Ratiocinatio and inductio in the De inuentione

Authors

  • Carlos Lévy AIBL

Abstract

This article explores a concept that has been afforded little attention by students of Latin rhetoric, despite occupying a central role in the Ciceronian corpus and in Latin prose more generally: ratiocinatio. The term is deployed inconsistently in Cicero's extant works, often absent where one might expect to find it. Notably, it is missing from the Lucullus and Academici Libri, Cicero's treatment of the theory of knowledge. This study proposes that the pairing ratiocinatio/inductio, bridging rhetoric and philosophy, betrays traces of the teachings of Phil(i)o of Larissa, Cicero's Academic teacher about whose influence little is known outside of the tribute Cicero pays him in his Brutus (46 BCE).

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Author Biography

Carlos Lévy, AIBL

Carlos Lévy est ancien élève de l’École Normale Supérieure, agrégé de Lettres classiques et Docteur d’État en Études latines. Il est actuellement Professeur émérite de philosophie et d’études latines à l’Université de Sorbonne Paris, après avoir enseigné aux Universités de Rouen et de Paris XII Val 
de Marne. Il est membre de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, de l’Académie de Milan (Istituto Lombardo), Fellow de l’Israël Institute for Advanced Studies. Ses recherches portent sur la philosophie hellénistique et romaine ainsi que sur leur réception à l’époque contemporaine. Parmi ses nombreux ouvrages, Cicero Academicus, Rome, 1992 et Philon d’Alexandrie et le langage de la philosophie,
Turnhout, 1997. Il est co-éditeur, avec E. Malaspina et T. Hunt de l’édition des Académiques pour les Belles Lettres (collection G. Budé).

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Published

2025-01-31

How to Cite

Lévy, C. (2025). Ratiocinatio and inductio in the De inuentione. Ciceroniana On Line, 8(2), 643–658. Retrieved from https://ojs.unito.it/index.php/COL/article/view/11651

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2024): “Lecturae Ciceronis I, 2024. Le De inuentione entre philosophie, droit et rhétorique” Proceedings edited by Charles GUÉRIN and Veronica REVELLO

Section

Papers

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