213030325 03 01 01 JB John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 JB code AIC 22 Eb 15 9789027246516 06 10.1075/aic.22 13 2024029611 DG 002 02 01 AIC 02 1877-6884 Argumentation in Context 22 01 aic.22 01 https://benjamins.com 02 https://benjamins.com/catalog/aic.22 1 B01 Chiara Degano Degano, Chiara Chiara Degano Università degli Studi di Roma Tre 2 B01 Dora Renna Renna, Dora Dora Renna Università Ca’ Foscari – Venezia 3 B01 Francesca Santulli Santulli, Francesca Francesca Santulli Università Ca’ Foscari – Venezia 01 eng 280 ix 265 + index LAN015000 v.2006 CFG 2 24 JB Subject Scheme COMM.CGEN Communication Studies 24 JB Subject Scheme LIN.DISC Discourse studies 24 JB Subject Scheme LIN.PRAG Pragmatics 06 01 The volume aims to advance understanding of argumentative practices in different communicative contexts, with special regard for those with heightened public resonance: politics, media, and public debate in general. Furthermore, it intends to explore the linguistic aspects of argumentation, including both explicit codification, with the related issue of indicators, and the activation of implicit meanings.<br />Bringing together different paradigms to account for the relations between contextual factors and discourse realizations, the contributions articulate around three foci, placing emphasis on one or more of them: the communicative purpose within a given genre or activity type; the argumentative and linguistic features of the investigated discourses, among which prototypical patterns, argumentative styles, and implicit meanings; the assessment of argumentation quality and strategies to cope with illegitimate practices.<br /> 04 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/475/aic.22.png 04 03 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_jpg/9789027215901.jpg 04 03 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_tif/9789027215901.tif 06 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_front/aic.22.hb.png 07 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/125/aic.22.png 25 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_back/aic.22.hb.png 27 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/3d_web/aic.22.hb.png 10 01 JB code aic.22.toc v vi 2 Miscellaneous 1 10 01 JB code aic.22.lof vii viii 2 Miscellaneous 2 10 01 JB code aic.22.lot ix x 2 Miscellaneous 3 10 01 JB code aic.22.00deg 1 23 23 Chapter 4 1 A01 Chiara Degano Degano, Chiara Chiara Degano University of Roma Tre 2 A01 Dora Renna Renna, Dora Dora Renna University of Ferrara 3 A01 Francesca Santulli Santulli, Francesca Francesca Santulli Ca’ Foscari University of Venice1 10 01 JB code aic.22.01tod 24 45 22 Chapter 5 1 A01 Natalija Todorovic Todorovic, Natalija Natalija Todorovic Institute of Communication and Public Policy, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland 2 A01 Benedetto Lepori Lepori, Benedetto Benedetto Lepori Institute of Communication and Public Policy, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland 3 A01 Andrea Rocci Rocci, Andrea Andrea Rocci Institute of Argumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland 20 argumentation studies 20 bibliometric analysis 20 corpus analysis 20 interdisciplinarity 20 semantic content 01 Argumentation studies are an area of inquiry with important interdisciplinary appeal. As such, the word argumentation is used in communities with diverse perspectives and approaches. In this work we apply bibliometric and corpus analysis to identify the semantic content of the “scientific conversations” about argumentation on dataset containing 10,000 scientific publications. We focus on outlets of publication of those documents to map the cognitive structure of the field and use results as a seed for a linguistic analysis of discourse about argumentation in full-text documents’ relevant for each cluster. Our findings show a small common core, which however branches into distinct discussions about argumentation. Understanding these points of connection and separation is important for the field and for science in general, as they highlight mechanisms of interdisciplinarity and reveal possibilities for future interactions and developments. 