從亞里斯多德《修辭術》中的三種說服論證解讀《利維坦》

亞里斯多德《修辭術》對於霍布斯的政治科學主張有很深的影響。本文從亞氏《修辭術》中區分的三種說服論證：論理說服、情感說服與人格說服，來解讀霍布斯的《利維坦》。首先，從修辭術中的論理說服來看，霍布斯在《利維坦》中更進一步希望建立在精確定義、理性邏輯推理上，避免因為或然性造成的爭議不斷。而在情感說服上，霍布斯承繼亞氏對於情感左右人的行為之觀點，而特別重視多數人們對「恐懼暴死」的態度，霍布斯進而將此轉化為政治科學的立論根基。在人格說服上亞氏強調人們易於相信值得信賴的人，霍布斯則轉換為偏重攻擊對手的人格特質。特別是在《利維坦》的後半書中，因為宗教經文難解人們對神意爭論不休。霍布斯除了努力在經文解釋上作出其認為的正確詮釋外；另方面，嚴厲批評當時傳教士、羅馬教會人士的人格問題，藉以獲得讀者對自己的信任。本文認為以這種方式解讀《利維坦》，不但可以看到霍布斯對於亞里斯多德修辭傳統的繼承，也可以看到霍布斯運用與轉換了亞里斯多德修辭術中重要說服論證方式。此外，本文除了希望提供一種解讀角度，讓讀者更容易明白《利維坦》論證方式與章節安排。同時也希望藉此強調「修辭說服」面向的重要性，筆者認為這是當代政治思想、政治哲學所忽略之處。

關鍵字

亞里斯多德；修辭術；《利維坦》；說服；霍布斯

並列摘要

The paper aims to understand Hobbes' Leviathan through Aristotle's three modes of persuasion-logos, pathos, and ethos in his On Rhetoric Comparing with logos i.e. rhetorical argumentation, Hobbes further employed logical argumentation based on exact definition and right reasoning. He wants to avoid the ambiguity of the probability. But how could human affair be with necessity? The answer is to depend on passion Most of all, Hobbes built his theory of sovereign on the extreme passion, fearing of violent death. Similarly, Aristotle emphasized that men are greatly influenced by passions, pathos, to make different judgments Aristotle's emphasis of passion influenced Hobbes to regard it as the most important factor of human action. On the latter half of Leviathan, Hobbes used ethos, the characteristic argumentation to supply the interpretation of the Bible and also for his sovereign theory. Hobbes attacked the opposite's characters to make his readers not to trust them. Finally, I would claim that through Aristotle's three modes of persuasion makes us understand Leviathan better and reveals the importance of rhetorical persuasion than merely rational justification.