As to the Topoi

I want to briefly mention something here about the"fun resource flakes" topoi widget I had mentioned in my "tour of pageflake" posting. If you haven't heard of it, the Topoi is an antiquated method for thinking. It was invented by Aristotle, and refers to place, like places in your brain, or even places your brain goes when thinking about certain topics. Even more to the point, the topoi mimics how we think of things.

The topoi widget provides a list for analysis:
• change
• contrast
• cause/effect
• form/structure
• values
⁃ morality/ethics
⁃ pragmatic
⁃ social
⁃ spiritual/metaphysical
⁃ political

The topoi is a tool to help you develop your hypothesis. To use different perspectives and stretch out ideas.

It is hard to look at this list and see how this could possibly be helpful, it is better to put the topoi to practice. So here:

Hypothesis:
As tattoo is becoming popularized, does it run the risk of changing from a subcultural practice to an ordinary, mainstream, or even banal convention?

Morality
Tattoo and deviance have historically been impenetrably linked, the question then becomes will deviant behavior become a mainstream convention?

Spiritual
In the Judeo-Christian belief, there is doctrine that explicitly states "thou shalt not mark thyself". As the United States is primarily a Christian oriented nation, what does the profusion of tattoo say about people in regards to their beliefs and practices?

Cause/Effect
As popular culture is in a constant state of ebb and flow, and traditionally subcultural practices that have filtered into mainstream society leaves impressions for generations that follow, how will the future perceive this moment in time when tattoo was an ever-present cultural custom?

The topoi layers on another framework of categorical or systematic ways in which you can model your argument. From one hypothesis, I now have three theses to work off of and expand into entire essays.