10 01 JB code aic.22.02deg 46 70 25 Chapter 6 1 A01 Chiara Degano Degano, Chiara Chiara Degano University of Roma Tre 20 agreement 20 Brexit 20 editorials 20 populism 20 starting points 01 If argumentation has to have a chance of success in solving a difference of opinion, there must be a common ground between the participants, i.e. one or more objects of agreement between the parties, which can be exploited argumentatively. This chapter focuses on how starting points are established in editorials and comments, taking as a case study a corpus of UK newspaper articles on populism in the context of the 2016 referendum on Brexit. <br />The results suggest that starting points are discursively constructed either with a bona-fide intent of signalling that the receiver should accept a proposition as a starting point, or the non-bona fide purpose of mocking those who would subscribe to a given proposition. In either case, the ratified addressee typically belongs to the writer’s ‘party’, thus confirming editorials as a genre with a strong epideictic component. 10 01 JB code aic.22.03big 71 91 21 Chapter 7 1 A01 Sarah Bigi Bigi, Sarah Sarah Bigi Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano 2 A01 Giulia Grata Grata, Giulia Giulia Grata Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano 3 A01 Paola Mosconi Mosconi, Paola Paola Mosconi Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, IRCCS, Milano 20 COVID-19 20 framing strategies 20 practical reasoning 20 pragmatic argumentation 20 public policy communication 20 values 01 The Covid-19 pandemic has been described as a <i>creeping crisis</i>, which is a kind of crisis that develops slowly, threatens common values, and is partially or insufficiently addressed by authorities. In order for an event to appear as a “creeping crisis” citizens have to agree that it threatens common and core values. Only when this happens, a response can be organized. This study reports on arguments and framing strategies used by policy makers in Italy to define the virus and thus justify the restrictive measures meant to stop it. Attempts to persuade the population to adopt restrictive measures during the pandemic relied on pragmatic argumentation, in which values such as ‘life’, ‘health’ and ‘essential’ played a significant role. 10 01 JB code aic.22.04nik 92 110 19 Chapter 8 1 A01 Jekaterina Nikitina Nikitina, Jekaterina Jekaterina Nikitina University of Milan “La Statale” 20 boilerplate description 20 citation 20 manipulation 20 persuasion 20 press release 20 promotion 01 Press releases dedicated to the creation of a new vaccine draw on a complex weave of information and promotion, including at times also elements of manipulation. This discourse-analytical study explores the recurrent motifs and arguments in a corpus of English-language press releases of three leading vaccine-manufacturers – AstraZeneca, Moderna and Gamaleya-RDIF in the period directly preceding the launch of active vaccination campaigns. The study applies the framework of (critical) discourse analysis with insights from argumentation theory and rhetoric. Two moves of the press release are compared: boilerplate descriptions, performing a mixed informative-promotional function, and citations, to which an explicitly promotional role is attributed. The findings identify a number of common leitmotifs with a partial overlap between boilerplates and citations, especially concerning the safety issue. The latter is explicitly mentioned only in citations, i.e. with reduced accountability for the company. Boilerplates explore enthymemes for persuasive and argumentative purposes to convince the audience of the vaccine validity. Moderna and AstraZeneca use convergent techniques of persuasive argumentation, whereas RDIF at times glides towards argumentative fallacies and manipulative strategies. 10 01 JB code aic.22.05cat 111 133 23 Chapter 9 1 A01 Paola Catenaccio Catenaccio, Paola Paola Catenaccio University of Milan “La Statale” 20 corporate discourse 20 deliberation 20 legitimacy 20 prototypical argumentative patterns 20 sustainability 01 In order to be permitted to carry out their operations, companies need to be perceived as legitimate. Legitimacy is awarded as a result of a deliberation process whereby the members of a society come to agree that a company’s operations can be considered beneficial (or at least not harmful) both in principle and in practice. For companies operating in contested industries, such as mining and agri-biotechnologies, gaining, and maintaining, a ‘social licence’ to operate can be problematic, and requires extensive engagement in discursively mediated legitimation practices of an argumentative nature. This chapter seeks to identify the prototypical argumentative patterns deployed in these industries in the service of corporate legitimation, concluding that they rely on varieties of pragmatic argumentation based on strong sustainability-framed objects of agreement to which are applied inferential processes ultimately resting on the <i>locus</i> from final/​instrumental cause. 