Aristotle says that argument by Example has the nature of induction, which is the foundation of reasoning. There are two varieties; one consisting in the mention of actual past facts, the other in the invention of facts by the speaker. Illustrative parallel and the fable are the two varieties (Aristotle, pg. 109-110). An example of using actual past facts would be saying that we must prepare for war against Germany and not let them conquer Austria. Every time Germany has conquered Austria they have started war with our country. Therefore, if Germany conquers Austria they are going to start a war with our country. An example of fable would be a horse seeking revenge allowed a man to bridle him however, once this happened the horse realized that he had become a slave of the man. An illustrative parallel is that “Public officials ought not to be selected by lot. That is like using the lot to …show more content…
What are the two ways an enthymeme might be refuted?
One of the two ways an enthymeme can be refuted is to attack you opponent’s own statement. Aristotle gives the example of if your opponent’s enthymeme should assert that love is always good, you can object to this by saying all want is an evil. He also mentions by making the particular one that there would be no talk of Caunian love if there were not evil loves as well as good ones (Aristotle, pg. 133).
The second way to refute an enthymeme would be from a contrary statement. Aristotle gives the example that when one says “a good man does good to all his friends you can counter by saying that an evil man does not do evil to all his friends” (Aristotle, pg. 133). When a enthymeme is based on probability which means that it usually but not always happens it can be refuted by raising an objection. However, when refuting you can’t simply say it isn’t always true but it is not likely to be true. Enthymemes that depend on examples may be refuted the same way as