occurs is not explicitly there. To the extent that it is explicit, it yields the phenomenon of πρότασις, “pre-giving” of that from out of which one speaks, but which does not come to language in discussion. This “from out of which the discourse occurs” is designated in a theoretically fixed way as ἀρχή, insofar as it deals with a fully precise speaking in the sense of theoretical exhibiting and proving, where the phenomenon of speaking-to-one-another is indeed there but not explicitly. The treatment too is directed to an addressee—the context of συλλογισμός. Here, πρότασις is designated as ἀρχή. The principles that are presupposed, and from which the proof proceeds, are a fully determinate case of the original context that is spoken on the basis of something familiar.
We want to examine how the phenomenon of the “pre-given,” the πρότασις, explicitly follows from ἔνδοξον, δόξα, and how, furthermore, that which is spoken about, the genuine thematic, the πρόβλημα, follows from δόξα. These are two pieces of philosophical discussion that depend on the setting-forth of a definite concrete context, when viewed immediately with regard to the speaking-with-one-another of διαλέγεσθαι. Not until later will we treat speaking-with-one-another in the sense of everyday discoursing-with-one-another, as set forth in the Rhetoric. Aristotle deals with this in Book 1of the Topics, Chapter 10: πρότασις, Chapter 11: πρόβλημα.
ἔστι δὲ πρότασις διαλεκτικὴ ἐπώτησις ἔνδοξος:136 the πρότασις διαλεκτικὴ is characterized as ἐπώτησις ἔνδοξος, “a questioning that maintains itself in the vicinity of that which a fixed view is about”—μὴ παράδοξος.137 That which is expressed in the πρότασις is spoken “not against the general opinion.” Ἐπώτησις ἔνδοξος: “a questioning that maintains itself in that which a general opinion is about.” Questions that are introduced with ἆρά γε, “it is indeed true,” request an agreement. Ἐπώτησις is ἀποκρίσεως αἴτησις,138 the “requesting an answer.” In the πρότασις, one is requested to agree with what is said, a concession in the sense that one then stands on common ground for further discussion. This αἴτησις ἀποκρίσεως, as the advance laying of the ground on which further discussion is to proceed, is directed toward what appears to be in a certain way “to everyone, to most, to the informed.”139 The content of a πρότασις διαλεκτικὴ can also be that which belongs to δόξα. Furthermore, that which is familiar to one within their area of expertise, that speaks out from their experience, as in the case of a scientist and the area of his discipline, without being proven, has the character of ἔνδοξος μὴ παράδοξον.140
The πρόβλημα is not concerned with giving something in advance in the
136. Top. Α 10, 104 a 8 sq.
137. Top. Α 10, 104 a 10 sq.
138. Aristotelis Organon Graece. Novis codicum auxiliis adiutus recognovit, scholiis ineditis et commentario instruxit Th. Waitz. Pars prior: Categoriae, Hermeneutica, Analytica priora. Leipzig 1844. De int. 11, 20 b 22 sq.
139. Top. Α 10, 104 a 9: ἢ πᾶσιν ἢ τοῖς πλείστοις ἢ τοῖς σοφοῖς.
140. Cf. Top. Α 10, 104 a 33 sqq.