[364] Topic. VIII. i. p. 155, b. 7: μέχρι μὲν οὖν τοῦ εὑρεῖν τὸν τόπον, ὁμοίως τοῦ φιλοσόφου καὶ τοῦ διαλεκτικοῦ ἡ σκέψις, τὸ δ’ ἤδη ταῦτα τάττειν καὶ ἐρωτηματίζειν ἴδιον τοῦ διαλεκτικοῦ.
[365] Ibid. b. 10-16.
In the praxis dialectica (as has already been stated) two talkers are assumed — the respondent who sets up a thesis which he undertakes to defend, and a questioner who interrogates with a view to impugn it; or at least with a view to compel the other to answer in an inconsistent or contradictory manner. We are to assume, farther, a circle of listeners, who serve to a certain extent as guarantees against any breach of the rules of debate.[366] Three distinct purposes may be supposed in the debate. 1. You as a questioner may be a teacher, and the respondent a learner; your purpose is to teach what you know, while he wishes to learn from you what he does not know. 2. You engage in an intellectual contest or duel with the respondent, each of you seeking only victory over the other, though subject on both sides to observance of the rules of debate. 3. You neither seek to teach, nor to conquer; you and the respondent have both the same purpose — to test the argumentative consequences of different admissions, and to acquire a larger command of the chains of reasoning pro and con, bearing on some given topic.[367]
[366] Ibid. ii. p. 158, a. 10.
[367] Ibid. v. p. 159, a. 26: οὐ γὰρ οἱ αὐτοὶ σκοποὶ τοῖς διδάσκουσιν ἢ μανθάνουσι καὶ τοῖς ἀγνωνιζομένοις, οὐδὲ τούτοις τε καὶ τοῖς διατρίβουσι μετ’ ἀλλήλων σκέψις χάριν.
According as the aim of the talkers is one or other of these three, the good or bad conduct of the dialogue, on the part both of questioner and of respondent, must be differently appreciated. Of each of the three, specimens may be found in Plato, though not carefully severed but running one into the other. Aristotle appears to have been the first to formulate the distinction theoretically, and to prescribe for the practice of each separately. He tells us particularly that no one before him had clearly distinguished the third head, and prescribed for it apart from the second. The merit of having first done this he expressly claims for the Topica.[368]
[368] Topic. VIII. v. p. 159, a. 25-37: ἐπεὶ δ’ ἐστὶν ἀδιόριστα τοῖς γυμνασίας καὶ πείρας ἕνεκα τοὺς λόγους ποιουμένοις — ἐν δὲ ταῖς διαλεκτικαῖς συνόδοις τοῖς μὴ ἀγῶνος χάριν ἀλλὰ πείρας καὶ σκέψεως τοὺς λόγους ποιουμένοις, οὐ διήρθρωταί πω τίνος δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι τὸν ἀποκρινόμενον καὶ ὁποῖα διδόναι καὶ ποῖα μή, πρὸς τὸ καλῶς ἢ μὴ καλῶς φυλάττειν τὴν θέσιν. ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐδὲν ἔχομεν παραδεδομένον ὑπ’ ἄλλων, αὐτοί τι πειραθῶμεν εἰπεῖν.
Both the questioner and the respondent have a duty towards the dialogue; their common purpose is to conduct it well, not only obeying the peremptory rules, but displaying, over and above, skill for the attainment of their separate ends. Under the first and third heads, both may be alike successful. Under the second or contentious head, indeed, one only of the two can gain the victory; yet, still, even the defeated party may exhibit the maximum of skill which his position admits. This is sufficient for his credit; so that the common work will still be well performed.[369] But a partner who performs his own part so as to obstruct instead of forwarding this common work — who conducts the debate in a spirit of ill-tempered contention rather than of regular Dialectic — deserves censure.[370]
[369] Ibid. xi. p. 161, a. 19-b. 10: οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐπὶ θατέρῳ μόνον τὸ λαλῶς ἐπιτελεσθῆναι τὸ κοινὸν ἔργον — ἐπεὶ δὲ φαῦλος κοινωνὸς ὁ ἐμποδίζων τὸ κοινὸν ἔργον, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ ἐν λόγῳ. Compare Topica, I. iii. p. 101, b. 8.
[370] Ibid. a. 33: διαλεκτικῶς καὶ μὴ ἐριστικῶς. — b. 2-18.