Invention From Corax

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Invention Invention is the first canon of rhetoric. It concerns not only the exploration for and the discovery of new ideas but also the storing and recollecting of old ones. Invention, then, is not the argument itself so much as the methods of its discovery. Unfortunately, few people are trained in invention, at least in the classical sense. What was once an art filled with topical systems has been decayed to the journalistic commonplace: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? While this commonplace continues to be useful, there are numerous means of invention, both classical and modern. The Rhetorical Situation The main components of the rhetorical situation are the text (oral, written, or visual), the author of the text (speaker, writer, designer, etc.), the audience (both the audience for whom the text is intended and the audience who simply comes into contact with the text), and the context in which the text was produced and in which it continues to be reproduced. These components are often called the rhetorical triangle, with the text occupying the middle of the triangle and author, audience, and context the three points. According to rhetorician Lloyd Bitzer, there are three aspects to the rhetorical situation: exigence, audience, and constraints. While exigence refers to a problem that creates the need for a rhetorical response, constraints refer to what things are possible or impossible in the rhetor’s response to his or her audience. If successful, the rhetor has offered what Bitzer calls a fitting response. In the classical period, rhetoricians identified two critical aspects of the fitting response: kairos (timing) and to prepon (decorum). Overall, the concept of the rhetorical situation emphasizes two of the more significant aspects of rhetoric: audience and purpose. Stasis Theory Stasis theory is a means to determine what the main points at issue in a given case are, that is, where the controversy lies in a given case. It is the basis of legal procedure in Western Europe and the United States. St asis theory involves four parts: •

Question of fact: Does it exist or did it happen? Is it true? Where does it come from? What causes it? Can it be changed?

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Question of definition: What is it? How can it be defined? What kind of thing is it? What are its parts and how are they related to each other? What is it a part of?

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Question of quality: Is it good or bad? Is it better or worse than something else? Should it be sought or avoided? Is it more or less desirable than its alternatives? Is it right or wrong? Is it more or less right than something else? Is it more or less wrong than something else?

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Question of procedure: What should we do about it?

The Common Topics Classical rhetoric views argument as situated, not only in time and place but also in manner, in the nature of argument itself. The principal means of inventing arguments are topics Copyright © 2002-2005 Thomas J. Kinney. All Rights Reserved. http://www.u.arizona.edu/~tkinney

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(topoi, literally: place), which are conceived of as places where arguments are stored for future use. As such, they are the “grounds” of argument. Hence, by using various topics, a rhetor is able to invent lines of argument and take a “stand” on an issue. There are four common topics, which can be grouped into three broad categories: • • •

Circumstance o Past fact (Has x already happened or not?) o Future fact (Will x happen or not?) Comparison o Greater/lesser (To what degree are x and y different?) Possibility o Possible/impossible (Can x happen or not?)

Commonplaces A commonplace is simply a statement that is generally accepted by a given audience or community. Rhetoric is sometimes called the art of the commonplace because it uses everyday knowledge and language in order to move common people into action. Like common sense, the commonplace is common because it is shared by a large community of people rather than an individual or a smaller group of people. Hence, the commonplace is the opposite of expert knowledge. Commonplaces can be useful as means of invention insofar as they provide support for many arguments, especially arguments about values. In fact, in the Renaissance and through the eighteenth century, students (and even ordinary people) would keep commonplace books, notebooks with thoughts, ideas, bits and pieces of discourse, sayings, and quotations from others, all of which would be used as a storehouse for commonplaces. Further Means of Invention Of course, rhetorical situation, stasis theory, common topics, and commonplaces are not the only means of invention. Two of the more common means are keeping a reading journal and freewriting, the latter of which is writing for a set amount of time without editing yourself. Looping is a form of freewriting in which you periodically review what you have written, focus on the things that interest you, and then start a new round of freewriting. Two often overlooked means of invention are talking and listing (outlining being a more elaborate form of listing). Similarly, clustering (also known as webbing or mapping) is a technique in which you write down and circle the word for a central idea, and then write down related ideas, both circling them and connecting them to each other. One final means of invention is cubing, which is similar to the journalistic commonplace. Instead of sex basic questions, though, cubing requires you to respond to your subject in six different ways: description, comparison, association, analysis, application, and argument. External Aids to Invention •

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Handbooks o Information Please (http://www.infoplease.com/ ) o The New York Public Library Desk Reference. 4th ed. o The World Almanac and Book of Facts o See also http://www.library.arizona.edu/research.htm Encyclopedias Copyright © 2002-2005 Thomas J. Kinney. All Rights Reserved. http://www.u.arizona.edu/~tkinney

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o The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. o The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th ed. Library Catalogs o UA Library’s Catalog (http://www.library.arizona.edu) o See also Research Instruction Online (http://www.library.arizona.edu/ rio) Periodical, Newspaper, and C itation Indexes o EBSCOhost (http://www.library.arizona.edu/indexes/links/ebscohost.shtml) o InfoTrack One File (http://www.library.arizona.edu/indexes/links/eai.shtml) o Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe (http://www.library.arizona.edu/indexes/links/ acaduniv.shtml) o See also http://www.library.arizona.edu/research.htm Statistical Sources and Government Documents o Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications o Statistical Abstract of the United States Bibliographies o A World Bibliographies of Bibliographies o Bibliographic Index: A Cumulative Bibliography Dictionaries o The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. o Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.m-w.com/ ) Books of Quotations and Concordances o Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations Internet and World Wide Web o Google (http://www.google.com) o See http://www.library.arizona.edu/search.htm

Copyright © 2002-2005 Thomas J. Kinney. All Rights Reserved. http://www.u.arizona.edu/~tkinney