Definition:
1. A statement or bit of knowledge that is commonly shared among a given audience or community.
2. An elementary exercise, or progymnasmata. (See What Are the Progymnasmata?)
3. In invention, another term for a common topic.
See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "generally applicable literary passage"Examples and Observations:
- "The commonplaces or topics are 'locations' of standard categories of arguments. Aristotle distinguishes four common topics: whether a thing has occurred, whether it will occur, whether things are bigger or smaller than they seem, and whether a thing is or is not possible. Other commonplaces are definition, comparison, relationship, and testimony, each with its own subtopics. . . .
"In the Rhetoric, in Books I and II, Aristotle talks about not only 'common topics' that can generate arguments for any kind of speech, but also 'special topics' that are useful only for a particular kind of speech or subject matter. Because the discussion is dispersed, it is sometimes hard to determine what each kind of topic is."
(Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg, The Rhetorical Tradition. Bedford, 2001) - "Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery. Though shared by each of us and known to all, seldom rates a second thought. That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time."
(Michael Ende) - "It is common knowledge today that intestinal putrefaction causes brain fatigue, often reducing efficiency 50 per cent and more."
(ad campaign for Pillsbury Health Bran) - "It is an accepted commonplace in psychology that the spiritual level of people acting as a crowd is far lower than the mean of each individual's intelligence or morality."
(Christian Lange)
Pronunciation: KOM-un-plase
Also Known As: topoi (in Greek), loci (in Latin), topic
