What argumentation (theory) can do for philosophy in the 21st century

The author holds that the old theory according to which philosophy is the matrix of argumentation studies must be entirely reviewed currently. He argues that argumentation theory, as an interdisciplinary domain, may start playing, in new terms, the role which ― in the Cartesian tree ― was that of philosophy as the trunk of the different branches of human knowledge, as long as a set of requirements, which he lists, were met

A Pragma-Dialectical Study of Personal Attack in China-Related Letters to the Editorof The New York Times

本文借助语用论辩学的研究框架，分析《纽 约时报》涉华读者来信中 “人身攻击”论证的 使用，并对其使用的合理性进行评价。研究结 果显示：《纽约时报》涉华“读者来信”中的人 身攻击论证主要可分为三个子类型：辱骂型（侮 辱他人）、境况型（怀疑动机）和“你也是”型 （你也这样做），部分“人身攻击”论证的使用 合理，部分“人身攻击”论证的使用引起谬误。 其中造成不合理的“人身攻击”论证使用的原 因主要是：（1）其论证的使用阻碍了反方提出 质疑或相反立场；（2）在逻辑上存在缺陷或无 效，经不起批判性问题的检视。鉴于此，我们建 议相关话语主体在类似话语实践中使用论证时 应注意：（1）根据语用论辩学的批判性讨论准 则(“十大诫律”)，合理设计论证；（2）将受 众视为罪严苛的理性评判者，确保论证能够经 得起任何形式的批判性检视，维护自身理性、 负责任的形象。 This article under the research framework of pragma-dialectics, analyses the use of personal attacks in the China-related Letters to the Editor of The New York Times, and evaluates its reasonableness. The research results show that the personal attacks in the China-related Letters to the Editor of The New York Times can be mainly classified into three subtypes: the abusive variant (insult others), the circumstantial variant (suspect motives) and the tu quoque (you also). Both reasonable and unreasonable use of personal attack are identified. The unreasonable use of personal attack is mainly caused by: (1) the use of personal attack prevents the opponents from casting doubts or proposing his or her standpoint; (2) the use of personal attack has deficiency or even is invalid in logic, failing in the examination of critical questions. On account of this, the related discourse subjects in similar kind of discourse practice, should: (1) design their arguments reasonably according to the code of conduct of critical discussion (Ten Commandments); (2) consider the audience as an extremely rigor one, making sure that the argument can pass any critical examination, and so the rational and responsible figure of the proponents can be guaranteed

Debating Migration: the Brexit referendum in newspaper opinion pieces

On the 23rd June 2016, the UK public voted to Leave the EU in a close contest, with 51.89% advocating Leave and 48.11% optioning to Remain. In the aftermath of the vote, a rise in hate-crime was revealed signalling the fractious political climate at the time. Therefore, this paper reviews the discursive contribution of the UK online newsprint media during the EU referendum - with an emphasis on how migration-related arguments featured at different stages of the campaign. Political deliberations are supported by the media, who publish argumentative pieces in support of a certain outcome. Focusing on the comment pages of The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Mirror, this study provides an overview of how each campaign developed migration-arguments to support a Remain/Leave vote. This paper will demonstrate how the Discourse-Historical Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis can be used in conjunction with argumentation theory to examine how the representations of the circumstances surrounding an argument support a conclusion. Due to the influential capacity of the media, examination of what representational and argumentative strategies were relied upon will provide an insight into how the media contributed towards the public debate of the EU referendum and describe how migrants were objectified for political success

