There are 3 basic structures or types of argument:
Toulmin Argument
Rogerian Argument
Classical or Aristotelian Argument
Classical or Aristotelian Argument
The Aristotelian or classical argument is a style of argument developed by the famous Greek philosopher and rhetorician, Aristotle.
In this style of argument, your goal as a writer is to convince your audience of something.
The goal is to use a series of strategies to persuade your audience to adopt your side of the issue.
Although ethos, pathos, and logos play a role in any argument, this style of argument utilizes them in the most persuasive ways possible.
The basic format for an Aristotelian, or classical, argumentative essay:
Introduce your issue. At the end of your introduction, most professors will ask you to present your thesis. The idea is to present your readers with your main point and then dig into it.
Present your case by explaining the issue in detail and why something must be done or a way of thinking is not working. This will take place over several paragraphs.
Address the opposition. Use a few paragraphs to explain the other side. Refute the opposition one point at a time.
Provide your proof. After you address the other side, you’ll want to provide clear evidence that your side is the best side.
Present your conclusion. In your conclusion, you should remind your readers of your main point or thesis and summarize the key points of your argument. If you are arguing for some kind of change, this is a good place to give your audience a call to action. Tell them what they could do to make a change.
Poets reflect on the poems they return to in difficult times.
Rilke’s First Duino Elegy is a deeply philosophical and existential work that reflects his broader themes of transcendence, beauty, suffering, and the limitations of human perception. It is enriched by concepts from classical studies, particularly in its allusions to Greek mythology, classical heroism, and Platonic ideas about the nature of reality and longing.
Context of Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) was an Austrian poet whose work often explores the tension between the material and the spiritual, the transient and the eternal. His Duino Elegies, written between 1912 and 1922, reflect his preoccupation with metaphysical longing, artistic creation, and the terror inherent in beauty. These elegies were influenced by his experiences in Duino Castle, as well as his readings in philosophy, art, and mysticism. Rilke’s writing often places human existence in contrast to the divine or the infinite, emphasizing a feeling of estrangement and the necessity of transformation through suffering and embracing it as much as the nurturing solitude offered by life to us, which he expresses as being not just beneficial but necessary.
He deeply valued solitude, seeing it as essential for personal and artistic growth. He believed that solitude was not loneliness but a necessary state for self-discovery, inner strength, and creativity. Rilke viewed solitude as a way to confront one’s deepest thoughts and emotions, fostering a deeper understanding of oneself and the world.
In Letters to a Young Poet, he advised embracing solitude rather than fearing it, arguing that it allows individuals to develop independence, patience, and emotional depth. He saw solitude as a space where one's soul could mature, free from external distractions and societal pressures. According to Rilke, true love and relationships could only flourish when individuals had first cultivated their own inner world, making solitude a foundation for authentic connections.
For Rilke, solitude was not an escape but a path to wisdom, self-sufficiency, and a richer, more meaningful life. He believed that in solitude, one could listen to the whispers of the soul, unlocking creativity and personal transformation.
Use of Classical Concepts with in The First Elegy
Angels as Platonic Forms or Divine Messengers
The poem opens with a desperate cry (which, to me, was reminiscent of the opening lines of Homer's Iliad): “Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the Angels’ Orders?”
Rilke’s angels are not comforting figures but rather terrifying beings whose essence is too overwhelming for humans to bear. This aligns with classical and Neoplatonic views of divine beings as existing on a higher plane of reality, beyond human comprehension.
The idea that “Every Angel is terrifying” evokes the Greek concept of daimons—spiritual intermediaries between gods and humans in Platonic thought, which could be either enlightening or overwhelming.
Beauty and Terror—The Sublime in Classical Aesthetics
“For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we can still barely endure.”
This reflects a classical and Romantic notion of the sublime, where beauty is intertwined with awe and fear. The Greeks associated beauty (kalon) with both harmony and a kind of divine mystery that could lead to madness, as seen in the myths of Phaedra or Pentheus.
Alienation and the Stoic Worldview
“Not Angels, not humans, and the sly animals see at once how little at home we are in the interpreted world.”
This echoes the Stoic perspective on human beings as estranged from a rational universe, struggling to interpret existence in meaningful terms. The idea of the interpreted world suggests an awareness that human perception is limited and filtered through subjective understanding.
Classical Lament and Mythology
The poem references the myth of Linos, a legendary musician mourned in ancient Greek laments.
“Is it a tale told in vain, that myth of lament for Linos, in which a daring first music pierced the shell of numbness?”
The death of Linos, often seen as a foundational moment in the development of song and poetry, reflects Rilke’s belief in suffering as the origin of artistic creation. This aligns with the classical idea that poetry arises from grief, as seen in Orpheus’s lament for Eurydice.
Heroism and Fate
“Remember: the hero lives on, even his downfall was only a pretext for attained existence.”
