Stasis Theory 修辞学争议点理论

Theoretical V.S. Practical questions general V.S. spercific
• Any decision you make about the level of generality at which you will pursue an issue is always affected by the rhetorical situation for which you are composing. • Who is audience for the paper or speech • What is the setting • How does the audience feel about the issue • What do they know already • What will the rhetor have to tell them
The Staseis and contrary arguments
• “Dissoi Logoi” or “Countervailing Arguments” • The sophists’ conviction that contradictions pervade rhetorical situations • Depending on circumstances and point of view • The doctrine points to the situational nature of discourse recognized by Kairos. • A systematic exploration of any issue by means of stasis theory can reveal not only the available and often contradictory positions that may be taken up with regard to it. examination of the staseis can also reveal that there are often more than just two sides to any issues.
What happens when stasis is not achieved
• one reason that the argument has not been resolved is that the central propositions put forward by those involed in it are not in stasis. • Reaching stasis means finding the place where opponents agree to disagree • the propositions are seldom offered in the systematic, head-to-head way, or they are seldom put in stasis. • Stasis analysis establishes that the participants in the argument are arguing right past each other. That is to say, the major proposition they put forward do nor address the same issue. • Another reason : the reluctance to admit the implications of its propositions (pro-choicers /pro-lifers)
Brief introduction of stasis theory
• Heuristic in systematic
• Clarifies their thinking about the point in dispute • Think about the assumptions and values shared by members of their targeted audience • Establishes areas in which more researches needs to be down • Suggests which proofs are crucial to the case • Points the way towards the most effective arrangement of the proof
Theoretical V.S. Practical questions general V.S. specific
• Practical : • What people should do, involve human activity (action) • Theoretical : • Why people should do something (theory) • Address the origin and nature of things • Allow rhetors to view questions “from afar” as though they have no immediate relevant for daily affairs and putting aside for the moment their practical effects
Stasis Theory: Asking the Right Question
a combined effort of SUN yanni and WANG xue
Outline
• • • • • • • • Brief introduction of stasis theory Theoretical V.S. Practical questions What happens when stasis is not achieved The four questions Elaborating the questions Using the stasis examples Confirmation & Refutation
Theoretical V.S. Practical questions general V.S. spercific
• Questions that hover somewhere between the very general and the very specific( argument cast as personal, financial choice, ethical aspect)
Theoretical V.S. Practical questions general V.S. specific
• Difference: consider the level of generality at which an issue may be addressed. • Issues in general terms give the speaker a persuasive advantage, since the audience might view as self-serving the particular statement of the issue • Specific statement: a specific place and implies a single potential action. • Hypothesis: name a specific question that involved actual persons, places or events. • Thesis: name general questions having wide applicationmatters suited to political, ethical, or philosophical discussionwhich don’t refer to actual persons or events. • Quintilian: every special issue presupposes a general one.
Brief introduction of stasis theory
• Heuristic in systematic
• No guarantee that your consideration and development of Theoretical and Practical or general and specific questions will provide you exactly the proposition that you wish to argue • Continual to refine the issue and develop the nuances of your propositions you work through each of the rhetorical canons (invention can begin all over again during late stages of the composing process) • Enrich your stock of arguments-your intellectual Copia • A systematic, thoughtful consideration of the issue may provide you precisely the proposition you are looking for, as well as arguments you can use to support it.
Putting these distinctions to work
• A good way to decide which kind and level of question you wish to argue is to imagine the kind and level of question your opponents may advance.
Theoretical V.S. Practical questions general V.S. spercific
• Theoretical investigations provide positions on more practical issues, but they also take rhetors far afield from everyday event. practical question has theoretical underpinning
Brief introduction of stasis theory
• Definition & origin • Staseis: Questions or issues in Greek • Sta源自文库is: derived from a Greek word meaning “a stand” • Mordern equivalence: issue (the point about which all parties to an argument can agree to disagree)
Brief introduction of stasis theory
• The use/purpose/aim
• A means of invention provides rhetors with a set of questions that , when asked systematically, can help them to determine just where it is that the disagreement between themselves and their audience begins. • The stasis marks the place where two opposing forces come together, where they rest or stand in agreement on what is at issue. • Find all the available arguments
Putting these distinctions to work
• Rhetor can begin the argument from their own ground while the opponent may begin by defining the issue so that the stand occurs on his ground