Week of Sep 8 Ch 4 & Aristotle response

Topics and commonplaces were discussed in Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. In this book there is a quote that I connected to Aristotle’s Book I from Rhetoric in The Rhetorical Tradition. “Rhetoricians need to be skilled at tracking down suitable proofs.” The page goes on to list the three common topics of Aristotle. Now from my understanding, Aristotle’s belief is that conjecture is not truly a fact, for which the English language translates the Greek term ‘conjecture’ from, but a mere educated guess of what has happened or what will happen. I believe this is why Rhetoricians need to be able to track down their own truth, because nothing is certain. Through rhetoric anything can be proven a false or a conjecture. The Rhetoric passage supports my hypothesis when the case of judging is discussed in the first few pages of the reading. “All men attempt to discuss statements and to maintain them, to defend themselves and attack others.” In my opinion, this quote can summarize the goal in a courtroom, to persuade the judge and jury in your favor. If “prejudice, pity, anger,” and other emotions have nothing to do with the facts of a case then why does it ultimately render a decision, because of Kairos. Decisions in the courtroom are “given at short notice,” and in that short notice it is not the essential facts that matter, but the art of persuasion, rhetoric, that determines the resolution. Self-interest and personal feelings will effect a judge’s decision, so should a judge really be allowed to determine a solution, or should they simply justify Aristotle’s first common topic of “weather a thing has (or has not) occurred or will (or will not) occur?