Plato's Communicative Utility in Japan
Jack Kimball
Abstract
Introduction
Aristotelian Invention: System par Excellence
Aristotle domesticated rhetoric by enclosing it in a reassuring system of rules and procedures. And like ethics, metaphysics, and poetics, rhetoric maintained a formulation close to Aristotle's for a good long time (1964:17).The topoi. Aristotle's system of invention, outlined in Book II of the Rhetoric, focuses on deductive reasoning involving three types of proof: appeals to the will (ethos) and emotion (pathos) -- these are the so-called nonlogical arguments -- and a more deliberate appeal to the intellect (logos) -- this is the conventional concern of English-language academic writing. Proofs are advanced by the topoi, the places or sources of argument, which are either specified by a particular academic domain or non-specified as general topics "suitable for application to diverse inquiry" (Barilli 1989:14). Aristotle's strategies for diverse inquiry comprise 28 general topoi, commonplace lines of argument like "opposites," "analytic division," "definition," "synthesis," "cause and effect."
Definition is a way of unfolding what is wrapped up in a subject being examined. One of the rhetorical uses of this topic is to ascertain the specific issue to be discussed. Opponents in a dispute may be arguing at cross-purposes if they do not clearly establish just what the point at issue is. Therefore, after we have formulated our thesis, we may find it necessary to define the key terms in our thematic proposition so that our audience will clearly understand what we are talking about (1971:110-111).
The topoi's role in current-traditional composition. We find telltale
traces of the Aristotelian approach in contemporary practice, albeit in
oddly mutated and diminished forms. For example, the Aristotelian, thesis-driven
approach to invention is a predominant feature of what Richard Young describes
as the "current-traditional" approach to composition teaching. In this
approach students concentrate on superficial, grammatical correctness and
topoi-based forms of discourse -- description, narration, exposition, and
argument -- and more significant to this analysis, the discourse forms
are frequently simplified to topoi-based assignments like "the cause/effect
essay." The role of rhetoric is thus reduced to formal concerns, such as
persuasive force and grammatical precision.
The topoi's application within the current-traditional approach is
still the single most pervasive instance of Aristotle's invention. For
example, the influence of Aristotle's approach contributes to the current
debate in EFL composition methodology regarding forms of structured writing
versus more free-form personal writing (see Horowitz 1986a, 1986b; Zamel
1987, 1992; Silva 1990).
The topoi as thought processes. Among neoclassicist theoreticians who
are influenced by developmental psychology, the topoi are seen as systematizing
invention through "cognitive activities" functioning as "patterns of human
conceptual behavior" (D'Angelo 1975). D'Angelo argues that invention "always
takes place in a system," which he depicts as an underlying cognitive structure
that is "already present in the mind." He adds,
Paradoxically, the topics of invention are both parts and the whole of this system. At no stage in the composing process can division into parts be separated from classification or classification from comparison. Probably all of the topics operate together as a single entity in the process of composing although for theoretical purposes we distinguish them. All are manifestations of the same underlying thought processes (1975:53).While D'Angelo sheds no new light on how the topoi function as thought processes ("Probably all of the topics operate together as a single entity..."), he revitalizes the topoi by situating them in a psychological framework where they are viewed as a rational mode of consciousness operating simultaneously with intuition.
failure to recognize the metaphorical nature of such descriptions has haunted research and pedagogy in language learning. Because writers, for instance, can be said to proceed systematically, teachers have offered as holy writ that writers begin with a "controlling idea" (10).Knoblauch and Brannon are especially critical of the topoi as heuristic panaceas.
The trouble lies mainly in what students infer about the nature and value and purpose of writing when teachers isolate heuristic "strategies" outside the context of writers' primary concerns -- which are to make significant meanings and communicate them to others... It is conceptually wrong, we suggest, to regard inventiveness as a collection of skills and strategies, and pedagogically inappropriate to make them a focus of attention (1984:37).
Knoblauch and Brannon contend that invention skills and strategies separated
from "primary concerns" should not become centers of interest in the writing
classroom. They assert, in addition, that writers "in action look to their
purposes, not to their tools," and so focusing on strategies is not useful
"particularly when writers already 'know' them in the sense of knowing
their use" (ibid.).
This seems a sweeping judgment, as constraining in its advocacy of
invention as a tool for a predetermined purpose as it is incisive in its
criticism of the view of invention as merely a set of strategies. In response
to Knoblauch and Brannon, I would suggest that college writers, both native
speakers and EFL students, frequently discover their purposes in the process
of writing, that is, in the process of inventing. And if students know
the use of some invention strategies, it does not necessarily follow that
writers know strategies pertinent to tasks at hand, or that EFL writers,
for example, are well practiced in applying what they know. Surely there
are occasions when college writers can profit from experimenting with comparisons
or extended definitions (to name just two strategies), if only to discover
how far their imaginations might take them, and to what ends. I find, for
instance, that some of my students here in Japan come up with new angles
or recover old ideas about a topic when they temporarily suspend their
"primary concerns" about significant meaning and audience, and undertake
such experiments. Peter Elbow, another practitioner who stresses experimentation,
claims that ignoring audience can sometimes lead to better writing (1987:53).
