Ad hominem argument is an argument that attacks the defender of a claim rather than the claim in dispute. The purpose of my dissertation is to answer the question of whether ad hominem argument is fallacious. I search for the answer by exploring several areas of philosophy and discussing ad hominem argument from historical, logical, epistemological, and linguistic perspectives. I reach the following conclusions: First, since the conclusion of an ad hominem argument does not appear explicitly in actual argumentation, how to formulate the conclusion plays a crucial role in judging the legitimacy of ad hominem argument; Second, there is no type of logical fallacy unified under the name of “ad hominem” because, at least, some instances of so-called ad hominem fallacy are epistemically justifiable arguments; Third, since an ad hominem argument is used to refute a person’s testimony by attacking his trustworthiness, an ad hominem argument playing a role of undercutting defeater of a speaker’s testimony is legitimate from the perspective of epistemology of testimony; Fourth, since ad hominem argument can be treated as a speech act of argumentation, an ad hominem argument that satisfies the felicity conditions for argumentation is legitimate from the perspective of speech act theory and an ad hominem argument can be legitimately used to reveal the infelicity of the opponent’s argument. / text

Transactive Discourse During Assessment Conversations on Science Learning by Homer A. Russell III It has been argued that development of science knowledge is the result of social interaction and adoption of shared understandings between teachers and students. A part of understanding that process is determining how student reasoning develops in groups. Transactive discussion is a form of negotiation between group members as they interpret the meaning of their logical statements about a topic. More importantly, it is a form of discourse that often leads to cognitive change as a result of the interaction between group participants as they wrestle with their different perspectives in order to achieve a common understanding. The research reported here was a correlational study designed to investigate the relationship between the various forms of transactive discussion and learning outcome performance seen in an investigation involving 24 students in a middle-SES high school located in southwest Atlanta, Georgia. Pretest and posttest measures of genetics reasoning, as well as curriculum content test data, were used in this study. Group discussion was captured on videotape and analyzed to determine whether transactional discussion was present and whether or not it had an effect on learning outcome measures. Results of this study showed that participant use of transactive discussion played a role in development of reasoning abilities in the area of genetics. It is suggested that teachers should monitor classroom discourse for the presence of transactive discussion as such discourse plays a role in fostering performance outcomes.

Šio tyrimo tikslas buvo aprašyti argumentavimo technikos ypatumus metiniuose Rusijos prezidento Vladimiro Putino ir Lietuvos prezidento Valdo Adamkaus kreipimųsi tekstuose nuo 2000 iki 2007 m. Tyrimo tikslui pasiekti buvo iškelti šie uždaviniai: a) remiantis tyrimo medžiaga nustatyti kognityvines argumentacijos struktūras, b) aprašyti argumentacinio diskurso elementų realizacijas (tezės pateikimo tekste būdus, argumentų, kuriais grindžiama tezė, turinį ir apimtį). Darbe naudoti šie tyrimo metodai: kognityvinė analizė − ideologinio teksto kūrėjo sąmonės struktūroms nustatyti; loginė ir retorinė analizė − įtikinimo loginiam ir neloginiam aspektams ištirti; lyginamasis metodas − gautiems rezultatams palyginti. Tyrimo naujumas argumentuojamas tuo, jog darbe iškelta problema nėra išsamiai nagrinėta: tai pasakytina ir apie tyrimo medžiagą (argumentacijos klausimams lietuvių politiniame diskurse iki šiol nebuvo skiriama pakankamai dėmesio), ir apie argumentacijos analizės metodus (vis dar nėra sukurta išsami politinio diskurso argumentacijos analizės metodika). Disertacijai ginti teikiami šie teiginiai: 1. Prezidento kreipimasis yra hibridinio tipo kalbėjimo aktas, kuriame dera aprašomojo, vertinamojo bei argumentacinio kalbėjimo aktų savybės. 2. Tezė prezidento kreipimesi neeksplikuojama; klausytojas turi ją suprasti loginės indukcijos būdu, apibendrindamas pavyzdžius, kurie atlieka argumentų vaidmenį. 3. Kognityvinių struktūrų realizacija yra prezidentų kreipimųsi argumentacijos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The goal of the present research was to describe the peculiarities of argumentation technique in Russian and Lithuanian Presidents’ (Vladimir Putin and Valdas Adamkus, respectively) annual speeches covering the period of 2000-2007. In attempt to achieve the goal of the research, the following objectives have been pursued: a) what cognitive structures operate in particular argumentation, b) how the elements of argumentative discourse are realized (i.e. the ways of introducing a thesis statement into the text; the content and volume of arguments supporting the thesis). The methods employed are cognitive analysis (to distinguish the speaker’s structures of the conscious in attempt to generate an ideological text), logical-rhetorical analysis (to imply logical and illogical ways of persuading) and contrastive method (to examine and compare the findings). The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the research question has not been analysed in depth so far, i.e. neither the research subject (the issue of argumentation in Lithuanian political discourse has not received much attention yet), nor working out the methods of argumentation analysis (effective methods of argumentation analysis in political discourse have not been fully developed so far) were much of linguists interest. The claims of the dissertation: 1. Presidential annual speeches seem to be a hybrid type of a speech act which incorporates the qualities of descriptive, evaluative and argumentative speech acts. 2... [to full text]

Der Aufsatz zeigt, dass Melanchthons Änderungen an den traditionellen Lehrinhalten der Dialektik (Logik) und der Rhetorik in erster Linie nicht inhaltlich, sondern durch die argumentationstheoretische Neuausrichtung der beiden Disziplinen motiviert ist.

