The rhetoric of 'dialogue' in metadiscourse: Possibility/impossibility arguments and critical events
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Robert T. Craig
Abstract
Regarding ‘dialogue’ as a normative rather than a purely descriptive concept, this study describes the rhetoric of practical arguments about the possibility or impossibility of dialogue in a corpus of discourse samples primarily drawn from the Internet. Political, social, and personal domains of dialogue are distinguished and associated respectively with realist, moral, and experiential discourses that intermix in practical argumentation. Arguments for or against the possibility of dialogue may appeal to objective conditions (convergence of interests or beliefs, relatively equal power, a just and supportive sociopolitical order) as well as to morally accountable attitudes and actions (respect, trust, and reaching out versus hatred, dogmatism, dishonesty, and violence). Arguments may also appeal to critical events that interrupt routine patterns of thought and communication and are said to open a potential for dialogue that may or may not be realized in practice. Implications for normative theories of dialogue and rhetoric are considered.
Abstract
Regarding ‘dialogue’ as a normative rather than a purely descriptive concept, this study describes the rhetoric of practical arguments about the possibility or impossibility of dialogue in a corpus of discourse samples primarily drawn from the Internet. Political, social, and personal domains of dialogue are distinguished and associated respectively with realist, moral, and experiential discourses that intermix in practical argumentation. Arguments for or against the possibility of dialogue may appeal to objective conditions (convergence of interests or beliefs, relatively equal power, a just and supportive sociopolitical order) as well as to morally accountable attitudes and actions (respect, trust, and reaching out versus hatred, dogmatism, dishonesty, and violence). Arguments may also appeal to critical events that interrupt routine patterns of thought and communication and are said to open a potential for dialogue that may or may not be realized in practice. Implications for normative theories of dialogue and rhetoric are considered.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction: Rhetoric or how to integrate the different voices ix
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Part I. Rhetorical Paradigms
- Rhetoric in the Mixed Game 3
- The selection of agency as a rhetorical device: Opening up the scene of dialogue through ventriloquism 23
- Dialogic rhetoric, coauthorship, and moments of meeting 39
- The rhetoric of 'dialogue' in metadiscourse: Possibility/impossibility arguments and critical events 55
- Rhetoric and ethic of dialog: Can conditions of performance serve as excluding criteria? 69
- Common ground and (re)defanging the antagonistic: A paradigm for argumentation as shared inquiry and responsibility 83
- What is the role of arguments? Fundamental human rights in the age of spin 95
- Logical and rhetorical rules of debate 119
- Rhetoric in a dialectical framework: Fallacies as derailments of strategic manoeuvring 133
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Part II. Rhetoric in the Mixed Game: Communicative means, cultural values, and institutional games
- Strategic use of Korean honorifics: Functions of 'partner-deference sangdae-nopim' 155
- Irony as a rhetorical device in dialogic interaction 171
- Political rhetoric in visual images 185
- Sociological concepts and their impact on rhetoric: Japanese language concepts 195
- The rhetorical component of dialogic communication in Banks' annual reports 209
- Attention-influencing as a rhetorical strategy in German and Turkish Parliamentary debates 221
- Diatexts of media dilemmas: The rhetorical construction of euthanasia 235
- Recontextualization of concepts in European legal discourse 251
- A court judgment as dialogue 267
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Part III. Round table discussion: Concepts of rhetoric, dialogue and argumentation
- Round table discussion 285
- General Index 309
- List of Contributors 315
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction: Rhetoric or how to integrate the different voices ix
-
Part I. Rhetorical Paradigms
- Rhetoric in the Mixed Game 3
- The selection of agency as a rhetorical device: Opening up the scene of dialogue through ventriloquism 23
- Dialogic rhetoric, coauthorship, and moments of meeting 39
- The rhetoric of 'dialogue' in metadiscourse: Possibility/impossibility arguments and critical events 55
- Rhetoric and ethic of dialog: Can conditions of performance serve as excluding criteria? 69
- Common ground and (re)defanging the antagonistic: A paradigm for argumentation as shared inquiry and responsibility 83
- What is the role of arguments? Fundamental human rights in the age of spin 95
- Logical and rhetorical rules of debate 119
- Rhetoric in a dialectical framework: Fallacies as derailments of strategic manoeuvring 133
-
Part II. Rhetoric in the Mixed Game: Communicative means, cultural values, and institutional games
- Strategic use of Korean honorifics: Functions of 'partner-deference sangdae-nopim' 155
- Irony as a rhetorical device in dialogic interaction 171
- Political rhetoric in visual images 185
- Sociological concepts and their impact on rhetoric: Japanese language concepts 195
- The rhetorical component of dialogic communication in Banks' annual reports 209
- Attention-influencing as a rhetorical strategy in German and Turkish Parliamentary debates 221
- Diatexts of media dilemmas: The rhetorical construction of euthanasia 235
- Recontextualization of concepts in European legal discourse 251
- A court judgment as dialogue 267
-
Part III. Round table discussion: Concepts of rhetoric, dialogue and argumentation
- Round table discussion 285
- General Index 309
- List of Contributors 315
