rhetoric
(2017) The Twenty-First Biennial Conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric, 2017- Abstract
- Rhetoric is a teaching tradition. The rhetorical exercises in the progymnasmata are the main method in which rhetoric has been taught throughout history. These exercises are organized according to difficulty, the material covered, the rhetorical genre, the canons of rhetoric and the disposition of the speech. The main organizing principle is however the topoi for inventing the speech or text in each exercise. The topoi are given the technical term kefalaia.
Aphthonius of Antioch wrote the most influential version of the progymnasmata about 400 A.D. It served as the introduction to Hermogean Corpus. For the interpretation of these texts we turn to medieval commentators like Johannes Sardianos, edited by Hugo Rabe in Rhetores... (More) - Rhetoric is a teaching tradition. The rhetorical exercises in the progymnasmata are the main method in which rhetoric has been taught throughout history. These exercises are organized according to difficulty, the material covered, the rhetorical genre, the canons of rhetoric and the disposition of the speech. The main organizing principle is however the topoi for inventing the speech or text in each exercise. The topoi are given the technical term kefalaia.
Aphthonius of Antioch wrote the most influential version of the progymnasmata about 400 A.D. It served as the introduction to Hermogean Corpus. For the interpretation of these texts we turn to medieval commentators like Johannes Sardianos, edited by Hugo Rabe in Rhetores Graeci 1927, and John Doxapatres, included in Prolegomenen Sylloge, edited by Rabe in Rhetores Graeci 1931. These commentaries have been largely neglected in the history of rhetoric.
Sardianos and Doxapatres introduce us to a whole new world concerned with the teaching of rhetoric. These texts explain the central role of kefalaia in rhetoric and the progymnasmata. Doxapatres explains that rhetoric and dialectic differ in several ways. One is the tools or instruments used, organa. Dialectic uses induction and syllogism. Rhetoric uses kefalaia, epicheiremes, enthymemes and elaboration. Ta kefalaia are defined as the part of speech that shows the problem at hand, from the combination of thought and inductive proof. The kefalaia are important for the invention of the matter of the speech, but the kefalaia are different from invention in four ways. The kefalaia are dependent on the stasis of each case; they are arranged in a certain order, the legal, the moral, etc; the kefalaia are concerned with the argumentation in the case; the kefalaia contribute to invention, whereas invention does not contribute to the kefalaia.
Understanding topoi as kefalaia tells us how topoi are used as tools of invention in relation to the issue at hand. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Rhetoric is a teaching tradition. The rhetorical exercises in the progymnasmata are the main method in which rhetoric has been taught throughout history. These exercises are organized according to difficulty, the material covered, the rhetorical genre, the canons of rhetoric and the disposition of the speech. The main organizing principle is however the topoi for inventing the speech or text in each exercise. The topoi are given the technical term kefalaia.
Aphthonius of Antioch wrote the most influential version of the progymnasmata about 400 A.D. It served as the introduction to Hermogean Corpus. For the interpretation of these texts we turn to medieval commentators like Johannes Sardianos, edited by Hugo Rabe in Rhetores Graeci... (More) - Rhetoric is a teaching tradition. The rhetorical exercises in the progymnasmata are the main method in which rhetoric has been taught throughout history. These exercises are organized according to difficulty, the material covered, the rhetorical genre, the canons of rhetoric and the disposition of the speech. The main organizing principle is however the topoi for inventing the speech or text in each exercise. The topoi are given the technical term kefalaia.
Aphthonius of Antioch wrote the most influential version of the progymnasmata about 400 A.D. It served as the introduction to Hermogean Corpus. For the interpretation of these texts we turn to medieval commentators like Johannes Sardianos, edited by Hugo Rabe in Rhetores Graeci 1927, and John Doxapatres, included in Prolegomenen Sylloge, edited by Rabe in Rhetores Graeci 1931. These commentaries have been largely neglected in the history of rhetoric.
Sardianos and Doxapatres introduce us to a whole new world concerned with the teaching of rhetoric. These texts explain the central role of kefalaia in rhetoric and the progymnasmata. Doxapatres explains that rhetoric and dialectic differ in several ways. One is the tools or instruments used, organa. Dialectic uses induction and syllogism. Rhetoric uses kefalaia, epicheiremes, enthymemes and elaboration. Ta kefalaia are defined as the part of speech that shows the problem at hand, from the combination of thought and inductive proof. The kefalaia are important for the invention of the matter of the speech, but the kefalaia are different from invention in four ways. The kefalaia are dependent on the stasis of each case; they are arranged in a certain order, the legal, the moral, etc; the kefalaia are concerned with the argumentation in the case; the kefalaia contribute to invention, whereas invention does not contribute to the kefalaia.
Understanding topoi as kefalaia tells us how topoi are used as tools of invention in relation to the issue at hand.
(Less)
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- author
- Eriksson, Anders LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017-07-28
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- The Twenty-First Biennial Conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric, 2017
- conference location
- London, United Kingdom
- conference dates
- 2017-07-26 - 2017-07-29
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7df714a6-664e-49c9-be97-1ccb0c449754
- date added to LUP
- 2017-11-17 14:22:40
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:36:07
@misc{7df714a6-664e-49c9-be97-1ccb0c449754,
abstract = {{Rhetoric is a teaching tradition. The rhetorical exercises in the progymnasmata are the main method in which rhetoric has been taught throughout history. These exercises are organized according to difficulty, the material covered, the rhetorical genre, the canons of rhetoric and the disposition of the speech. The main organizing principle is however the topoi for inventing the speech or text in each exercise. The topoi are given the technical term kefalaia. <br/><br/>Aphthonius of Antioch wrote the most influential version of the progymnasmata about 400 A.D. It served as the introduction to Hermogean Corpus. For the interpretation of these texts we turn to medieval commentators like Johannes Sardianos, edited by Hugo Rabe in Rhetores Graeci 1927, and John Doxapatres, included in Prolegomenen Sylloge, edited by Rabe in Rhetores Graeci 1931. These commentaries have been largely neglected in the history of rhetoric.<br/><br/>Sardianos and Doxapatres introduce us to a whole new world concerned with the teaching of rhetoric. These texts explain the central role of kefalaia in rhetoric and the progymnasmata. Doxapatres explains that rhetoric and dialectic differ in several ways. One is the tools or instruments used, organa. Dialectic uses induction and syllogism. Rhetoric uses kefalaia, epicheiremes, enthymemes and elaboration. Ta kefalaia are defined as the part of speech that shows the problem at hand, from the combination of thought and inductive proof. The kefalaia are important for the invention of the matter of the speech, but the kefalaia are different from invention in four ways. The kefalaia are dependent on the stasis of each case; they are arranged in a certain order, the legal, the moral, etc; the kefalaia are concerned with the argumentation in the case; the kefalaia contribute to invention, whereas invention does not contribute to the kefalaia. <br/><br/>Understanding topoi as kefalaia tells us how topoi are used as tools of invention in relation to the issue at hand.}},
author = {{Eriksson, Anders}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{07}},
title = {{Inventing topoi in the progymnasmata: : Kefalaion as the organon of rhetoric}},
year = {{2017}},
}