Pistis, Persuasion, andLogosin Aristotle

Abstract

AbstractThe core sense ofpistisas understood inPosterior Analytics,De Anima, and theRhetoricis not that of a logical relation in which cognitively grasped propositions stand in respect to one another, but the result of an act of socially embedded interpersonal communication, a willing acceptance of guidance offered in respect to action. Even whenpistisseems to have an exclusively epistemological sense, this focal meaning ofpistisis implicit; to havepistisin a proposition is to willingly accept that proposition as a basis for some kind of activity (albeit possibly theoretical) as a result of some kind of communicative act. This is in accordance with Aristotle’s understanding of argumentation as a social practice, entered into in order lead others to certain actions, for certain ends. Understandingpistisin this way allows us to understand how it is thatpistisadmits of quantitative variation.