FORMS OF RATIONALITY: LOGIC, DIALECTIC, RHETORIC AND POETICS Translated from: FORMAS DE RACIONALIDADE: LÓGICA, DIALÉTICA, RETÓRICA E POÉTICA (original) (raw)

Good afternoon everyone! I would first like to thank you for the honorable invitation to be with you this afternoon in the person of Prof. Djalma Medeiros. At the outset, I would like to point out that the title of my exhibition contains one of the most acute problems, in view of the polysemy that the word 'reason' contains. For the purposes of this lecture, let us note that this expression is consistent with the very object of Logic, defined here as 'science of reason'. It even refers to reason taken in the classical sense of faculty and, more precisely, faculty of conceiving, judging and reasoning. By the way, it is in this sense that reason is almost universally considered as what is proper to the human being. For now, let us highlight Cicero's lesson, taken from his De legibus, I, 10; 30:[1] This is proof enough that there is no difference in species, for if it were there, a single definition would not include everyone. Moreover, the reason, with which we differ from the brutes, by means of which we can conjecture, argue, counter-argument, argue, accomplish anything, is certainly common to all men, different by constitution, but equal in terms of capacity. of learning. Indeed, objects in an identical manner for all, are apprehended by the senses, and those things which affect the senses, likewise stimulate the senses of all; moreover, these initial notions, of which I have already spoken and which are imprinted on minds, are equally imprinted on everyone. Finally, language, interpreter of the intellect, differs with respect to words, but agrees in concepts; nor is there anyone among individuals who, once nature is taken as his guide, cannot attain virtue. In Cicero we come into contact with a meaning of reason that echoes that which can be inferred from Aristotle's Organon, a treatise on Logic by the Stagirite which, even though it TRANSLATION