Heuristic strategies in the speeches of Cicero [electronic resource] / Gabor Tahin.

9783319017990 electronic book
3319017993 electronic book
9783319017983
3319017985

Cham : Springer, 2014.

English

1 online resource (xvi, 193 pages)

PA6357 .T34 2014eb

875.01

This book introduces a new form of argumentative analysis: rhetorical heuremes. The method applies the concepts of heuristic thinking, probability, and contingency in order to develop a better understanding of complex arguments in classical oratory. A new theory is required because Greek and Roman rhetoric cannot provide detailed answers to problems of strategic argumentation in the analysis of speeches. Building on scholarship in Ciceronian oratory, this book moves beyond the extant terminology and employs a concept of heuristic reasoning derived from the psychology of decision making and mathematical problem solving. The author analyses selected passages from Cicero's forensic speeches where arguments of probability are deployed, and shows that the Sophistic concept of probability can link ancient rhetoric and modern theories of argumentation. Six groups of heuremes are identified, each of which represents a form of probabilistic reasoning by which the orator plays upon the perception of the jurors.

Dissertation.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Access limited to authorized users.

Description based on online resource; title from pdf information screen (viewed Jan. 16, 2014).

Argumentation library ; volume 23. 1566-7650

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