Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca
Encyclopedia
Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca was a Belgian academic and longtime co-worker of the philosopher Chaïm Perelman
. She volunteered in 1948 to support his work and developed several aspects of the New Rhetoric
independently in later years.
without seeking a career. She married the statistican Raymond Olbrechts, eleven years older than herself, and lived an academical and social quiet life until she met Perelman in 1948.
Olbrechts-Tyteca and Perelman worked together between 1948 and 1984. During this time they worked out an influential contribution to argumentation theory. Their opus magnum Traité de l'argumentation : La nouvelle rhétorique. led - together with a book of Toulmin
, published in the same year - to the end of argumentative Logicism. The concrete contribution of Olbrechts-Tyteca to this and the other joined works is disputed among scholars but prevailing opinion is that she contributed the waste illustrative part, while Perelman outlined the abstract-theoretical aspects.
The Belgian academic established herself as an independent scholar with a work on rhetoric and comics, Le Comique du Discours, in 1974.
Chaim Perelman
Chaïm Perelman was a Polish-born philosopher of law, who studied, taught, and lived most of his life in Brussels. He was among the most important argumentation theorists of the twentieth century...
. She volunteered in 1948 to support his work and developed several aspects of the New Rhetoric
New rhetorics
New rhetorics is an interdisciplinary field approaching for the broadening of classical rhetorical cannon. The New Rhetoric is a result of various efforts of bringing back rhetorics from the marginal status it attained by its image and 'negative connotations' of "political lies, corporate spin,...
independently in later years.
Life and Work
Olbrechts-Tyteca was born into an important familiy of Bruessels in 1899 and studied several humanities and social scientific methods at the university of BrusselsFree University of Brussels
The Free University of Brussels was a university in Brussels, Belgium. In 1969, it split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel....
without seeking a career. She married the statistican Raymond Olbrechts, eleven years older than herself, and lived an academical and social quiet life until she met Perelman in 1948.
Olbrechts-Tyteca and Perelman worked together between 1948 and 1984. During this time they worked out an influential contribution to argumentation theory. Their opus magnum Traité de l'argumentation : La nouvelle rhétorique. led - together with a book of Toulmin
Stephen Toulmin
Stephen Edelston Toulmin was a British philosopher, author, and educator. Influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Toulmin devoted his works to the analysis of moral reasoning. Throughout his writings, he sought to develop practical arguments which can be used effectively in evaluating the ethics behind...
, published in the same year - to the end of argumentative Logicism. The concrete contribution of Olbrechts-Tyteca to this and the other joined works is disputed among scholars but prevailing opinion is that she contributed the waste illustrative part, while Perelman outlined the abstract-theoretical aspects.
The Belgian academic established herself as an independent scholar with a work on rhetoric and comics, Le Comique du Discours, in 1974.
Work
- with Chaïm Perelman: Rhétorique et philosophie. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1952.
- with Chaïm Perelman: Traité de l'argumentation : La nouvelle rhétorique. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1958. English: The new rhetoric: A treatise on argumentation. (J. Wilkinson and P. Weaver, Trans.). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
- Le Comique du Discours, Bruessels Press, 1974.
Literature
- Barbara Warnick: Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca's Contribution to The New Rhetoric in: Molly Meijer Wertheimer (Ed.): Listening th Their Voices: The Rhetorical Activities of Historical Woman. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997; pp. 69-85.
- Noemi Mattis-Perelman: Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca: A Personal Recollection. Letter to Ray D. Dearin, August, 11. 1994. See. Gross/Dearin: Chaim Perelman, 2003; p. 153.
- David A. Frank; Michelle Bolduc: Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca's New Rhetoric in Quarterly Journal of Speech, Vol. 96 No. 2, 2010, pp. 141 - 163.