Chaim Perelman

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'''Early Life'''
'''Early Life'''
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Perelman's Jewish heritage had a profound impact on his outlook on life and strongly influenced his views on justice, a key to his concept of argumentation and The New Rhetoric. Perelman, experiencing post-World World I Europe, the rise of Hitler, and widespread anti-Semitism, created and lead the Jewish wing of the Belgium resistance movement. The horrors of the Holocaust lead him to publicly announce his devotion to the Jewish notion of justice and cultural Judaism.  
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Perelman's Jewish heritage had a profound impact on his outlook on life and strongly influenced his views on justice, a key to his concept of argumentation and The New Rhetoric. Perelman, experiencing post-World World I Europe, the rise of Hitler, and widespread antisemitism, created and lead the Jewish wing of the Belgium resistance movement. The horrors of the Holocaust lead him to publicly announce his devotion to the Jewish notion of justice and cultural Judaism.  
'''Judaism, Justice, and The New Rhetoric'''
'''Judaism, Justice, and The New Rhetoric'''
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Drawing inspiration from Talmudic texts, a collection of Jewish laws and traditions, Perelman contrasted Jewish pluralism with the Western notion of dualistic rationality. Perelman believed the Enlightenment rationalists had a limited view of reason and argued against the notion that there must be one answer to a given question. Perelman embraced Talmudic reasoning, which states that "reason is plural, revealing many answers to the same question" (Frank 314).  
Drawing inspiration from Talmudic texts, a collection of Jewish laws and traditions, Perelman contrasted Jewish pluralism with the Western notion of dualistic rationality. Perelman believed the Enlightenment rationalists had a limited view of reason and argued against the notion that there must be one answer to a given question. Perelman embraced Talmudic reasoning, which states that "reason is plural, revealing many answers to the same question" (Frank 314).  
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Due to his acceptance of pluralism, Perelman recongized the limitations of syllogisms. This can be seen in his view of the audience as the focal point in argumentation, since the aim of argumentation is to persuade or convince an audiece to adapt or adhere to a thesis.
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Due to his acceptance of pluralism, Perelman recognized the limitations of syllogisms. This can be seen in his view of the audience as the focal point in argumentation, since the aim of argumentation is to persuade or convince an audience to adapt or adhere to a thesis.
'''The Universal Audience'''
'''The Universal Audience'''
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Perelman uses the term universal audience in order to distinguish it from particular audiences, which applies to particular people, particular places, particular times, particular groups, etc. The universal audience is employed in argumentation in order to transcend particulars and make broad appeals. If the distinction of the universal audience was not made, "there would be no difference between an effective argument adn a valid one, and rhetoric would be more vulnerable to the classical philosophical attacks," which state that rhetoric is merely flattery (Crosswhite 162).
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Perelman uses the term universal audience in order to distinguish it from particular audiences, which applies to particular people, particular places, particular times, particular groups, etc. The universal audience is employed in argumentation in order to transcend particulars and make broad appeals. If the distinction of the universal audience was not made, "there would be no difference between an effective argument and a valid one, and rhetoric would be more vulnerable to the classical philosophical attacks," which state that rhetoric is merely flattery (Crosswhite 162).
== Article Summaries ==
== Article Summaries ==

Revision as of 01:28, 28 March 2012

Chaïm Perelman (1912-1984) was a Jewish philosopher best known for his book The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation (Traité de L'argumentation - La Nouvelle Rhétorique) in 1958 with Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca. Perelman was a professor of logic and metaphysics at Université Libre in Brussels in 1944 and spent most of his career there. His focus on mathematical logic would later shift to forms of discursive reasoning and notions of justice.

Contents

Biography

Early Life

Perelman's Jewish heritage had a profound impact on his outlook on life and strongly influenced his views on justice, a key to his concept of argumentation and The New Rhetoric. Perelman, experiencing post-World World I Europe, the rise of Hitler, and widespread antisemitism, created and lead the Jewish wing of the Belgium resistance movement. The horrors of the Holocaust lead him to publicly announce his devotion to the Jewish notion of justice and cultural Judaism.

Judaism, Justice, and The New Rhetoric

Perelman turned heavily to the Jewish notions of justice in order to make sense of the widespread destruction he witnessed in World War II. Heavily influenced by the Jewish psychologist Henri Baruk, Perelman took in the "Jewish tradition... of justification that avoided dualism and worked to blend love and justice, truth and peace" (Frank 313). The Jewish tradition of justice requires a reason that includes emotion, empathy, and rationality and insists that those who judge should be compassionate.

Drawing inspiration from Talmudic texts, a collection of Jewish laws and traditions, Perelman contrasted Jewish pluralism with the Western notion of dualistic rationality. Perelman believed the Enlightenment rationalists had a limited view of reason and argued against the notion that there must be one answer to a given question. Perelman embraced Talmudic reasoning, which states that "reason is plural, revealing many answers to the same question" (Frank 314).

Due to his acceptance of pluralism, Perelman recognized the limitations of syllogisms. This can be seen in his view of the audience as the focal point in argumentation, since the aim of argumentation is to persuade or convince an audience to adapt or adhere to a thesis.

The Universal Audience

Perelman uses the term universal audience in order to distinguish it from particular audiences, which applies to particular people, particular places, particular times, particular groups, etc. The universal audience is employed in argumentation in order to transcend particulars and make broad appeals. If the distinction of the universal audience was not made, "there would be no difference between an effective argument and a valid one, and rhetoric would be more vulnerable to the classical philosophical attacks," which state that rhetoric is merely flattery (Crosswhite 162).

Article Summaries

Perelman, Chaïm "The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning"

Additional Works

Books

Further Readings

Crosswhite, James (1989). "Universality in Rhetoric: Perelman's Universal Audience"

Frank, David A. (1997). "The New Rhetoric, Judaism, and Post-Enlightenment Thought: The Cultural Origins of Perelmanian Philosophy"

References

External Links

Retrieved from "https://rhetorclick.com/wiki/Chaim_Perelman"
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