How to Identify Inartistic Proofs

By eHow Education Editor

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Scholars and philosophers of antiquity, such as Cicero and Aristotle, divided proofs into the artistic and inartistic types. If you're studying the ancients or if you want to improve your ability to debate and persuade, you should be able to quickly identify an inartistic proof in logic.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Step1

Use statistics as prevalent and definitive inartistic proofs since statistics represent raw, empirical data. This is the essence of an inartistic proof in logic.

Step2

Determine whether someone is employing information or proof to prove another logical proof. If so, you can be fairly certain that the proof is an inartistic one.

Step3

Consider whether the proof is a fact, or an attempt at one. Even if the proof is incorrect, or "unsound" in logical terms, it can still be considered an inartistic proof, as in the case, "The sky is green." Such proofs are valid as inartistic proofs but they are simply not sound and do not actually help advance an argument.

Step4

Do some background research on the proof to see if it's been used as part of a testimony in a court of law or scientific fact. If the proof has been used legally or scientifically, then it's reasonable to identify it as inartistic, even if it's not actually correct.

Step5

Understand what an artistic proof is by reading Aristotle's commentary (in his book Rhetoric) on the different kinds of artistic proofs. Then, look at an argument to distinguish between the artistic and inartistic proofs for the sake of knowing which is which.