Reassessing the topoi. I concur with the major point of Knoblauch's
and Brannon's critique. Isolating heuristic devices like the topoi from
the making of real meaning is a formula for stunted growth. The fault,
though, derives not so much from the topoi's inadequacy even when devoid
of a writer's purpose, as from our pedagogical inattention to the topoi's
primary potential for making meaning. William Grimaldi laments that the
topoi have been passed down to us in truncated form. He suggests that
there has been lost along the way the far richer method of discourse on the human problems they provide. Seen as mere static, stock "commonplaces," stylized sources for discussion on all kinds of subject matter, they have lost the vital, dynamic character given to them by Aristotle, a character extremely fruitful for intelligent, mature discussion of the innumerable significant problems which face man (1958:1).
The topoi possess "vitality" for a range of discussion. In this view the topoi are seen as problem sets leading to methods of discourse addressing controversies. But issues of method arise. How do writers go about their wide range of inquiry? One answer appears in the theory of invention developed by Plato.
Platonic Invention: Context as Method
The contrast between rhetoric and dialectic is struck in the first lines of the dialogue. Gorgias, the renowned orator, is prepared to appear in a set speech. But Socrates asks, will he also be willing to engage in a dialectical conversation? Will he be prepared to let himself too be examined, or will he insist on sticking to his rehearsed "demonstrations"? (1988:31).
Plato's dialectic is a process of examination organized in a three-part
structure: (1) definition of particular terms; (2) analysis, the division
of subject matter into particulars, and particulars into the smallest units
possible; (3) synthesis, moving upward from concrete to abstract, and combining
particulars to reach a unified conclusion (Golden 1984:30-32).
In contrast with Aristotle's invention scheme which presupposes the
topoi be applied to a given premise or thesis question, Plato's invention-as-discovery
is flexible, though implicitly inductive. It is flexible in that participants
can move "up" or "down" the ladder bridging the abstract and concrete.
It is also implicitly inductive in that the subject of conversation is
divided into its discrete components and reconstituted -- making room for
the possibility of novel premises and limitless variation. For instance,
to converse on "love," one might divide the term into its various types
ranging from mere affection to unbridled passion. One could attempt to
divide the types further, determining the constituents, say, of "mild"
versus "warm" affection. (See Plato's Phaedurs for a classic application
of dialectic on love.)
If some of these strategies seem familiar, this is because many of
Aristotle's topoi derive from Plato's dialectical invention. In reconstructing
Plato's conception of dialogue we recover the practical and original methodology
and context for confronting the implicit controversies posed by the topoi.
How does this affect Japanese college writers?
The writer will talk out what he or she wants to write with the questioner encouraging, helping to bring out the material by asking natural questions like "What happened next?" (Wixon and Wixon: 129)
Plato's influence on the aims of discourse. It seems instructive
to consider the transformative potential of Platonic dialogue on the practical
aims of discourse, since learning regimens using dialogic communication,
like those outlined above, foster discovery. One who participates in dialogic
activity is placed at the center of one's limited understanding, and this
is epistemologically appealing because the aims of discourse then become
a function of meeting the challenge of alternative voices, and accounting
for one's understanding in the face of choice. For example, the language
learner will need to supply an answer to a peer who questions, "What happened
next?"
Practice in new discourse forms. Finally, when college writers communicate
with one another about each other's writing, they are practicing new dimensions
of English-language invention. This sort of practice makes sense in light
of the central role some topoi, for example, play in influencing the structure
of academic discourse and formal writing in English.
Moreover, the notion of vibrant conversation is an analog for the communicative
style and tone of well-formed prose in English, psycholinguistic and rhetorical
characteristics that stand in sharp contrast with Japanese prose. Fister-Stoga
(1993) identifies English-language rhetorical style as "variable" and "lively"
and its tone as "animated" and "controversial"; Japanese prose style, on
the other hand, is more "ambiguous" and its tone more "unexcited." It follows,
then, by engaging in conversation and dialogic debate, Japanese learners
could benefit from experiencing the essential (and for them, the additive)
psycholinguistic element of controversy that engineers academic argument
in English-language prose. Fister-Stoga adds that the audience for Japanese
prose is typically "subordinate," receptive and passive; whereas the audience
for English-language prose is "cooperative," that is, it participates in
the controversy. Here, too, Japanese writers might profit from rehearsing
this participatory role of their audience by helping to bring the debate
to life, if you will, talking over components of a formal argument with
other students.
Conclusion
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