This recalls the Homeric and tragic Greek conception of heroism, where the hero’s suffering and death are not simply personal losses but transformative moments that give meaning to existence. Rilke’s hero transcends mere mortality by achieving a state of eternal significance, much like Achilles or Heracles.
Transformation and the Arrow as a Metaphor
“The way the arrow, suddenly all vector, survives the string to be more than itself.”
This is reminiscent of Aristotelian and Platonic ideas of potentiality and actualization. The arrow is a symbol of release from earthly attachments, reflecting the classical idea that true existence lies beyond the constraints of the material world.
In Conclusion
Rilke’s First Elegy is a meditation on human limitation, divine terror, and the need to embrace suffering as a path to transformation. Through classical concepts—Platonic transcendence, the sublime, mythological lament, and heroic endurance—Rilke connects ancient wisdom with modern existential longing. His poetry echoes the classical world’s awareness of mortality, beauty, and the pursuit of meaning beyond the tangible realm.
The most diverse sciences have devoted themselves to the question of good and evil. First and foremost, philosophy. In ancient times, it was the Greek thinker Aristotle who introduced ethics as an independent philosophical discipline. Its subject is the values, norms and customs of society - also called morality. In other words, what a society considers to be good or right.
The natural sciences have also tried to fathom good and evil. Toward the end of the 19th century, the Italian prison physician Cesare Lombroso examined the skull shape of serious criminals and derived the "homo delinquens" from it. He believed that evil was inherent in criminals from birth and could be seen in their appearance.
It's a little late, but I just posted part four of my series on the #Aristotelian Appeals and Social Media. This week, we're talking about the appeal to #Ethos! ----- #socialmedia #writersofinstagram #writerlife #bloggersofinstagram #blogging #blogseries #authorsofinstagram #argument #debate #Pathos #Logos #politics #winning #credibility
Hey guys! Quick update: I started my Masters Degree this September ✨ I’m doing English Lit and Culture once again and having a great time so far. I’m definitely tired and have much more do to but overall I made the right choice. I’m also keeping up with my bullet journal which is great! I started a new one on September for this school year, but I might also use it for next year when writing my thesis. I’m excited everyone! To new beginnings and keeping up with old ones xxx
Karl Popper saw falsifiability as the crucial demarcation between science and "pseudo-science." In order to be scientific, statements or systems must be capable of conflicting with possible, or conceivable observations. A theory can be scientific, according to Popper, if, and only if it is capable of being refuted by facts. The scientific is subject to test, and has the potential to be rebutted empirically (by means of observation). But this can never happen with Marx, Freud, Reich and the cultural Marxists. The cultural Marxist theories always morph to fit the facts by means of ad hoc theories. When facts are not available, they are just invented as Reich illustrated in fabricating his patient report.
When working people defy Marx's predictions, Freud is called to the rescue (Reich, Neo-Freudians and the Frankfurt School). When psychoanalysis fails to alleviate psychic pain, the pleasure principle becomes the social liberator and the orgasm defeats alienation. When all these theories fall apart, the Austrian psychologist Melanie Klein introduces the good breast vs the bad breast. You just couldn't make it up.
The results of these modes of thought have been devastating for society, resulting in a tyranny of correctness, with ID politics evolving into sectarian battles, and so on. The revolutionary precept is structured like a conspiracy theory. As opposed to an Athens that is obsessed with truth, reason and logos, the Jerusalem cultural Marxism is sustained by an institutional dismissal of the truth and the removal of any method that may result in approaching the truth. The success of a particular conspiracy theory is not defined by a clear correspondence between theory and facts, but by one's willingness to buy into it.
Gilad Atzmon, “Being in Time: A Post-Political Manifesto (2017).
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
— Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Contemplating on this little quote I decided to put up a list of unusual book recommendations. I want you to enjoy yourself while possibly getting out of your comfort zone. If you want to know more about these books - send me an ask or just read reviews on Goodreads. (The links will take to the Book Depository which ships books worldwide for no extra fee. Yay for free shipping!)
“Isn't this a nice time of night to walk? I like to smell things and look at things, and sometimes stay up all night, walking, and watch the sun rise.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.”
― Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
“I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me.”
― Virginia Woolf, The Waves
“I suppose that a lifetime spent hiding one's erotic truth could have a cumulative renunciatory effect. Sexual shame is in itself a kind of death.”
― Alison Bechdel, Fun Home
“Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.”
― Andy Weir, The Martian
“Reading is an intelligent way of not having to think.”
― Walter Moers, The City of Dreaming Books
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night
“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
“The most important thing we learn at school is the fact that the most important things can't be learned at school.”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
This is the first post in my series of book recommendations. Coming up: YA and poetry recs! Follow me to see recs as I publish them! All the recs can be found here.
