Media argumentation: Dialectic, persuasion, and rhetoric

Recommended by: Devina Sethia

Contents:

Introduction 1
1 Logic, Dialectic, and Rhetoric 7
1. The Viewpoint of Informal Logic 8
2. The Old Dialectic of the Greeks 11
3. The Opposition between Rhetoric and Dialectic 15
4. Topics and Fallacies 19
5. Persuasion, Social Influence, and Democracy 23
6. Argumentation Schemes 26
7. Basic Practical Reasoning 30
8. Value-Based Practical Reasoning 34
9. The Star Trek Example 37
10. The Aims of Dialectical and Rhetorical Argumentation 41
2 The Speech Act of Persuasion 46
1. The Belief-Desire-Intention Approach and the Commitment
Approach 47
2. Basic Components of Persuasion 53
3. Chaining of Argumentation 56
4. Types of Dialogue 60
5. Deliberation 64
6. Closing of the Deliberation Dialogue 66
7. Acts of Persuasion, Inducement, and Making a Threat 69
8. Negotiation Dialogue and Persuasion 73
9. Relevance and Argument Diagramming 79
10. The Cognitive Component of Persuasion 84
11. The New Definition of the Speech Act of Persuasion
Propaganda 91
1. Negative Connotations 92
2. Public Discourse and Reason 96
3. Appeal to the People Revisited 99
4. The Dialectical Viewpoint on Propaganda 104
5. Persuasion and Propaganda 106
6. Characteristics of Propaganda 109
7. Is Propaganda Necessarily Dishonest or Irrational? 114
8. Openness to Contrary Evidence 117
9. Deceptiveness and Relevance in Propaganda 120
10. Evaluating Argumentation in Propaganda 122
4 Appeals to Fear and Pity 127
1. Appeals to Fear and Pity in Mass Media 128
2. Appeals to Fear 131
3. Appeals to Pity 134
4. The Respondent-to-Dialogue Problem 138
5. Simulative Reasoning 142
6. The Dual Process Model of Persuasion 145
7. The Structure of Appeals to Fear 147
8. The Structure of Appeals to Pity 150
9. Multi-agent Structure of Both Types of Argument 153
10. When Are Appeals to Fear and Pity Fallacious? 156
5 Ad Hominem Arguments in Political Discourse 161
1. Classifying the Types of Ad Hominem Argument 163
2. The Circumstantial and Other Types 165
3. Argument from Commitment 169
4. The Gore Case 173
5. The Battalino Case 177
6. Classifying the Argument in the Battalino Case 180
7. Evaluating the Argument in the Battalino Case 183
8. Implicature and Innuendo 185
9. Evaluating the Argument in the Gore Case 190
10. Evaluating the Arguments Rhetorically and Dialectically 192
6 Arguments Based on Popular Opinion 198
1. Influencing the Mass Audience 199
2. Appeal to Popular Opinion as an Argument 202
3. Cases in Point 204
4. The Form of the Argument 207
5. Fallacious Appeals to Popular Opinion 211
6. Endoxa in Greek Dialectic 213
7. Public Opinion as Informed Deliberation 215
8. A More Careful Basis for Evaluating Cases
9. Viewing the Public as an Agent 222
10. Evaluating Appeal to Popular Opinion 224
7 Fallacies and Bias in Public Opinion Polling 228
1. Definitions and Sampling Surveys 229
2. Question Wording and Emotive Bias in Polls 235
3. The Structure of the Question 239
4. Forcing an Answer 244
5. Use of Polls by Advocacy Groups 249
6. The Advent of Deliberative Polling 254
7. Argumentation Schemes and Critical Questions 259
8. Using Formal Dialectical Models of Argumentation 263
9. Combining Dialectical and Empirical Methods 267
10. Conclusion and Summary of Fallacies 270
8 Persuasive Definitions and Public Policy Arguments 275
1. Stevenson’s Theory of Persuasive Definitions 276
2. Cases of Public Redefinitions 281
3. Wider Implications of These Cases 288
4. Definitions in the New Dialectic 292
5. Proof of Legitimacy of Persuasive Definitions 297
6. Argumentation Schemes Relating to Definitions 300
7. The Speech Act of Defining 308
8. Evaluating Persuasive Definitions 310
9. What Should the Rules for Persuasive Definitions Be? 316
10. Conclusions 319
9 The Structure of Media Argumentation 323
1. Rhetoric and Dialectic Reconfigured 324
2. The Respondent-to-Dialogue Problem Revisited 327
3. Direct and Indirect Media Argumentation 330
4. Star Trek: The Rhetorical Dimension 334
5. Argumentation Strategies 338
6. Plan Recognition 342
7. The Solution to the RTD Problem 347
8. Fifteen Basic Components of Media Argumentation 350
9. The Persuasion System 353
10. Computational Dialectics for Rhetorical Invention