10 01 JB code aic.22.06bra 134 152 19 Chapter 10 1 A01 Emanuele Brambilla Brambilla, Emanuele Emanuele Brambilla University of Trieste 20 argumentation structure 20 argumentative style 20 international adoption dossier (IAD) 20 prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) 01 Drawing on recent developments in Pragma-dialectics, this paper explores argumentation in a corpus of international adoption dossiers (IADs) issued by an Italian adoption agency facilitating adoptions from India. A collection of all the documents required by the native country of the adopted child, the IAD has an argumentative nature, as it aims at persuading Indian authorities to approve adoption. The study reveals that it is characterised by a coordinative argumentation structure and a hybrid argumentative style. This “combination” of detached and engaged styles is prototypical of the communicative activity type at issue, as it is functional to radiating objectivity and commitment alike, with a view to enhancing the acceptability of the standpoint concerning the eligibility of Italian prospective adoptive parents. 10 01 JB code aic.22.07mit 153 168 16 Chapter 11 1 A01 Mena Mitrano Mitrano, Mena Mena Mitrano Ca’ Foscari University of Venice 20 care of the self 20 Eve Kosofky Sedgwick 20 hermeneutics of suspicion 20 Jane Austen 20 Michel Foucault 20 paranoid inquiry 20 persuasion 20 truth 01 Literary scholars have increasingly moved away from the hermeneutics of suspicion, on the ground that this once-dominant axis of reflection uniting Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud and culminating with deconstruction and poststructuralism, has been reduced to an ineffectual set of standardized rhetorical gestures with the sole purpose of debunking and demystifying (R. Felski 2015; R. Felski and E. Anker 2017). In such a postcritical climate, this article explores the link between persuasion and the pursuit of knowledge in the Humanities through three theoretically charged close readings (Jane Austen, Michel Foucault, Eve K. Sedgwick). Discussion takes its cue from the implications of persuasion as a rhetorical tenet and goes on to trace its transformation, first in connection with the rise of discourse, and secondly in connection with the ethical turn in critical inquiry. Ultimately, the article suggests that the traditional tension between truth and persuasion has taken on new life in the polarity of the cognitive and the affective dimensions of knowledge. 10 01 JB code aic.22.08tuc 169 188 20 Chapter 12 1 A01 Paul Tucker Tucker, Paul Paul Tucker (formerly) University of Florence, Italy 20 argumentation 20 cognition 20 discourse 20 discourse on art 20 interaction 20 predication 20 speech act 20 text 01 Whereas current theories stress argumentation’s interactional character and function, this chapter emphasizes its cognitive motivation and textual realization. Text itself will be understood as the record of a course of verbally mediated and interactionally negotiated cognitive explication, focused on some individual entity and progressively elaborated through the intertwining of two orders of speech act – one pragmatically endowing propositions with illocutionary force <i>and</i> cognitive intent, the other positing certain logico-rhetorical relations between them and thereby binding them into discursive coherence. The chapter will concentrate on discourse on visual art, as text typically aiming to explicate individual artworks or collections of such. Examples in English, Italian and French dating from the seventeenth century to the present will show how the same cognitive and communicative strategies are played out in different languages and periods. 10 01 JB code aic.22.09ron 189 210 22 Chapter 13 1 A01 Tiziana Roncoroni Roncoroni, Tiziana Tiziana Roncoroni University of Bergamo 20 analysis of argumentation 20 German scientific papers 20 indirect argumentation 20 Italian scientific papers 20 pragma-dialectics 20 prototypical argumentative patterns 20 scientific discourse 01 This pilot study investigated scientific argumentation from a pragma-dialectical methodological approach with the aim of characterizing possible prototypical argumentative patterns by reconstructing argumentation structures, and identifying and analyzing the standpoints, arguments, starting points, and strategies. The results corroborated the findings of previous studies regarding the complexity of standpoints, structures, and patterns, the dialogical nature attained by advancing doubts and criticism, and the important role of exploratory argumentation (comparing and evaluating options). New insights also emerged: Causal argumentation appeared to play a more pervasive role than was previously assumed, which was supported by different subtypes of argument schemes. Furthermore, scientific argumentation proved to be indirect but strong, with standpoints that were not predominantly descriptive, and weighing was used strategically. 