Yet even his works on topics of philosophical significance generally avoided the dialectical arguments of Aristotelian and scholastic philosophers and proceeded by citation of biblical passages instead.
In the 19th century, Karl Marx and his followers borrowed and adapted the dialectical argument of Hegel and used it effectively to develop dialectical materialism, an archenemy of all idealisms.
However, in the rhetorical context there are two factors that the dialectician has to keep in mind if she wants to become a rhetorician too, and if the dialectical argument is to become a successful enthymeme.
By showing that these positions are supported by mere dialectical arguments al-Ghazâlî aims to demolish what he regarded was an epistemological hubris on the side of the falâsifa.
Dialectical premises are not necessary or certain, but they are as close to the truth as the feeble human mind can come, and the conclusions of dialectical arguments are acceptable to the wise.
Aristotle's book Topics lists some hundred topoi for the construction of dialectical arguments.
The difference, according to Aristotle, is that dialectical arguments proceed from endoxa or "views held by everyone or by most people or by the wise, that is, by all, most, or the especially famous and respected of the wise," whereas eristic arguments proceed from what only seem to be, or what seems to follow from, endoxa (Top. 1.1.100a29 30, b22 5).
This is a variation on the problem of logical determinism which is known from Aristotle's On Interpretation 9. Several of the sophisms devised and discussed by the Dialectical school touch upon this issue — the Mower Argument, the Lazy Argument (Bobzien 1998, 78-81, 180-233), and the Master Argument.
The Topics provide a manual for participants in the contests of dialectical argument as instituted in the Academy by Plato.
The correspondence with dialectical method is straightforward: rhetorical speeches, like dialectical arguments, seek to persuade others to accept certain conclusions on the basis of premises they already accept.
