论题学:修辞学抑或辩证法?

Topic: Rhetoric or Dialetic

"论题学"最早源于亚里士多德的《论题篇》。"论题"是辩证式论辩双方就某个辩证的命题或问题进行论证时,借助四种述语所寻找的论点、事例或资料之所在地或储存的位置。无论如何,不能将"辩证论题学"(《论题篇》中的论题学)与"修辞论题学"(《修辞学》中的论题学)混为一谈。西塞罗的《论题术》属于一定程度上含有杂糅性质的逻辑成分的(法律)修辞学著作,属"修辞论题学"的范畴,而且,正因为西塞罗的《论题术》部分地尝试将论题学技术应用在罗马法的论证之中,我们也可以将它看作是一本"应用论题学"或"实用论题学"的作品。

Aristotle created the conception of topic in his topics. The word topic means the places on where the issues, cases and materials were stored. And two parties argue with each other for discovering those places. Howev- er, the dialectical topic differs from the rhetorical topic. Then Cicero＇s Topica was a kind of rhetorical topic. We have better to regard Cicero＇s Topica as a masterpiece about the applied Topica or the practical Topica because Cicero attempted to apply the techniques of the topic to the argument in Roman law.