What is Sophism in Rhetoric

A plausible but fallacious argument, or deceptive argumentation in general. In rhetorical studies, sophism refers to the argumentative strategies practiced and taught by the Sophists. Etymology: From the Greek, wise, clever Examples and Observations: When a false argument puts on the appearance of a true one, then it is properly called a sophism or fallacy.(Isaac Watts, Logic, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth, 1724)It is too often that sophism is mistaken for sheer falseness, or even more annoying, for paradox. . . . When logical incorrectness . . . is aimed at deceiving we are dealing with a sophism (abuse of intelligence).(Henri Wald, Introduction to Dialectical Logic. John Benjamins, 1975) Sophism in Ancient Greece Because of their developed ability to argue either side of a case, the Sophists students were powerful contestants in the popular debating contests of their day, and also were highly successful advocates in court. The dialectical method was employed in part because the Sophists accepted the notion of dissoi logoi or contradictory arguments. That is, Sophists believed that strong arguments could be produced for or against any claim. . . . [W]e should note that Western culture has come closer to following the argumentative model set out by Sophists like Protagoras and Gorgias in the actual conduct of its affairs than that suggested by Plato of seeking the truth by means of philosophical inquiry. (James A. Herrick, The History and Theory of Rhetoric. Allyn and Bacon, 2001)Sophism was not a school of thought. The thinkers who came to be called Sophists held a wide variety of views on most subjects. Even when we find some common elements in Sophism generally, there are exceptions to most of these generalizations. (Don E. Marietta, Introduction to Ancient Philosophy. M.E. Sharpe, 1998) Contemporary Sophism - What we find in both ancient Sophism and contemporary Sophistic rhetoric is a basic faith in civic humanism and a pragmatic approach to civic life. [Jasper] Neel, in Aristotles Voice [1994], however, points out that the contemporary Sophistic movement is not dependent on what the ancient Sophists may or may not have believed or taught. Rather, Neel argues, contemporary Sophism should inhabit the (human) discourse that Plato and Aristotle excluded under the name of Sophistry, regardless of whether that excluded and debased discourse correctly reproduces what anyone else in ancient Athens may have advocated (190). In other words, the mission of contemporary Sophism is not to figure out what the ancient Sophists believed and practiced, but rather to develop concepts that allow us to turn away from the absolutism of Western philosophy.Contemporary sophism, however, has been mainly occupied with the historical restoration of Sophistic beliefs and practices, using concepts from postmoder nism to patch together and flesh out a coherent Sophistic perspective. (Richard D. Johnson-Sheehan, Sophistic Rhetoric. Theorizing Composition: A Critical Sourcebook of Theory And Scholarship in Contemporary Composition Studies, ed. by Mary Lynch Kennedy. IAP, 1998)- In using the term sophist in my title I am not being insulting. Both Derrida and Foucault have argued in their writings on philosophy and culture that ancient sophism was a more significant critical strategy against Platonism, the hidden core in both of their views for philosophys suspect impulses, than traditional academics fully appreciate. But, more important, each makes an appeal to sophistic strategies in his own writing. (Robert DAmico, Contemporary Continental Philosophy. Westview Press, 1999) The Lazy Sophism: Determinism I knew an old man who had been an officer in the First World War. He told me that one of his problems had been to get men to wear their helmets when they were at risk from enemy fire. Their argument was in terms of a bullet having your number on it. If a bullet had your number on it, then there was no point in taking precautions, for it was going to kill you. On the other hand, if no bullet had your number on it, then you were safe for another day, and did not need to wear the cumbersome and uncomfortable helmet.The argument is sometimes called the lazy sophism. . . .Doing nothing--failing to put on a helmet, putting on an orange shawl and saying Om--represents a choice. To have your choosing modules set by the lazy sophism is to be disposed toward this kind of choice. (Simon Blackburn, Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy. Oxford University Press, 1999)