10 01 JB code aic.22.10giu 211 231 21 Chapter 14 1 A01 Giulia Giunta Giunta, Giulia Giulia Giunta Università di Roma Tre 2 A01 Edoardo Lombardi Vallauri Lombardi Vallauri, Edoardo Edoardo Lombardi Vallauri Università di Roma Tre 20 education on public communication 20 manipulation through implicitness 20 online resources 20 teaching critical attention 20 TV platforms 01 Conveying information implicitly can reduce epistemic vigilance and critical attention. Commercial advertising and political propaganda often exploit this property of linguistic implicitness to covertly convey questionable content, leading to the manipulation of their audience. This highlights the necessity of educating individuals to recognize implicit content and to critically engage with it, a practice that has not been sufficiently emphasized thus far. The paper provides a survey of (i) the primary theoretical and experimental studies on the subject and (ii) some educational resources and materials currently available to the public in Europe, aimed at enhancing awareness regarding the cognitive and social ramifications of implicit information transmission, particularly through the media. The paper also offers (iii) specific didactic proposals based on the authors’ research and teaching experiences. 10 01 JB code aic.22.11cha 232 247 16 Chapter 15 1 A01 Ross Charnock Charnock, Ross Ross Charnock University of Paris / University of Torino 20 argumentation 20 atomist 20 authority 20 Bentham 20 fallacies 20 holistic 20 reinterpretation 01 Bentham’s “Book of Fallacies” (1824) presents itself as a form of rhetorical self-defence. The author insists that the fallacies are invariably used as counter-arguments, blocking political reform and preventing social progress. He claims that the use of such paralogical techniques is a sure sign of corruption. However, he denies the efficacy of such rhetorical arguments, insisting that only the weak-minded and ignorant are likely to be persuaded. A comparison of the “Book of Fallacies” with his “Anarchical Fallacies” shows that his own preferred mode of argument is analytic and atomist rather than rhetorical. <br />Bentham expressed radical views on contentious subjects of public importance. His proposals are still widely discussed in academic circles, but were rarely taken up by posterity. His wholesale denunciation of rhetoric in all its forms may appear irrational; however, if he believed that his ideas were rejected for purely fallacious reasons, then his attitude may be explained as a reluctant recognition of the power of rhetoric over reason. 10 01 JB code aic.22.12wer 248 264 17 Chapter 16 1 A01 Tom Werner Werner, Tom Tom Werner Carnegie Mellon University 20 basic acts 20 closed and open systems 20 conspiracy theories 20 dialogue games 20 polarity and non-polarity questions 20 practical linguistics 20 transformations 20 unbestimmtheitsstellen 01 To encounter a conspiracy theory is to enter a dark world where normal rules do not apply. To reason with an upholder of that theory is to come against a force-field which intensifies at every push, rendering ordinary persuasive strategies counter-productive. In place of such strategies, I appeal to the underlying linguistic structure of moves in a language game as providing a way out from the closed system of a conspiracy theory. This approach constitutes an application of what may be called practical linguistics. 