Corporate crises call for effective communication to shelter or restore a company's reputation. The use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) claims may provide an effective tool to counter the negative impact of a crisis, but knowledge about its effectiveness is scarce and lacking in studies that consider CSR communication during crises. To help fill this gap, this study investigates whether the length of company's involvement in CSR matters when it uses CSR claims in its crisis communication as a means to (...) counter negative publicity. The use of CSR claims in crisis communication is more effective for companies with a long CSR history than for those with a short CSR history, and consumer skepticism about claims lies at the heart of this phenomenon. (shrink)

Although using different labels, genre theorists from different traditions have generally given privilege to the communicative purpose, in this article referred to as rhetorical objective, as genre determinant. Genre analysts who have studied press releases in particular tend to share this view, but nevertheless categorize communicative events conveyed through the press release as belonging to one genre despite variation in rhetorical objectives. This article argues that although the press release may be seen as a genre on the basis of textual (...) form, it does not qualify for the genre label if analysed in terms of content and rhetorical objective. To substantiate my claim, I shall discuss a small corpus of press releases, all focusing on a specific biotechnological issue. In my analyses I shall discuss staging in terms of content as well as logico-semantic relations between stages, patterns of stage combinations and their linguistic realizations with the aim of identifying variation in rhetorical objective. (shrink)

The notion of “the burden of proof” plays an important role in real-world argumentation contexts, in particular in law. It has also been given a central role in normative accounts of argumentation, and has been used to explain a range of classic argumentation fallacies. We argue that in law the goal is to make practical decisions whereas in critical discussion the goal is frequently simply to increase or decrease degree of belief in a proposition. In the latter case, it is (...) not necessarily important whether that degree of belief exceeds a particular threshold (e.g., ‘reasonable doubt’). We explore the consequences of this distinction for the role that the “burden of proof” has played in argumentation and in theories of fallacy. (shrink)

This book concentrates on argumentation as it emerges in ordinary discourse, whether the discourse is institutionalized or strictly informal. Crucial concepts from the theory of argumentation are systematically discussed and explained with the help of examples from real-life discourse and texts. The basic principles are explained that are instrumental in the analysis and evaluation of argumentative discourse. Methodical instruments are offered for identifying differences of opinion, analyzing and evaluating argumentation and presenting arguments in oral and written discourse. In addition, the (...) book provides a great variety of exercises and assignments to improve the students' skill in presenting argumentation. The authors begin their treatment of argumentation theory at the same juncture where argumentation also starts in practice: The difference of opinion that occasions the evolvement of the argumentation. Each chapter begins with a short summary of the essentials and ends with a number of exercises that students can use to master the material. _Argumentation_ is the first introductory textbook of this kind. It is intended as a general introduction for students who are interested in a proper conduct of argumentative discourse. Suggestions for further reading are made for each topic and several extra assignments are added to the exercises. Special features: * A concise and complete treatment of both the theoretical backgrounds and the practice of argumentation analysis and evaluation. * Crucial concepts from pragmatics presented in a non-technical way; introducing the theory of verbal communication. * Unique coverage of both oral and written presentation of arguments. * Exercises and assignments based on real-life texts from a variety of contexts. (shrink)

This volume gives a theoretical account of the problem of analyzing and evaluating argumentative discourse. After placing argumentation in a communicative perspective, and then discussing the fallacies that occur when certain rules of communication are violated, the authors offer an alternative to both the linguistically-inspired descriptive and logically-inspired normative approaches to argumentation. The authors characterize argumentation as a complex speech act in a critical discussion aimed at resolving a difference of opinion. The various stages of a critical discussion are outlined, (...) and the communicative and interactional aspects of the speech acts performed in resolving a simple or complex dispute are discussed. After dealing with crucial aspects of analysis and linking the evaluation of argumentative discourse to the analysis, the authors identify the fallacies that can occur at various stages of discussion. Their general aim is to elucidate their own pragma- dialectical perspective on the analysis and evaluation of argumentative discourse, bringing together pragmatic insight concerning speech acts and dialectical insight concerning critical discussion. (shrink)

Depois da viragem do século, podemos dizer que a noção de responsabilidade social está muito em voga no mundo empresarial, muito embora, como é evidente, o conceito possui uma história muito mais ampla e profunda. Tendo isso em conta, o presente artigo procura, antes de mais, mostrar a evolução mais recente do conceito de responsabilidade social, ao mesmo tempo que demonstra como um tal conceito não seña mais do que um efeito de cosmética caso não estivesse fundado numa verdadeira ética (...) empresarial Nesse sentido, a autora oferece-nos alguns dos elementos filosóficos subjacentes a uma tal ética, elementos esses que se destinam a permitir uma avaliação de três dos principais modelos de empresa que identifica, a saber: o modelo economicista, o modelo institucional, e, finalmente, o modelo centrado na globalidade dos afectados pela actividade empresarial. O objectivo, naturalmente, é mostrar as razões pelas quais, numa perspectiva filosófica, a opção correcta é aquela que tem em vista o último dos três modelos mencionados. The concept of social responsibility has been much in vogue in the entrepreneurial world after the turn of the century, though the concept has a much larger and profound history. Taking this into account, the paper seeks to present, first of all, the most recent evolution of the concept of social responsibility and, simultaneously, demonstrates how such a concept would be nothing more than a cosmetic effect, if it were not based on a true entreprenewrial ethics. Thus, the author presents some of the philosophical elements underlying such an ethics; these elements intend to allow an evaluation of the three main enterprise models, which she identifies, namely the economicist model, the institutional model, and, finally, the model centred on all those affected by the entrepreneurial activity. Obviously, the aim of the paper is to present the reasons why, in a philosophical perspective, the right choice is the one which opts for the last of the tree mentioned models. (shrink)