With the discourse analysis as framework, this study focuses on the ethos, the representation of the Other and the argumentation in the discourse of religious controversy of the protestant Philippe Duplessis-Mornay. The corpus, which consists of the prefaces of two editions of the Traité de l’eucharistie (1598 and 1604), was subject to a systematic survey of the personal pronouns je, nous, vous as well as references to Duplessis-Mornay’s direct opponents, in a diachronic perspective (the two editions have been compared). The analysis has shown the discursive strategies of Duplessis-Mornay, including a subtle management of the ethos and the relationship with the Other in order to convince the reader. The build-up of an ethos by an interposed author (frequent use of quotations), observed in the edition of 1598, has increased in that of 1604. This edition is also characterized by an ethos of justification which intends to invalidate an unfavourable prediscursive ethos resulting from adverse reactions to the first edition. The ethos of caritas and the authorial ethos are also very present in the discourse of the author in both editions. In his relation to the Other, Duplessis-Mornay uses a strategic approach, alternating nous inclusif and nous exclusif, and referring most often the notion of vous dans l’erreur to authors recognized by Catholics themselves, through quotations. Only direct opponents of the author are stigmatized by their representation in the third person. Duplessis-Mornay’s discourse, in both prefaces, is characterized by a diplomatic and persuasive attitude.

The overall ambition with this thesis is to develop knowledge about students’ learning, especially with regard to process and content, when they participate in argumentation. Students’ learning is investigated through in situ studies of classroom practices. The theoretical point of departure is a pragmatic perspective in which learning is understood and investigated in terms of concrete actions. The empirical material consists of video recorded lessons at secondary and upper secondary schools in Sweden. The content of the lessons is argumentative discussions about sustainable development and socioscientific issues. In the first study, the functions that teachers’ actions have for students’ learning processes are investigated using Epistemological Move Analysis. In the second study, an approach is developed and illustrated that facilitates investigations into students’ learning processes in terms of knowledge content and argument construction in argumentation. The method, called Transactional Argumentation Analysis, combines a pragmatic perspective of learning with an argument analysis based on Toulmin’s Argument Pattern. In the third study, the functions that knowledge have when used by students in argumentative discussions are examined. The fourth study investigates the role of peers for students’ learning and how students influence the argumentation at a collective level. Here Transactional Argumentation Analysis is developed further in order to facilitate investigations of the dynamic interplay between the intra-personal and the inter-personal dimensions of learning and the result of this interplay in terms of the knowledge content and arguments that are constructed. The thesis shows how students’ learning can be investigated through in situ studies of educational practices. The methodological contribution of the thesis consists of the development and further elaboration of Transactional Argumentation Analysis. The thesis also contributes with substantial knowledge about students’ learning processes with regard to knowledge content and argument construction when participating in argumentation. Another contribution concerns the functions of knowledge when used by students in argumentation. Finally, the studies show how peers and teachers influence students’ learning, and how students contribute to the shared argumentation in the classroom.

Bakgrund & frågeställning Sverigedemokraterna bildades1988 av tidigare aktiva inom nazistiska och fascistiska rörelser. Idag är partiet Sveriges tredje största. Partiets bakgrund, växande stöd och senaste framgångar i valet 2014 parallellt med uppmärksammande skandaler väckte nyfikenhet: Hur kommunicerar ett parti med så tydlig historia och en del ofördelaktiga avslöjanden för att bli accepterat? Avgränsning av kommunikationen gjordes till de tre valfilmerna som gjorts inför riksdagsvalen 2010 och 2014. Analysen redogör för hur olika element, retoriska och semiotiska, samverkar för att konstruera ett budskap, både implicit och explicit, för att övertyga. Vidare diskuteras likheter och skillnader i materialet från 2010 och 2014 och vem målgruppen kan tänkas vara, för att se åt vilket håll utvecklingen gått. Teori & metod Teori inom semiotik och retorik används tillsammans med teorier om politisk kommunikation för att besvara frågeställningarna. Filmerna anlayseras med verktyg som logos, ethos, pathos, genus deliberativum, konnotaion, kommutationstest och intertextualitet från fälten. Analys & slutsats Analysen redogör för en mycket pathos-betonad första valfilm 2010, de andra ses som mer ethos- och logos-betonade. I slutsatsen diskuteras att det skett en utveckling av vilka som är "vi" och "dom". Kommunikation har även gått från väldigt explicit till mer implicit. Detta säger dels något om hur bilden av mottagaren förändrats men kan även vara en strategi för att få en mjukare framtoning. Förändringarna visar på en professionalisering av Sverigedemokraternas kommunikation där filmerna från 2014 har två målgrupper: "Jimmie – på riktigt": stärka etablerade relationer och "Låt er inte tystas": vinna över skeptikerna. Nyckelord: Sverigedemokraterna, valfilm, retorik, semiotik, ethos, pathos, logos, Jimmie Åkesson, strategi, argumentation, implicit, explicit.

No description available.

Universiẗat, Diss.-2007--Heidelberg, 2006.

Univ., Diss.--Mainz, 2004. / Literaturverz. S. [612] - 640.