El presente trabajo complemenJa las referencias a la lengua aut6ctona de los día­ guitas chilenos, en la encrucijada histórica de la conquista hispana en el siglo Xlll , cuya primera parte se publicó en WGOS N 2 l.En este número conJrastamos las hipó­ tesis de don Ricardo Latcham con la crftica de don Jorge /ribarren; se ofrece, aderruís, un suscinJo panorama de la situación lingüística en el noroeste argenJino, y las anota­ ciones espedficamenJe lingüísticas sobre el "cacán" de Antonio Tovar, (...) Cestmir Lou­ kotka y RodtJ/fo Schuller, y nuestras propias conclusiones. The following information about the chilean diaguitas'indigenous tongue for the historie period of the spanish conquest complemenJs the previous report published in thefirst issue of the magazine LOCOS. Ricardo Latcham's hypothesis and Jorge lribarren critica/ position are here confronJed in addition to a brief account of the linguistic situation in south-western ArgenJina. There is also a presenJation of sorne specif eally linguistic statemenJs about "cacán" by Antonio Tovar, Cestmir Loukotka and Rodolfo Schuller as well as our own conclusions. (shrink)

Cuando enfrentan un escándalo, las empresas deben entablar una comunicación efectiva para intentar aminorar los efectos de la publicidad negativa sobre su imagen corporativa. Uno de los géneros empleados por las empresas como formas de discurso de reparación de la imagen es la declaración pública, que corresponde a un texto escrito corto emitido por una empresa con el propósito de comunicar su versión de la crisis que enfrenta directamente al público general, publicándola en el sitio web de la compañía, o (...) bien pagando una inserción en un periódico. El presente estudio, un estudio de casos múltiples, se propone determinar si la retórica empleada por las empresas chilenas cuando enfrentan un escándalo mediático, es decir, la forma en que argumentan y se defienden de las acusaciones de mala conducta, es ética y lícita desde la perspectiva de la ética empresarial. Para ello, se realizó un análisis crítico del manejo de la carga de la prueba en un corpus de veintiséis declaraciones públicas emitidas por empresas chilenas tras una crisis que empañó su imagen corporativa. Basándonos en la regla de la carga de la prueba propuesta desde la teoría pragma-dialéctica, y en algunos lineamientos para el diseño de códigos de ética corporativos planteados en la literatura se pudo determinar la validez de la argumentación retórica desplegada por las empresas. Los resultados muestran que la mayoría de las empresas evaden la carga de la prueba, lo que sugiere que estas empresas chilenas no se sienten obligadas a dar cuenta de sus acciones. El análisis ético revela que en la vasta mayoría de estas declaraciones no se emplea una retórica que evidencie un respeto hacia los afectados por la actividad de la empresa, especialmente hacia los consumidores, los trabajadores de la empresa y los competidores. Una de las conclusiones del estudio es que las empresas chilenas evidencian una concepción bastante limitada de lo que es la ética empresarial, que no considera los conceptos de transparencia ni responsabilidad pública y de control. (shrink)

El libro de María González Navarro se presenta a sí mismo como una “nueva hermenéutica” (23). La novedad involucra dos aspectos: uno que llamaremos metateórico y otro hermenéutico en propiedad. Hablando metateóricamente, el libro presenta una hermenéutica gadameriana vigorizada y robustecida por las teorías pragma-dialécticas de la argumentación. Desde el punto de vista hermenéutico propiamente dicho, la novedad reposa en que se considera que la interpretación correcta está indesligablemente vinculada a la argumentación abductiva.

En este trabajo proponemos un análisis de los esquemas de argumento por signo que fueron identificados en las etiquetas interpretativas de las exposiciones permanentes de los museos de la región de la Araucanía. Se analizan cualitativa y críticamente tres casos de los veintiún esquemas por signo identificados. Las herramientas teóricas esgrimidas proceden de la pragma-dialéctica y la lógica informal. Nuestro objetivo es caracterizar los esquemas por signo identificados en las etiquetas de las exhibiciones de los museos de la (...) Araucanía, en la búsqueda de orientar su manejo en el diseño de exhibiciones museísticas significativas. Para ello, hemos desarrollado una matriz metodológica que adopta el levantamiento de una estructura argumental. Así, fue posible identificar los puntos de vista como las razones que lo justifican, además de identificar los esquemas argumentativos, a los cuales se les ha aplicado sus respectivas preguntas críticas. El análisis nos permitió concluir que en el empleo del esquema por signo siempre es necesario apoyarse en el entorno cercano donde se maneja el argumento, esto incluye la noción de lugar o de territorio en sus distintos niveles de significación. Asimismo, se ha comprobado como fundamental la incorporación de la tercera pregunta crítica al esquema por signo, la cual hace referencia al contexto donde se presenta el argumento. Por último, se ha detectado que los esquemas considerados complejos también realizan una referencia al lugar, pero con la utilización y combinación de variadas figuras retóricas, como la resignificación o sustitución. (shrink)

En Giving Reasons: A Linguistic-pragmatic-approach to Argumentation Theory (Springer, 2011), propongo un nuevo modelo para la evaluación semántica y pragmática de la argumentación. Este modelo se basa en una caracterización de la argumentación como un acto de habla compuesto de segundo orden. Explico las ventajas de este modelo respecto de otras propuestas dentro de la Teoría de la Argumentación, tales como la Pragma-dialéctica, la Lógica Informal, la Nueva Retórica o el Enfoque Epistémico.

