What is "inventio"

n. One of the five canons of classical rhetoric: the method used for the discovery of arguments.

Inventio, one of the five canons of rhetoric, is the method used for the discovery of arguments in Western rhetoric and comes from the Latin word, meaning "invention" or "discovery". Inventio is the central, indispensable canon of rhetoric, and traditionally means a systematic search for arguments.

A speaker uses Inventio when he or she begins the thought process to form and develop an effective argument. Often, the invention phase can be seen as the first step in an attempt to generate ideas or create an argument that is convincing and compelling. The other four canons of classical rhetoric (the others being dispositio, elocutio, memoria, and pronuntiatio) rely on their interrelationship with invention.