Place as Argument

Abstract

Inspired by studies about the history and anthropology of knowledge, this text addresses the question of how places are constitutive of the process of argumentation. The argument from place (argumentum a loco) that is presented in classical rhetoric handbooks, particularly in Quintilian, is used as a model of analysis in order to emphasise the situated character of argumentative processes. Both the attention to the place from which an argument is uttered and to the place to which the argument refers are useful guides that help us understand the phenomenon of relevance and keep expanding the contextual and situated approach to argumentation theory and rhetoric.