oa Zeno’s dialectische redenering

The historical backgrounds of the dialectical approach to argumentation are less well-known than those of the logical and the rhetorical approaches. This article discusses the views on argumentation of the philosopher Zeno of Elea, who is mentioned in ancient sources as the ‘inventor’ of dialectic. Zeno’s views on the aim, the organization, and the regulation of argumentation are reconstructed on the basis of a careful analysis of the reports on one of his paradoxes – the ‘first paradox of plurality’. Next, it will be examined in what way Zeno contributed to the development of dialectic.