Polylogical fallacies: Are there any?

Dialectical fallacies are typically defined as breaches of the rules of a regulated discussion between two participants (di-logue). What if discussions become more complex and involve multiple parties with distinct positions to argue for (poly-logues)? Are there distinct argumentation norms of polylogues? If so, can their violations be conceptualized as polylogical fallacies? I will argue for such an approach and analyze two candidates for argumentative breaches of multi-party rationality: false dilemma and collateral straw man

Response to my commentator

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Speech Act Pluralism In Argumentative Polylogues

UIDB/00183/2020 UIDP/00183/2020 CHIST-ERA/0002/2019I challenge two key assumptions of speech act theory, as applied to argumentation: illocutionary monism, grounded in the idea each utterance has only one (primary) illocutionary force, and the dyadic reduction, which models interaction as a dyadic affair between only two agents (speaker-hearer, proponentopponent). I show how major contributions to speech act inspired study of argumentation adhere to these assumptions even as illocutionary pluralism in argumentative polylogues is a significant empirical fact in need of theoretical attention. I demonstrate this with two examples where arguers interacting with multiple persons convey plural, argumentatively relevant illocutionary forces. Understanding illocutionary pluralism in argumentative polylogues also affords a better account of fallacious and manipulative discourse.publishersversionpublishe

The Pragmatics of Arguments from and to Authority

UIDB/00183/2020 UIDP/00183/2020Authority is both a pragmatic condition of much public discourse and a form of argumentative appeal routinely used in it. The goal of this contribution is to propose a new account of challenging authority in argumentative discourse that benefits from the interplay of the resources of recent speech act theory and argumentation theory. Going beyond standard approaches of the two disciplines, the paper analyzes nuanced forms of establishing and, especially, challenging discourse-related authority. Can Donald Trump advise his own scientific advisors on potential COVID-19 treatments? Addressing questions like this, the paper identifies various paradoxes of authority and the forms of authority discussed in the literature. It then distinguishes between argument from authority (or expert opinion) and argument to authority (or expert opinion) and argues that this rearranged structure mutually benefits the pragmatic account of speech act theory and the schematic account of argumentation theory in the task of better understanding and critiquing discourses such as Trump’s.publishersversionpublishe

A speech act analysis

UIDB/00183/2020 UIDP/00183/2020Conclusions of theoretical reasoning are assertions—or at least speech acts belonging to the class of assertives, such as hypotheses, predictions or estimates. What, however, are the conclusions of practical reasoning? Employing the concepts of speech act theory, in this paper I investigate which speech acts we perform when we’re done with an instance of a practical argument and present its result in a linguistic form. To this end, I first offer a detailed scheme of practical argument suitable for an external pragmatic account (rather than an internal cognitive account). Resorting to actual examples, I then identify a class of action-inducing speech acts as characteristic conclusions of practical argument. I argue that these speech acts—promises, orders, pieces of advice, proposals, and others—differ chiefly depending on the agent of the action induced (me, us, you, them) and their illocutionary strength.publishersversionpublishe

Commentary on: Sheldon Wein\u27s Exploring the virtues (and vices) of zero tolerance arguments

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On Venturinha’s Description of Situations

UIDB/00183/2020 UIDP/00183/2020In this paper, I approach Venturinha’s ideas on contextual epistemology from the perspective of linguistic practices of argumentation. I point to the “thick” descriptions of social situations as a common context in which our epistemic language-games take place. In this way, I explore promising connections of Venturinha’s work to key concepts in recent speech act theory, social ontology and social epistemology.publishersversionpublishe

Metalinguistic Arguments on What Counts as a “COVID-19 Death”

UIDB/00183/2020 UIDP/00183/2020In this contribution, we explore the plausibility and consequences of treating arguments over what counts as a COVID-19 death as metalinguistic arguments. While unquestionably related to the epidemiological and public health issues, these arguments are also arguments about how a term should be used. As such, they touch upon some of the foundational issues in meta-semantics, discussed in the recent literature on metalinguistic negotiations, conceptual ethics, and conceptual engineering. Against this background, we study official statements (of WHO, governments) and media reports to critically reconstruct the metalinguistic elements of the dispute over what a COVID-19 death is. We analyze in particular how epistemic and practical reasons are intertwined in nuanced and complex ways to produce an interesting type of metalinguistic interventions.publishersversionpublishe

