RHETORICAL THOMAS
ESSAY ON RHETORICAL ARGUMENTATION IN THOMAS AQUINAS
Abstract
An approach to Rhetoric by Thomas Aquinas is not only desirable in the context of science and contemporary philosophies of dialogue and agreement, but also because the rediscovery of the argumentative value of Thomas's scientific demonstrations can free his thought from the discomfort of being a 13th-century science that does not hold up in our times. In other words, the fruitfulness of Thomas's thought can be rediscovered today if we admit that many of his apodictic arguments can be reread from the perspective of rhetorical argumentation, according to the Aristotelian classification, taken up by Chaim Perelman. This type of argumentation normally applies to practical philosophy, but we could extend it to theoretical thought, especially to metaphysics and theology. The aim of this essay is precisely to show the rhetorical possibilities of Thomas's text and on what this perspective is based.
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