D.L. CLARK ON THE FIRST RESOURCE OF THE SPEAKER: INVENTION

The art of finding out what the speaker or writer should say.

I. Investigate the facts

This aspect was not much taught but would include investigating evidence and questioning witnesses, perhaps with Socratic dialog.

II. Determine the main character and issues of the case.

1. Stasis/Status: the hinge upon which the case turns.

a. an sit: "whether it is"--fact

b. quid sit: "what it is"--definition

c. quaule sit: "its quality"--was it good or bad (value issue)

d. Plus in more modern times, VENUE: is this the proper jurisdiction.

2. Topoi/topics/places: The places where arguments look.

As part of the determination of the character and issues of the case, "the value of the places of argument is that in endeavoring to find answers to the questions posed, the student begins to see relationships amongst the data of his knowledge and experience. In a word, he begins to think. Or in terms of public speaking, he begins to discover means to logical persuasion. As treated in INVENTIO the process was analytical and exploratory." (p. 78)

a. common topics: attributes/characteristics and relationships which can be found in all matters. The list can run into the hundreds. b. special topics: particular topics to contexts.

i. forensic: justice and equality and their opposites.

ii. epideictic: virtue and vice iii. deliberative: possibility, honor, expediency.

3. Discover all the available means of persuasion

a. Inartistic proofs: those aspects outside the speaker (and the discourse) him/itself. For Aristotle, such items as oaths, contracts, witnesses, etc. much of this material we would list as "evidence."

b. artistic proofs: those with the speaker and the speech.

i. ethos: the character of the speaker. Good sense, good moral character, and good will.

ii. pathos: emotional appeals such as pity, fear, anger, and their opposites. The first "psychology" of audience analysis (Aristotle)

iii. logical argument (avoid the term "logos" here) Supporting the case (claims) with evidence and reasoning Induction, deduction, and the commonplace system. "When ancient rhetoric took up the places of argument in the doctrine of proof and refutation in the composition of the speech itself, the process was reversed. The student then was taught to synthesize the arguments he had found into a close-knit fabric of proof and apparent proof of his case. The means for securing this synthesis were the technics of inductive and deductive reasoning adapted to the speech situation." (p. 78)