Synthesis

It seems that Quintilian and the ancients originally developed the idea of 'Paradigm' as an example of form of argument, specifically legal argument, in which one would extrapolate about a specific case from a generalized pattern of cases. This seems like a precursor both to empiricism and empirical forms of proof, which have a positive connotation today, and also stereotypes and generalizations, which have negative connotations associated with them today.

After this ancient period, although the word 'paradigm' is rarely specifically mentioned, its general principles continue. Nietzsche talks about concept and generalization, and indeed several philosophers from the middle of our syllabus (Locke, Vico, etc..) discuss the idea of categorization and why we group certain individual things into broader categories which share certain characteristics, chosen characteristics which are reflective of the categorizers value systems more than any inherent and absolute categories determined by the universe.

In the modern texts that we read, 'paradigm' finds its most clear expression in Lakoff and Johnson's study of metaphor itself in "Metaphors We Live By". From collecting and examining various turns of phrases, common expressions, and just common language, they find the overarching paradigm/general pattern/structuring metaphor, such as "time is money" and "argument is war". Paradigm here is thus a system of related metaphors. The main thesis of this work is that these paradigmatic metaphors not only structure our language, but structure the way our minds think about things and in turn majorly affect the way we behave in the world.

Lakoff, in "The Death of Dead Metaphor", posits that metaphors 'die' when we stop taking them figuratively and start taking them literally. That when we say 'he won the argument', we are not using it figuratively, but that the metaphor has become so ingrained in our thought and behavior that we truly mean what we say and truly think that that person 'won the argument'. Metaphors become paradigmatic, or more alive and relevant in our daily lives, once they have become invisible clichés and are what is traditionally thought of as 'dead'.

Definitions:

OED: A pattern or model, an exemplar; (also) a typical instance of something, an example.

From class: A generalization made by induction. Finding a pattern or a commonality with a lot of different examples. It can be used to predict something. Also, a system of interrelated metaphors.

Quotes:

The method of argument chiefly used by Socrates was of this nature: when he had asked a number of questions to which his adversary could only agree, he finally inferred the conclusion of the problem under discussion from its resemblance to the points already conceded. This method is known as induction, and though it cannot be used in a set speech, it is usual in a speech to assume the which takes the form of a question in dialogue.

Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory (95 CE), Vol II Book V, page 273.

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The most important of proofs of this class is that which is most properly styled example, that is to say the adducing of some past action real or assumed which may serve to persuade the audience of the truth of the point which we are trying to make.

Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory (95 CE), Vol II Book V, page 275.

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A most effective means of making what we are saying convincing and of generating copia at the same time is to be found in illustrative examples, for which the Greek word is ---. The content of the examples can be something like, unlike, or in contrast to what we are illustrating, or something greater, smaller, or equivalent. Contrast and dissimilarity reside in features such as type, means, time, place, and most of the other 'circumstances' I enumerated above. We include under 'examples' stories,fables, proverbs, opinions, parallels or comparisons, similitudes, analogies, and anything else of the same sort.

De Copia (1512) by Erasmus Volume 24, pages 606-607.

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a word becomes a concept insofar as it simultaneously has to fit countless more or less similar cases—which means, purely and simply, cases which are never equal and thus altogether unequal. Every concept arises from the equation of unequal things… We obtain the concept, as we do the form, by overlooking what is individual and actual;

Friedrich Nietzsche, "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" (1873), page 83.

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The concepts that govern our thoughts are not just matters of the intellect. They also govern our everyday functioning, down to the most mundane details. Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we relate to other people... If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor."

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, "Metaphors We Live By" (1980), page 3.

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Examples:

If one quoted something done or said by a Spartan, for example, one could preface the anecdote by remarking that this people was always superior to the rest in wisdom and in military and civil organization, and abounded in splendid moral object-lessons.

De Copia (1512) by Erasmus Volume 24, page 608.

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Just as it is certain that one leaf is never totally the same as another, so it is certain that the concept “leaf” is formed by arbitrarily discarding these individual differences and by forgetting the distinguishing aspects.

Friedrich Nietzsche, "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" (1873), page 83.

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ARGUMENT IS WAR Your claims are indefensible. He attacked every weak point in my argument. His criticisms were right on target. I demolished his argument. I've never won an argument with him. You disagree? Okay, shoot! If you use that strategy, he'll wipe you out. He shot down all of my arguments.

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, "Metaphors We Live By" (1980), page 5.

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Works Cited

Quintilian, The institutio oratoria of Quintilian. Translated by H.E. Butler, Vol. II, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1953.

Erasmus, Desiderius. Collected Works of Erasmus. Edited by Craig R. Thompson, vol. 23, University of Toronto Press, 1978.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Friedrich, Breazeale, Daniel On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense. New Jersey, USA: Humanities Press.

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Press, 1980.

George Lakoff, The Death of Dead Metaphor. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity 2, 1987.