Extrinsic Proofs

The change of the importance of extrinsic proofs since Aristotle’s “invention” of it has changed not only in practice but importance.  The publication of the written word is something that we take for fact in today’s contemporary society, we assume that it is trustworthy, being classified as either data or testimony.  The use of testimony as the witness newly means today that someone providing a testimony has a first hand account; however, the root of testimony means “standing as a third” again representing the drastic change of rhetoric over time.  When we think of these changes we have to think of the effectiveness of the rhetorical terms, do extrinsic proofs function as successfully as intrinsic do? when compared to each use in the past? Even the use of data, as tested by observation, each type of extrinsic proof is necessary for rhetors to successfully provide an argument. 

Cicero’s examination of extrinsic proofs “rel[ied] chiefly on the authority granted by the community to those who make them,” thereby deeming testimony as the most concrete of facts (RT 71).  What is interesting is the disparity between Cicero and Aristotle’s definitions of extrinsic proofs, but more importantly the weight of each that they deemed fit.  Our culture today does not take opinion as fact, we do not view intrinsic proofs as viable sources of information.  Professors and teachers are always telling their students to cite source, to look for the information that has already been published and to not keep their audience in the dark about what others have said.  As we move away from established commonplaces and transition into a time in rhetoric when there are more non-commonalities than there are commonalities as commonplaces it seems that intrinsic proofs cannot stand on their own.  They cannot be held to the high standard that they were when rhetoric was first practiced.  But this change is that which has adapted with the change of time, of culture and of demand for the practice of argument.  There are many ways that we use rhetoric very similarly to how it was first used, but perhaps even the practice of the written word has changed what kin of proofs we use, and why we use them.