10 01 JB code aic.22.index 265 268 4 Miscellaneous 17 02 JBENJAMINS John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam/Philadelphia NL 02 November 2024 20241115 2024 John Benjamins B.V. 02 WORLD 13 15 9789027215901 01 JB 3 John Benjamins e-Platform 03 jbe-platform.com 09 WORLD 10 20241115 01 00 125.00 EUR R 01 00 105.00 GBP Z 01 gen 00 163.00 USD S 868030324 03 01 01 JB John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 JB code AIC 22 Hb 15 9789027215901 13 2024029610 BB 01 AIC 02 1877-6884 Argumentation in Context 22 01 aic.22 01 https://benjamins.com 02 https://benjamins.com/catalog/aic.22 1 B01 Chiara Degano Degano, Chiara Chiara Degano Università degli Studi di Roma Tre 2 B01 Dora Renna Renna, Dora Dora Renna Università Ca’ Foscari – Venezia 3 B01 Francesca Santulli Santulli, Francesca Francesca Santulli Università Ca’ Foscari – Venezia 01 eng 280 ix 265 + index LAN015000 v.2006 CFG 2 24 JB Subject Scheme COMM.CGEN Communication Studies 24 JB Subject Scheme LIN.DISC Discourse studies 24 JB Subject Scheme LIN.PRAG Pragmatics 06 01 The volume aims to advance understanding of argumentative practices in different communicative contexts, with special regard for those with heightened public resonance: politics, media, and public debate in general. Furthermore, it intends to explore the linguistic aspects of argumentation, including both explicit codification, with the related issue of indicators, and the activation of implicit meanings.<br />Bringing together different paradigms to account for the relations between contextual factors and discourse realizations, the contributions articulate around three foci, placing emphasis on one or more of them: the communicative purpose within a given genre or activity type; the argumentative and linguistic features of the investigated discourses, among which prototypical patterns, argumentative styles, and implicit meanings; the assessment of argumentation quality and strategies to cope with illegitimate practices.<br /> 04 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/475/aic.22.png 04 03 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_jpg/9789027215901.jpg 04 03 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_tif/9789027215901.tif 06 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_front/aic.22.hb.png 07 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/125/aic.22.png 25 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_back/aic.22.hb.png 27 09 01 https://benjamins.com/covers/3d_web/aic.22.hb.png 10 01 JB code aic.22.toc v vi 2 Miscellaneous 1 10 01 JB code aic.22.lof vii viii 2 Miscellaneous 2 10 01 JB code aic.22.lot ix x 2 Miscellaneous 3 10 01 JB code aic.22.00deg 1 23 23 Chapter 4 1 A01 Chiara Degano Degano, Chiara Chiara Degano University of Roma Tre 2 A01 Dora Renna Renna, Dora Dora Renna University of Ferrara 3 A01 Francesca Santulli Santulli, Francesca Francesca Santulli Ca’ Foscari University of Venice1 10 01 JB code aic.22.01tod 24 45 22 Chapter 5 1 A01 Natalija Todorovic Todorovic, Natalija Natalija Todorovic Institute of Communication and Public Policy, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland 2 A01 Benedetto Lepori Lepori, Benedetto Benedetto Lepori Institute of Communication and Public Policy, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland 3 A01 Andrea Rocci Rocci, Andrea Andrea Rocci Institute of Argumentation, Linguistics and Semiotics, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland 20 argumentation studies 20 bibliometric analysis 20 corpus analysis 20 interdisciplinarity 20 semantic content 01 Argumentation studies are an area of inquiry with important interdisciplinary appeal. As such, the word argumentation is used in communities with diverse perspectives and approaches. In this work we apply bibliometric and corpus analysis to identify the semantic content of the “scientific conversations” about argumentation on dataset containing 10,000 scientific publications. We focus on outlets of publication of those documents to map the cognitive structure of the field and use results as a seed for a linguistic analysis of discourse about argumentation in full-text documents’ relevant for each cluster. Our findings show a small common core, which however branches into distinct discussions about argumentation. Understanding these points of connection and separation is important for the field and for science in general, as they highlight mechanisms of interdisciplinarity and reveal possibilities for future interactions and developments. 