10 Prehistoric Battles That Could (and Probably Did) Happen

Paraphrasing Free Essays

Paraphrase the following extracts taken from the short stories by Kaki and Dylan Thomas we read last week. 1 )Although he was scarcely yet out of his teens, the Duke of CSCW was already marked out as a personality widely differing from others of his caste and period. Not in externals; therein he conformed correctly to type. We will write a custom essay sample on Paraphrasing or any similar topic only for you Order Now His hair was faintly reminiscent of Habitant, and at the other end of him his shoes exhaled the right SOUPÇON of harness-room; his socks compelled one’s attention without losing one’s respect; and his attitude in repose had just that suggestion of Whistler’s other, so becoming in the really young. It was within that the trouble lay, if trouble it could be accounted, which marked him apart from his fellows. The Duke was religious. Not in any of the ordinary senses of the word; he took small heed of High Church or Evangelical standpoints, he stood outside of all the movements and missions and cults and crusades of the day, uncaring and uninterested. Yet in a mystical- practical way of his own, which had served him unscathed and unshaken through the fickle years of boyhood, he was Intensely and Intensively religious. HIS Emily were naturally, though unobtrusively, distressed about It. L am so afraid It may affect his bridge,† said his mother. ( taken from â€Å"The Ministers of Grace† by Kaki) ? The Duke of CSCW had a marked personality that The verb â€Å"defer† Is Intransitive him from others of his caste and period. He was the right to his type not only for himself but also for the externals. He was so alike of Habitant and his shoes showed a bit of the har ness-room; one’s attention was wrong verb pattern to his socks without any restriction; and he had such an attitude, as the youth had, like the one in the Whistler’s mother. The trouble was himself, and that was the reason why he was apart from his fellows. The Duke was so religious that he paved special attention distortion to the High Church or Evangelical standpoints, standing outside of all the movements, missions, cults and crusades with indifference and disinterest. Moreover, he was religious In an intensely and Intensively? No paraphrasing here. Ay of his own. HIS family were very whereabouts It, but In a careful sense, that his mother said: â€Å"I am very anxious because it may affect his relations. )Len the middle of the night I woke from a dream full of whips and lariats as long as serpents, and runaway coaches and mountain passes, and wide, windy gallops over cactus fields, and I heard the old man in the next room crying, â€Å"Gee-up! † and â€Å"Whoa! † and trotting his tongue on the roof of his mouth. It was the first time I had stayed in grandpa’s house. The floorboards had squeaked like mice as I climbed into bed, a nd the mice between the walls had creaked Like wood as though another violators was walking on them. It was a mild summer night, but curtains had flapped and branches eaten against the window. I had pulled the sheets over my head, and soon was roaring and riding in a book. â€Å"Whoa there, my beauties! † cried grandpa. His voice sounded very young and loud, and his tongue had powerful hooves, and he made his bedroom Into a great meadow. I thought I would see If he was Ill, or had set his bedclothes on fire, for my mother had said that he lit his pipe under the blankets, 1 OFF through the darkness to his bedroom door, brushing against the furniture and upsetting a candlestick with a thump. When I saw there was light in the room I felt righted, and as I opened the door I heard grandpa shout, â€Å"Gee-up! † as loudly as a bull with a megaphone. He was sitting straight up in bed and rocking from side to side as though the bed were on a rough road and the knotted edges of the counterpane were his reins; his invisible horses stood in a shadow beyond the bedside candle. Over a white flannel nightshirt he was wearing a red waistcoat with walnut-sized brass buttons. The overfilled bowl of his pipe smoldered along his whiskers like a little, burning hayrick on a stick. At the sight of me, his hands dropped room the reins and lay blue and quiet, the bed stopped still on a level road, he muffled his tongue into silence, and the horses drew softly up. â€Å"Is there anything the matter, grandpa? † I asked, though the clothes were not on fire. His face in the candlelight looked like a ragged quilt pinned upright on the black air and patched all over with goat-beards. (Taken from â€Å"A Visit to Grandpa ‘s† by Dylan Thomas) Late at night I woke from a strange dream full of strange things related to horses, serpents, coaches and mountains, and then listened to the old man shouting, â€Å"Go faster! And â€Å"Stop! † and making a kind of a sound with his tongue. As it was the first time I had stayed in grandpa’s house, I noticed every single sound like the squeak of the floorboards when I climbed into bed or the mice inside the walls, they creaked as if there was somebody else there. Although the summer night was mild, the curtains had flapped and the windows were beaten by the branches. I covered my head with the sheets and shortly I was roaring and riding in a book. Poor paraphrasing â€Å"Stop, my beauties! â€Å", shouted grandpa. His voice was like a young man’s voice while his ensue made the sound of the hooves, and his bedroom was like a great meadow. I thought I would see if he was k as my mother told me he had the habit to smoke his pipe under the blankets and may be bedclothes set on fire, so I should run to his help if I smelt smoke in the night. I walked silently towards his bedroom, touching the furniture and threw a candlestick with a bump. There was light in his bedroom and I fleet frightened but when I opened the door I could hear grandpa shouting, â€Å"Go faster! † in such a loud voice as he could. He was sitting in bed rocking from side to did as the bed were a road full of wells and he was holding the imaginary reins while his invisible horses rose behind the bedside candle. Besides his pajamas, he was wearing a red waistcoat with brass buttons. His overfilled pipe was burning along his beard. When he saw me, his hands laid blue and quiet, dropping the reins, the bed stopped its movement, he stopped the noise with his tongue and the horses arrived softly. â€Å"Is everything k, grandpa? â€Å", I asked, despite there was no fire on the bedroom. Under the candlelight, his face looked like an old cover all patched with goat beards. How to cite Paraphrasing, Papers