modes of dev

ARISTOTLE'S TEN CATEGORIES and THE MODES OF DEVELOPMENT

Whenever you want to write or speak on a topic, you have a variety of options to develop your idea. Composition textbooks refer to these as modes of development: process analysis (including origin, history, development), definition, classification, analysis (into parts), cause and effect, comparison/contrast (including simile, metaphor, and analogy), example (including instance, illustration, quotation, and statistics). These options are often presented as equivalent to the basic questions an audience might ask about a given topic. This connection stems from the Greek philosopher and rhetorician, Aristotle.

Aristotle divided existence into substance and accident. He defined substance as that which makes a being what it is; accidents as the attributes of a substance. His derivation of the ten categories represents his search through the Greek language for the ways of attribution or predication about some one or thing. Thus, the answers to the basic questions in a language seem to be the set of categories by which the speakers of that language speak about the world and thus organize it. There are more than ten possible questions to ask in Greek or any other language, but it was Aristotle's purpose to start with the set at the top of the hierarchy of all possible questions. William of Ockham, an English philosopher of the fourteenth century, used Aristotle's categories in his theory of terms to represent the basic means of predication.

1) QUID?	substance	noun, pronoun, name
2) QUALE?	quality	modifier
3) QUANTUM?	quantity	quantifier
4) CUIUS?/AD QUID?	relation	possessive, dative
5) QUID AGIT?	action	active verb
6) QUID PATITUR?	affection	passive verb
7) UBI?	place	locative adverb
8) QUANDO?	time	temporal adverb
9) IN QUO SITU?	status/context
10) IN QUO HABITU?	virtue

From a rhetorical point of view, these categories represent modes of invention, means of development, the so-called five w's in English (who, when, where, what, and why; these might come to ten if we added some of the various senses of what and how). Thus Aristotle's ten categories in English might correspond to the following questions:

1) WHO or WHAT (1) is the subject of this discourse?

2) WHAT KIND of a subject is it (i.e. he, she, or it)?

3) HOW MUCH OR HOW BIG is it?

4) WHOSE is it, TO WHOM does it belong, or WHO is affected?

5) WHAT HAPPENED or WAS DONE?

6) HOW DID IT FEEL? or WHAT WAS SUFFERED in this event?

7) WHERE?

8) WHEN?

9) WHAT was the SITUATION?

10) WHAT WAS CUSTOMARY or HABITUAL about it?

These categories seem neither mutually exclusive nor collectively exhaustive of the possibilities, but they do account for most of the basic kinds of information. We could easily reduce the number of categories (for instance, 9 and 10 could be derived from 2; or 5 and 6 could be combined). Thus, Roget's thesaurus has only six major categories, but they follow quite closely Aristotle's organization of basic ideas:

CLASS I Abstract Relations: Existence, Relation, Quantity, Order, Number, Time, Change, Causation

CLASS II Space: Space in General Dimensions, Form, Motion

CLASS III Matter: Matter in General, Inorganic, Organic

CLASS IV Intellect: Formation of Ideas, Communication, Means of Communicating

CLASS V Volition: Individual, Inter-social

CLASS VI Affections: Personal, Sympathetic, Moral, Religious.

Unfortunately, his modern English thesaurus is concerned almost exclusively with content words and leaves out the most important part of the language for organizing ideas into categories, namely, the simple function words and transition phrases by which we cue our audience to the modes of development of our thought. On the following pages, then, is a list of the modes of development with a thesaurus of appropriate words and phrases to provide coherent transitions:

MODE OF DEVELOPMENT	SENTENCE ADVERB	CONJUNCTION or PREPOSITION

2) COMPARISON:	similarly, likewise, in like manner, by comparison	like, as, as if, as though, just as...so..., the more/less...the more the former...the latter
CONTRAST:	in contrast, on the contrary, on the other hand, conversely, yet, still, nevertheless, however, in spite of this, none the less, even so, notwithstanding	though, although, even though, despite, even supposing, even if, but, not only...but also

3) ANALYSIS:	firstly, in the first place, etc. finally	either...or some...others neither...nor
3) CLASSIFICATION:	in general, generally, specifically
3) EXAMPLE:	thus, for example, for instance, a case in point, as an example
3) EXCEPTION:	notwithstanding X, irrespective of X, exclusive of X, save for X, X excluded, irrespective of X, X excepted, with this exception, only
3) CONCESSION:	I admit, concede, etc., granted

4) DEFINITION:	that is, namely, that is to say, in other words, to wit

5) NARRATION:	meanwhile, all this time, in the meantime, during this time, all the while, now, then, later, previously, formerly, in the beginning, at last, at the end, henceforth, thereafter, since then, thereupon, then, afterward, etc	when, before, after, since, while
5) CAUSE:	because of this, for this reason, hence, therefore, consequently, accordingly, thus, the reason is that..., whereas	due to, because of, out of, for the sake of, on account of, in view of, in the interest of, by virtue of, since, because, owing to, if X then, for

6) EFFECT:	the result is..., as a result, in consequence, in conclusion, to conclude, to that end, thus	in order to, so that, for the purpose of, if X then Y

7) ILLUSTRATION:	to illustrate, by way of illustration, (see diagram/illustration I)

8) PROCESS:	first/ly, second/ly etc., then, last/ly, finally

9) TRANSITION or ADDITION:	furthermore, moreover, in addition, at any rate, X also	and

10) EMPHASIS:	certainly, obviously, to be sure, of course, indeed, in a word, in brief, in short, on the whole, to come to the point, surely then, doubtless, no doubt, evidently, clearly