10 01 JB code aic.22.02deg 46 70 25 Chapter 6 1 A01 Chiara Degano Degano, Chiara Chiara Degano University of Roma Tre 20 agreement 20 Brexit 20 editorials 20 populism 20 starting points 01 If argumentation has to have a chance of success in solving a difference of opinion, there must be a common ground between the participants, i.e. one or more objects of agreement between the parties, which can be exploited argumentatively. This chapter focuses on how starting points are established in editorials and comments, taking as a case study a corpus of UK newspaper articles on populism in the context of the 2016 referendum on Brexit. <br />The results suggest that starting points are discursively constructed either with a bona-fide intent of signalling that the receiver should accept a proposition as a starting point, or the non-bona fide purpose of mocking those who would subscribe to a given proposition. In either case, the ratified addressee typically belongs to the writer’s ‘party’, thus confirming editorials as a genre with a strong epideictic component. 10 01 JB code aic.22.03big 71 91 21 Chapter 7 1 A01 Sarah Bigi Bigi, Sarah Sarah Bigi Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano 2 A01 Giulia Grata Grata, Giulia Giulia Grata Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano 3 A01 Paola Mosconi Mosconi, Paola Paola Mosconi Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, IRCCS, Milano 20 COVID-19 20 framing strategies 20 practical reasoning 20 pragmatic argumentation 20 public policy communication 20 values 01 The Covid-19 pandemic has been described as a <i>creeping crisis</i>, which is a kind of crisis that develops slowly, threatens common values, and is partially or insufficiently addressed by authorities. In order for an event to appear as a “creeping crisis” citizens have to agree that it threatens common and core values. Only when this happens, a response can be organized. This study reports on arguments and framing strategies used by policy makers in Italy to define the virus and thus justify the restrictive measures meant to stop it. Attempts to persuade the population to adopt restrictive measures during the pandemic relied on pragmatic argumentation, in which values such as ‘life’, ‘health’ and ‘essential’ played a significant role. 10 01 JB code aic.22.04nik 92 110 19 Chapter 8 1 A01 Jekaterina Nikitina Nikitina, Jekaterina Jekaterina Nikitina University of Milan “La Statale” 20 boilerplate description 20 citation 20 manipulation 20 persuasion 20 press release 20 promotion 01 Press releases dedicated to the creation of a new vaccine draw on a complex weave of information and promotion, including at times also elements of manipulation. This discourse-analytical study explores the recurrent motifs and arguments in a corpus of English-language press releases of three leading vaccine-manufacturers – AstraZeneca, Moderna and Gamaleya-RDIF in the period directly preceding the launch of active vaccination campaigns. The study applies the framework of (critical) discourse analysis with insights from argumentation theory and rhetoric. Two moves of the press release are compared: boilerplate descriptions, performing a mixed informative-promotional function, and citations, to which an explicitly promotional role is attributed. The findings identify a number of common leitmotifs with a partial overlap between boilerplates and citations, especially concerning the safety issue. The latter is explicitly mentioned only in citations, i.e. with reduced accountability for the company. Boilerplates explore enthymemes for persuasive and argumentative purposes to convince the audience of the vaccine validity. Moderna and AstraZeneca use convergent techniques of persuasive argumentation, whereas RDIF at times glides towards argumentative fallacies and manipulative strategies. 10 01 JB code aic.22.05cat 111 133 23 Chapter 9 1 A01 Paola Catenaccio Catenaccio, Paola Paola Catenaccio University of Milan “La Statale” 20 corporate discourse 20 deliberation 20 legitimacy 20 prototypical argumentative patterns 20 sustainability 01 In order to be permitted to carry out their operations, companies need to be perceived as legitimate. Legitimacy is awarded as a result of a deliberation process whereby the members of a society come to agree that a company’s operations can be considered beneficial (or at least not harmful) both in principle and in practice. For companies operating in contested industries, such as mining and agri-biotechnologies, gaining, and maintaining, a ‘social licence’ to operate can be problematic, and requires extensive engagement in discursively mediated legitimation practices of an argumentative nature. This chapter seeks to identify the prototypical argumentative patterns deployed in these industries in the service of corporate legitimation, concluding that they rely on varieties of pragmatic argumentation based on strong sustainability-framed objects of agreement to which are applied inferential processes ultimately resting on the <i>locus</i> from final/​instrumental cause. 