Topoi and Tekmēria: Rhetorical Fluidity among Aristotle, Isocrates, and Alcidamas

Cody, Adam; Eberly, Rosa A.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51268-6_3

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Isocrates positions his philosophy between the aimless, indolent wanderers who pretend to impart exact knowledge of prosperity by teaching debate and the political speechmakers who offer overdetermined technical patterns for stale replication. 144 Alcidamas, for his part, advantages spontaneous orality over laborious writing precisely on account of the former's flexible mobility. 145 Aristotle imagines the probabilistic topical reasoning native to rhetorical argument in terms of fluid motion, in contrast to static demonstration through uncontestable tekmeria.…”

Section: Civil and Swivelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…144 Alcidamas, for his part, advantages spontaneous orality over laborious writing precisely on account of the former's flexible mobility. 145 Aristotle imagines the probabilistic topical reasoning native to rhetorical argument in terms of fluid motion, in contrast to static demonstration through uncontestable tekmeria. 146 The concept of the polos articulated in Birds stands to thicken the present understanding of ancient notions of artful discourse and political community which have proven so generative for public and counterpublic studies.…”

Section: Civil and Swivelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Porous Polis: A Critique of Democracy in Old Comedy

Cody¹

2021

Rhetorica

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It is a sustained concern for Aristophanes studies to assess the political commitments expressed in the comedic poet’s dramatic corpus. Though generally synoptic in describing his critique of democracy, political interpretations of Aristophanes’s plays diverge in justifying that critique as affirmative of democratic principles. This essay argues for considering the Aristophanic critique as external to democratic principles, on account of its assertion of the demos’s basic incapacity for legitimate and effective rule. The essay concludes by identifying where engagement with the Aristophanic critique of democracy may clarify and challenge theories of artful discourse and political community supported by public and counterpublic studies.

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Section: Civil and Swivelmentioning

confidence: 99%