Theodore Scaltsas

Computational Models of Rhetorical Argument

Theories of rhetoric offer rich characterisations of communication that in many cases might usefully be exploited in a computational system. Reviews of contributing theories, including those in rhetoric, computational linguistics and knowledge representation together lay a foundation for exploring different approaches to building computational models of rhetoric that remain true to the spirit of the original, but extend them to be formalisable in software. The exercise is shown both to have significant advantages in various areas of artificial intelligence, and also to have benefit for the study of rhetoric.

Soul as Attunement: An Analogy or a Model?

My purpose in the present paper is first, to argue that in the Phaedo, in his discussion of the proposal that the soul is attunement, Plato makes a distinction between an analogy for, and a model of, the soul. He establishes different adequacy criteria for each, and introduces a way of appraising the explanatory value of a model. Second, to show that Plato’s criticism of Simmias’ model of the soul as harmony — as a blending of the elements of the body — is unfair to the heurisic value of the model. I offer a version of Simmias’ position which avoids Plato’s criticisms, and show that although Simmias’ position requires substance physicalism, it does not require moral naturalism.