Enthymemes are measuring devices for testing a working argument's suitability and direction because they help us reflect on our premises, find shared resonances, and, most importantly, learn how to work with interference patterns in communicative processes. When you program a computer, you tell it what to do: a computer will accept the logic of the syllogism "sight unseen." Circuit closed. Enthymemes, on the other hand, are open to question, completed by the unspoken ( and often unknown) assumptions of any particular audience. When we write and then pause to carefully consider and tinker with the major premise of our enthymemic proof in-process, we can find patterns of resonance - places where the audience and an argument are "on the same page." We're also sure find interference patterns when readers bring different assumptions than we expect, and get noisy about some the assumptions built into our premises.

go to FreeSound

go to Causal Composition

refer to Weston on "distinguishing premises from conclusions."

refer to C.S. Peirce's logical types

browse further: yet another version of Aristotle's Rhetoric

an interdisciplinary bibliography

consider the ubiquity of enthymemic practices in advertising