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[11]
Their
origin and the way in which each should be used will be discussed later1; for the moment let us define
more clearly these proofs themselves.
Now, that which is persuasive is persuasive in reference to some one, and is
persuasive and convincing either at once and in and by itself, or because it
appears to be proved by propositions that are convincing2; further, no art has the particular in
view, medicine for instance what is good for Socrates or Callias, but what is good for this or that class of
persons (for this is a matter that comes within the province of an art,
whereas the particular is infinite and cannot be the subject of a true
science); similarly, therefore, Rhetoric will not consider what seems
probable in each individual case, for instance to Socrates or Hippias, but that which seems probable to this or
that class of persons. It is the same with Dialectic, which does not draw
conclusions from any random premises—for even madmen have some
fancies—but it takes its material from subjects which demand reasoned
discussion, as Rhetoric does from those which are common subjects of
deliberation.
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