10 01 JB code aic.22.06bra 134 152 19 Chapter 10 1 A01 Emanuele Brambilla Brambilla, Emanuele Emanuele Brambilla University of Trieste 20 argumentation structure 20 argumentative style 20 international adoption dossier (IAD) 20 prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) 01 Drawing on recent developments in Pragma-dialectics, this paper explores argumentation in a corpus of international adoption dossiers (IADs) issued by an Italian adoption agency facilitating adoptions from India. A collection of all the documents required by the native country of the adopted child, the IAD has an argumentative nature, as it aims at persuading Indian authorities to approve adoption. The study reveals that it is characterised by a coordinative argumentation structure and a hybrid argumentative style. This “combination” of detached and engaged styles is prototypical of the communicative activity type at issue, as it is functional to radiating objectivity and commitment alike, with a view to enhancing the acceptability of the standpoint concerning the eligibility of Italian prospective adoptive parents. 10 01 JB code aic.22.07mit 153 168 16 Chapter 11 1 A01 Mena Mitrano Mitrano, Mena Mena Mitrano Ca’ Foscari University of Venice 20 care of the self 20 Eve Kosofky Sedgwick 20 hermeneutics of suspicion 20 Jane Austen 20 Michel Foucault 20 paranoid inquiry 20 persuasion 20 truth 01 Literary scholars have increasingly moved away from the hermeneutics of suspicion, on the ground that this once-dominant axis of reflection uniting Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud and culminating with deconstruction and poststructuralism, has been reduced to an ineffectual set of standardized rhetorical gestures with the sole purpose of debunking and demystifying (R. Felski 2015; R. Felski and E. Anker 2017). In such a postcritical climate, this article explores the link between persuasion and the pursuit of knowledge in the Humanities through three theoretically charged close readings (Jane Austen, Michel Foucault, Eve K. Sedgwick). Discussion takes its cue from the implications of persuasion as a rhetorical tenet and goes on to trace its transformation, first in connection with the rise of discourse, and secondly in connection with the ethical turn in critical inquiry. Ultimately, the article suggests that the traditional tension between truth and persuasion has taken on new life in the polarity of the cognitive and the affective dimensions of knowledge. 10 01 JB code aic.22.08tuc 169 188 20 Chapter 12 1 A01 Paul Tucker Tucker, Paul Paul Tucker (formerly) University of Florence, Italy 20 argumentation 20 cognition 20 discourse 20 discourse on art 20 interaction 20 predication 20 speech act 20 text 01 Whereas current theories stress argumentation’s interactional character and function, this chapter emphasizes its cognitive motivation and textual realization. Text itself will be understood as the record of a course of verbally mediated and interactionally negotiated cognitive explication, focused on some individual entity and progressively elaborated through the intertwining of two orders of speech act – one pragmatically endowing propositions with illocutionary force <i>and</i> cognitive intent, the other positing certain logico-rhetorical relations between them and thereby binding them into discursive coherence. The chapter will concentrate on discourse on visual art, as text typically aiming to explicate individual artworks or collections of such. Examples in English, Italian and French dating from the seventeenth century to the present will show how the same cognitive and communicative strategies are played out in different languages and periods. 10 01 JB code aic.22.09ron 189 210 22 Chapter 13 1 A01 Tiziana Roncoroni Roncoroni, Tiziana Tiziana Roncoroni University of Bergamo 20 analysis of argumentation 20 German scientific papers 20 indirect argumentation 20 Italian scientific papers 20 pragma-dialectics 20 prototypical argumentative patterns 20 scientific discourse 01 This pilot study investigated scientific argumentation from a pragma-dialectical methodological approach with the aim of characterizing possible prototypical argumentative patterns by reconstructing argumentation structures, and identifying and analyzing the standpoints, arguments, starting points, and strategies. The results corroborated the findings of previous studies regarding the complexity of standpoints, structures, and patterns, the dialogical nature attained by advancing doubts and criticism, and the important role of exploratory argumentation (comparing and evaluating options). New insights also emerged: Causal argumentation appeared to play a more pervasive role than was previously assumed, which was supported by different subtypes of argument schemes. Furthermore, scientific argumentation proved to be indirect but strong, with standpoints that were not predominantly descriptive, and weighing was used strategically. 