A crucial component of classical and renaissance rhetorical pedagogy. These exercises introduce the student to a variety of techniques and concepts which would be fundamental in more advanced work, and give him the opportunity to practice separately skills that would have to be combined when doing more advanced exercises and composing real speeches. The sequence and recommended treatment of these exercises varied between different rhetoricians. Classical progymnasmata contains 14 assignments ranked by degree of complexity. Here the student is expected to take a narrative and argue that it is untrue.
Refutation is the overturning of some given fact.
One should use refutation not on things that are perfectly obvious, nor on those that are completely impossible, but on intermediate matters. Refutation is an attack on an opposite view, typically attacking the credibility of a myth or legend. Confirmation is the securing of some given fact. One should use confirmation not on things that are perfectly obvious, nor on those that are completely impossible, but on intermediate matters. Confirmation, the opposite of the previous exercise, is the simple attempt to prove a given view, typically by arguing the credibility of a myth or legend.