Ελληνικός κοινοβουλευτικός λόγος

Η διατριβή εξετάζει την επιχειρηματολογική διάσταση του ελληνικού κοινοβουλευτικού λόγου βάσει της πραγματοδιαλεκτικής θεωρίας. Προτείνει θεωρητικές λύσεις σε επιμέρους ζητήματα που ανακύπτουν στο πλαίσιο της συγκεκριμένης θεωρίας, όπως είναι ο προσδιορισμός του τρόπου με τον οποίο επιλύεται επί της ουσίας η διαφωνία στους τύπους της διαβούλευσης και η αξιολόγηση των επικρίσεων για ασυνέπεια στις κοινοβουλευτικές συζητήσεις. Συνδυάζοντας την πραγματοδιαλεκτική θεωρία με στοιχεία της αριστοτελικής θεώρησης του ρητορικού λόγου, εντοπίζει τον διαλεκτικό χαρακτήρα των κοινοβουλευτικών αντιπαραθέσεων και τη θεσμική σύνδεση του με την αρχή της αντιπροσωπευτικότητας. Εξετάζει θεωρητικά τα χαρακτηριστικά του σύγχρονου ελληνικού κοινοβουλευτικού λόγου και ταξινομεί τους τύπους επικοινωνιακής δραστηριότητας που συνθέτουν το φάσμα του σε νομοθετικούς και ελεγκτικούς. Ορίζει τις κοινοβουλευτικές αναμετρήσεις Πρωθυπουργού και Αρχηγού της Αξιωματικής Αντιπολίτευσης (ΑΠΑΑΑ) ως διακριτό τύπο επικοινωνιακής δραστηριότητας, με ειδικό θεσμικό στόχο την ανάδειξη της ηγετικής καταλληλότητας των ομιλητών. Για τις αναμετρήσεις αυτές προσδιορίζει ως κατεξοχήν ρητορική ικανότητα των ομιλητών την επιχειρηματολογική ικανότητα διαμόρφωσης του κατάλληλου ηγετικού ήθους. Αναλύει τη στρατηγική και διαλεκτική φύση των διαλογικών αυτών αναμετρήσεων, ως σύμφυτη με την απαίτηση για ταυτόχρονη ικανοποίηση σύνθετων και εν μέρει αντικρουόμενων θεσμικών στόχων.The present study examines the argumentative dimension of Greek parliamentary discourse based on a pragma-dialectal perspective. It proposes theoretical solutions to individual issues that arise in the context of this theory. Such is the identification of the way in which a difference of opinion is being resolved in activity types that belong to the genre of deliberation, as well as the evaluation of accusations of inconsistency in parliamentary debates. Combining pragmatic-dialectical theory with insights from the Aristotelian theory of rhetoric the study allows for the identification of the dialectical nature of parliamentary debates and its institutional connection with the principle of representativeness. The study also examines theoretically the characteristics of modern Greek parliamentary discourse and classifies parliamentary communicative activity types into legislative and parliamentary scrutiny types. Greek Parliamentary debate between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition is defined as a distinct communicative activity type, serving the specific institutional goal of highlighting the leadership suitability of the speakers. For these debates, the argumentative ability to mold the appropriate leadership ethos is identified as the pre-eminent rhetorical ability of the speakers. The strategic and dialectical nature of these interactive confrontations is considered inherent in the demand for simultaneous satisfaction of complex and partly conflicting institutional goals

A political discourse analysis of social memory, collective identity and nation-building in the Sunday Mail and the Standard of Zimbabwe between 1999 and 2013

Although much effort has been expended on studying many sites of social memory, little attention has been directed at the media’s work of memory, especially in post-colonial Africa. The media’s work of memory is important because of its social standing as a communicative and cultural institution, and because social memory is imbricated in processes of both collective identity formation and nation-building which partly shape patterns of economic distribution, recognition, and representation in society. It is in this context that this study shows how Zimbabwe’s The Sunday Mail and The Standard newspapers used social memory to construct the country’s national identity between 1999 and 2013 in the context of a socio-economic and political crisis for the country’s poly-racial, and poly-ethno-linguistic communities. The study also explores how these newspapers worked as memory sites through their construction of Zimbabwe’s national identity during the period under study. It achieves these tasks by analysing how these newspapers reported on such issues as Zimbabwe’s colonial history, the country’s narrative of decolonisation, the Gukurahundi narrative, the land reform process, elections and independence celebrations. The study takes a critical realist approach to qualitative research, and uses Fairclough and Fairclough’s (2012) method of political discourse analysis as well as Aristotle’s approach to rhetoric for a close reading of the sampled newspaper articles. It is informed by Nancy Fraser’s Theory of Justice, Chantal Mouffe’s Model of Agonistic Pluralism, and Jurgen Habermas’s Discourse Ethics Theory. The study concludes that these two newspapers actively use social memory to construct versions of national identity for specific socio-political and economic ends. Editorials and opinions from The Sunday Mail, which construct Zimbabwean-ness in nativist terms represent the hegemonic appropriation of social memory to construct a sense of Zimbabwean nationhood. In contrast, The Standard uses social memory to construct Zimbabwean-ness in modernist terms with citizenship as the core organising principle of belonging. The political discourse analysis of The Sunday Mail’s and The Standard’s evocation of social memory shows that the two newspapers reflect the tension between indigenist and universalist imaginaries of belonging in Zimbabwe. But the newspapers’ construction of belonging in Zimbabwe is informed by justice claims as seen from each of their political standpoints. As such, their respective definitions of Zimbabweans’ justice claims in terms of their political standpoints, also propose how those justice claims should be addressed and who stands to benefit from them