Argumentation: dialectical and rhetorical analysis and evaluation
Docente: Frans Van Eemeren
Course type: Corso a scelta Master
Value in ECTS: 1.5
Dal 24 novembre al 6 dicembre
This course consists of a series of six lectures and is completed by a written exam. The aim of the course is to provide profound insight in argumentation analysis and evaluation. For this purpose, the course concentrates in the first place on the reconstruction of argumentative discourse and the identification of fallacies, not only in everyday discourse, but also in political and academic discourse. First, the basic principles are explained that are instrumental in analyzing and evaluating argumentative discourse. In the process, methodical instruments are offered for identifying differences of opinion, argumentation structures and argument schemes in oral and written discourse. Next, the problems are discussed of critically evaluating various types of discourse from a dialectical perspective. Finally, it is made clear how combining dialectical and rhetorical insight enables the analyst to identify the strategic maneuvering by which arguers try to see through their own standpoints in argumentative discourse while at the same time upholding a commitment to reasonableness. The fallacies are then viewed as derailments of such strategic maneuvering.
Reading material for the course:
Frans H. van Eemeren, Rob Grootendorst and A. Francisca Snoeck Henkemans (2002), Argumentation: Analysis, Evaluation, Presentation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Reading material for further study
Eemeren, F.H. van & Grootendorst, R. (1992). Argumentation, Communication, and Fallacies. A Pragma-Dialectical Perspective. Hillsdale (N.J.), Lawrence Erlbaum.
Eemeren, F.H. van, Grootendorst, R., Jackson, S. & Jacobs, S. (1993). Reconstructing Argumentative Discourse. Tuscaloosa/London: The University of Alabama Press.
Eemeren, F.H. van, Grootendorst, R. & Snoeck Henkemans, A.F., with Blair, J.A., Johnson, R.H., Krabbe, E.C.W., Plantin, Ch., Walton, D.N., Willard, Ch.A., Woods, J. & D. Zarefsky (1996). Fundamentals of Argumentation Theory. Handbook of Historical Backgrounds and Contemporary Developments. Mawhah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
F.H. van Eemeren, F.H. van (Ed., 2001). Crucial Concepts in Argumentation Theory. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Eemeren, F.H. van & Houtlosser, P. (Eds., 2002). Dialectic and Rhetoric: The Warp and Woof of Argumentation Analysis. Dordrecht etc.: Kluwer Academic.