10 01 JB code aic.22.10giu 211 231 21 Chapter 14 1 A01 Giulia Giunta Giunta, Giulia Giulia Giunta Università di Roma Tre 2 A01 Edoardo Lombardi Vallauri Lombardi Vallauri, Edoardo Edoardo Lombardi Vallauri Università di Roma Tre 20 education on public communication 20 manipulation through implicitness 20 online resources 20 teaching critical attention 20 TV platforms 01 Conveying information implicitly can reduce epistemic vigilance and critical attention. Commercial advertising and political propaganda often exploit this property of linguistic implicitness to covertly convey questionable content, leading to the manipulation of their audience. This highlights the necessity of educating individuals to recognize implicit content and to critically engage with it, a practice that has not been sufficiently emphasized thus far. The paper provides a survey of (i) the primary theoretical and experimental studies on the subject and (ii) some educational resources and materials currently available to the public in Europe, aimed at enhancing awareness regarding the cognitive and social ramifications of implicit information transmission, particularly through the media. The paper also offers (iii) specific didactic proposals based on the authors’ research and teaching experiences. 10 01 JB code aic.22.11cha 232 247 16 Chapter 15 1 A01 Ross Charnock Charnock, Ross Ross Charnock University of Paris / University of Torino 20 argumentation 20 atomist 20 authority 20 Bentham 20 fallacies 20 holistic 20 reinterpretation 01 Bentham’s “Book of Fallacies” (1824) presents itself as a form of rhetorical self-defence. The author insists that the fallacies are invariably used as counter-arguments, blocking political reform and preventing social progress. He claims that the use of such paralogical techniques is a sure sign of corruption. However, he denies the efficacy of such rhetorical arguments, insisting that only the weak-minded and ignorant are likely to be persuaded. A comparison of the “Book of Fallacies” with his “Anarchical Fallacies” shows that his own preferred mode of argument is analytic and atomist rather than rhetorical. <br />Bentham expressed radical views on contentious subjects of public importance. His proposals are still widely discussed in academic circles, but were rarely taken up by posterity. His wholesale denunciation of rhetoric in all its forms may appear irrational; however, if he believed that his ideas were rejected for purely fallacious reasons, then his attitude may be explained as a reluctant recognition of the power of rhetoric over reason. 10 01 JB code aic.22.12wer 248 264 17 Chapter 16 1 A01 Tom Werner Werner, Tom Tom Werner Carnegie Mellon University 20 basic acts 20 closed and open systems 20 conspiracy theories 20 dialogue games 20 polarity and non-polarity questions 20 practical linguistics 20 transformations 20 unbestimmtheitsstellen 01 To encounter a conspiracy theory is to enter a dark world where normal rules do not apply. To reason with an upholder of that theory is to come against a force-field which intensifies at every push, rendering ordinary persuasive strategies counter-productive. In place of such strategies, I appeal to the underlying linguistic structure of moves in a language game as providing a way out from the closed system of a conspiracy theory. This approach constitutes an application of what may be called practical linguistics. 10 01 JB code aic.22.index 265 268 4 Miscellaneous 17 02 JBENJAMINS John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam/Philadelphia NL 02 November 2024 20241115 2024 John Benjamins B.V. 02 WORLD 01 JB 1 John Benjamins Publishing Company +31 20 6304747 +31 20 6739773 bookorder@benjamins.nl 01 https://benjamins.com 01 WORLD US CA MX 10 20241115 01 02 JB 1 00 125.00 EUR R 02 02 JB 1 00 132.50 EUR R 01 JB 10 bebc +44 1202 712 934 +44 1202 712 913 sales@bebc.co.uk 03 GB 10 20241115 02 02 JB 1 00 105.00 GBP Z 01 JB 2 John Benjamins North America +1 800 562-5666 +1 703 661-1501 benjamins@presswarehouse.com 01 https://benjamins.com 01 US CA MX 10 20241115 01 gen 02 JB 1 00 163.00 USD