维柯的论题法对古典修辞学传统复兴与哲学解释学的意义

Significance of Vico’s Topical Method for the Revival of Classical Rhetoric Tradition and Philosophical Hermeneutics

“讲得真且讲得好”的古典修辞学,自亚里士多德之后逐渐演化成单纯为了“讲得好”的修辞科学。修辞学家维柯在辨识出古典修辞学的没落之后,借由“第二真理”通向“第一真理”的事实,用“论题法”辩护“第二真理”的方式恢复了古典修辞学的真理指向、循环结构和修辞学法则,并以此指出了演绎和分析纯形式的批判法的弊端。同时,维柯还进一步用诗性逻辑重塑了从论题法到批判法的逻辑进程,也造就了同为哲学解释学前提的共通感(常识)。于此,论题法唤起了古典修辞学对或然性事物固有的审判权,从而既为囿于批判法的精神科学寻得了蕴含在古典修辞学中的真理要素,又在真理维度加强了修辞学和解释学的亲缘性。维柯所发现的这条返回古典修辞学传统的道路,还启示着一条通向哲学解释学真理及其“问答逻辑”的秘径。

The classical rhetoric of“speaking truthfully and speaking well”gradually evolved into a rhetoric science focused solely on“speaking well”after Aristotle.Recognizing the decline of classical rhetoric,rhetorician Giovanni Battista Vico restored its truth orientation,cyclical structure,and rhetorical rules by defending the“second truth”through the topical method,which leads to the“first truth”.This approach highlighted the shortcomings of the purely formal critical method of deduction and analysis.Furthermore,Vico reshaped the logical progression from the topical method to the critical method using poetic logic,establishing a common sense(sensus communis)that serves as a premise for philosophical hermeneutics.Thus,the topical method revived the inherent judgmental authority of classical rhetoric over probabilistic matters,uncovering the truth elements embedded in classical rhetoric for the spirit sciences constrained by the critical method,and strengthening the kinship between rhetoric and hermeneutics in the dimension of truth.Vico’s discovery of this path back to the classical rhetoric tradition also suggests a secret route to the truth of philosophical hermeneutics and its“question and answer logic”.