2 February 2017
Topics (topoi): a place to find arguments; procedure to find arguments using conjecture, degree, and
possibility. i.e., what exists, what is good, what is possible.
Conjecture (what exists) is sometimes (increasingly so today) disputed (read 92)
o Example: American carnage; America like a third world country; thousands of New
Jersey Muslims celebrated 9/11 attacks
Topics of degree and possibility even more dependent on ideology
Ideology: networks of interpretation (18); bodies of beliefs, doctrines, familiar ways of thinking that
are characteristic of a group or culture (96).
Commonplaces (Hawhee and Crowleys version of Aristotles special topics): statements/arguments that
regularly circulate within a community; seen as common sense; goes without saying.
Statements that form bits and pieces of ideologies (108); they can contradict each other (individual
freedom and the need to protect the environment)
Commonplaces do not necessarily have to be true, but they must be believed by some community
Examples: Support our troops; love it leave it (America); we are the 99 percent; drill, baby, drill;
good planets are hard to find; pull yourself up by your own bootstraps; nothing in life is free; yes,
we can; make America great again; America first
Commonplaces are substitutes for actual arguments. Because they are seen as common sense in
particular communities, commonplaces are rarely articulated. Therefore, rhetors need to learn how to
unpack such commonplaces (read 101); see also page 109, Palins we cant afford any more change
See 102-108 for an in-depth analysis of conservative and liberal commonplaces on a number of issues
Ideologic: reasoning in which commonplaces are yoked, strung, or chained into a line of argument
Maybe combined with conjectures, definition, testimony, or evidence, but the rhetorical force is carried
by the commonplaces. Such arguments are rarely fully articulated (109).