Porównanie skuteczności, tolerancji i bezpieczeństwa diety wysoko- i niskowęglowodanowej u kobiet z cukrzycą ciążową

Introduction: Nutrition therapy is an integral part of the management of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Most women with GDM are treated by nutritional management alone. The goal of our study was to compare low and high carbohydrate diets in their effectiveness, safety and tolerability in women with GDM. Material and methods: The study group consisted of 30 Caucasian women newly diagnosed with GDM, with a mean age of 28.7 &plusmn; 3.7 years and pregnancy duration of 29.2 &plusmn; 5.4 weeks. The patients were randomised into two groups: those on a low and those on a high carbohydrate diet (45% vs. 65% respectively of energy supply coming from carbohydrates). The presence of urine ketones was controlled every day. After two weeks daily glucose profiles and compliance with the recommended diets were analysed. Results: Glucose concentration before implementation of the diet regimen did not differ between groups. No changes in fasting blood glucose were noticed in the group that had followed a low carbohydrate diet, although a significant decrease in glucose concentration was observed after breakfast (102 &plusmn; 16 vs. 94 &plusmn; 11 mg/dl), lunch (105 &plusmn; 12 vs. 99 &plusmn; 9 mg/dl) and dinner (112 &plusmn; 16 vs. 103 &plusmn; 13 mg/dl) (p < 0.05). In the high carbohydrate diet group fasting and after-breakfast glucose concentration did not change. A significant decrease in glycaemia was noticed after lunch (106 &plusmn; 15 vs. 96 &plusmn; 7 mg/dl) and dinner (107 &plusmn; 12 vs. 97 &plusmn; 7 mg/dl) (p < 0.05). Ketonuria was not observed in either group. Obstetrical outcomes did not differ between groups. Conclusions: Both high and low carbohydrate diets are effective and safe. A diet with carbohydrate limitation should be recommended to women who experience the highest glycaemia levels after breakfast. (Pol J Endocrinol 2007; 58 (4): 314-319)Wstęp: Stosowanie odpowiedniej diety jest podstawą leczenia cukrzycy ciążowej (GDM, gestational diabetes mellitus). U większości kobiet dieta jest jedyną formą leczenia. Celem pracy było zbadanie skuteczności i bezpieczeństwa dwóch rodzajów diety: wysoko- i niskowęglowodanowej w grupie kobiet z cukrzycą ciążową. Materiał i metody: Badaniem objęto 30 kobiet z cukrzycą ciążową w wieku 28,7 &plusmn; 3,7 lat, w 29,2 &plusmn; 5,4 tygodniu ciąży. Pacjentki zrandomizowano do dwóch grup: diety wysoko- i niskowęglowodanowej zawierającej odpowiednio 65% i 45% dziennej podaży energii z węglowodanów. Po 2 tygodniach stosowania diety oceniono zmianę wartości glikemii, występowanie ketonurii oraz tolerancję zaleconej diety.Wyniki: U pacjentek stosujących dietę niskowęglowodanową zaobserwowano istotne obniżenie wartości glikemii poposiłkowych - po śniadaniu (102 &plusmn; 16 vs. 94 &plusmn; 11 mg/dl), obiedzie (105 &plusmn; 12 vs. 99 &plusmn; 9 mg/dl) i kolacji (112 &plusmn; 16 vs. 103 &plusmn; 13 mg/dl) w stosunku do wartości przed rozpoczęciem leczenia (p < 0,05). W grupie wysokowęglanowej zaobserwowano istotny statystycznie spadek wartości glikemii po obiedzie (106 &plusmn; 15 vs. 96 &plusmn; 7 mg/dl) i po kolacji (107 &plusmn; 12 vs. 97 &plusmn; 7 mg/dl) w stosunku do wartości przed rozpoczęciem leczenia (p < 0,05), jednak bez zmian w glikemii po śniadaniu (94 &plusmn; 17 vs. 89 &plusmn; 17 mg/dl). W żadnej z grup nie zaobserwowano obniżenia glikemii na czczo. U żadnej pacjentki nie stwierdzono epizodów ketonurii. Wyniki położnicze nie różniły się w grupach. Wnioski: Diety wysoko- i niskowęglowodanowe okazały się tak samo skuteczne i bezpieczne w stosowaniu u kobiet z cukrzycą ciążową. Dietę niskowęglowodanową powinno zalecać się kobietom, u których najwyższy wzrost wartości glikemii obserwuje się po śniadaniu