La oposición a una estricta separación entre las dimensiones dialéctica y retórica de la actividad argumentativa es una de las aportaciones más destacadas y peculiares de la denominada escuela holandesa sobre argumentación. Frans H. van Eemeren y Peter Houtlosser reaccionaron contra una separación estricta entre dialéctica y retórica en varios trabajos, pero uno de los más inspiradores es sin duda su artículo “William the Silent’s argumentative discourse” (1998) presentado en la ciudad de Ámsterdam con ocasión de la cuarta (...) conferencia organizada por la International Society for the Study of Argumentation (ISSA). Sobre este tema siguieron investigando para presentar un análisis de la perspectiva dialéctica inherente al caso de Guillermo I de Orange en un congreso de la Japan Debate Association en Tokio (van Eemeren y Houtlosser, 2000). (shrink)

Garssen and van Laar in effect concede our main criticism of the pragma-dialectical approach. The criticism is that the conclusions of arguments can be ‘P-D reasonable’ yet patently unreasonable, epistemically speaking. The concession consists in the claim that the theory “remains restricted to the investigation of standpoints in the light of particular sets of starting points” which are “up to individual disputants to create” and the admission that all the relevant terms of normative appraisal have been redefined. We also (...) discuss their criticisms of the epistemic account of argumentation and argument evaluation and raise some new questions about the approach they defend. (shrink)

Pragma-dialectics is dynamic, context-sensitive, and multi-agent; it promises theories of fallacy and argumentative structure. But pragma-dialectic theory and practice are not yet fully in harmony. Key definitions of the theory fall short of explicating the analyses that pragma-dialecticians actually do. Many discussions involve more than two participants with different and mutually incompatible standpoints. Success in such a discussion may be more than success against each opponent. Pragma-dialectics does well at analyzing arguments advanced by one party, directed (...) at another party; it does much less well at analyzing arguments directed at several opponents at once or at convincing an audience. I suggest a strategy of construing fallacies as defeasible arguments relying on reasonable default principles but applying them in circumstances in which they are undercut or overridden. (shrink)

This contribution discusses some problems of Pragma-Dialectics and explains them by its consensualistic view of the function of argumentation and by its philosophical underpinnings. It is suggested that these problems can be overcome by relying on a better epistemology and on an epistemological theory of argumentation. On the one hand Pragma-Dialectics takes unqualified consensus as the aim of argumentation, which is problematic, (Sect. 2) on the other it includes strong epistemological and rationalistic elements (Sect. 3). The problematic philosophical (...) underpinnings of Pragma-Dialectics, specifically Critical Rationalism as well as Logical Constructivism and Dialogic Logic of the Erlangen School, are among the sources of this incoherence (Sect. 4). A detailed critique of the Pragma-Dialectical discussion rules shows the negative consequences of this foundation and indicates how they could be avoided (Sects. 5, 6). (shrink)

The problem with the pragma-dialectical view, it has been argued, is that it takes argumentation as aiming at consensus rather than truth or justified belief. The pragma-dialecticians often imply that an argumentative process aiming at consensus in a way constrained by the “Ten Commandments” will in the long run converge on epistemically favourable standpoints. I will argue that they are right provided pragma-dialectics is construed, as they say, as a theory of criticism; pragma-dialectics and the other (...) theories of argumentation have in common the requirement to account for the fallacies. (shrink)

The epistemologists Biro and Siegel have raised two objections against the pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation. According to the first objection the pragma-dialectical theory is not genuinely normative. According to the second objection the rejection of justificationism by pragma-dialecticians is unwarranted: they reject justificationism prematurely and they are not consistent in accepting some arguments (‘justifications’) as sound. The first objection is based on what we regard as the misconception that the goal of resolving differences of opinion cannot provide (...) a normative approach. In response to the second objection we argue that in pragma-dialectics, the notion of argument, and related notions, are defined in a non-justificatory manner. (shrink)

I would like to thank Christoph Lumer for his illuminating comments on my paper “The question of truth” published in this journal (Botting 2010) and would like to exercise my right of reply on a few of the issues that he raises.

This paper answers the question how pragmatic argumentation which occurs in a legal context, can be analyzed and evaluated adequately. First, the author surveys various ideas taken from argumentation theory and legal theory on the analysis and evaluation of pragmatic argumentation. Then, on the basis of these ideas, she develops a pragma-dialectical instrument for analyzing and evaluating pragmatic argumentation in a legal context. Finally she demonstrates how this instrument can be used by giving an exemplary analysis and evaluation of (...) pragmatic argumentation in a decision of the Dutch Supreme Court. (shrink)

During the past thirty years the pragma-dialectical theorizing has developed in various steps from designing an abstract ideal model for critical discussion to examining strategic manoeuvring in the various argumentative activity types in which argumentative discourse manifests itself in argumentative reality. The response to the theoretical proposals that have been made includes, next to approval, also various kinds of criticisms. This paper explores the nature and thrust of these criticisms. In doing so, a distinction is made between criticisms concerning (...) the dialectical and the pragmatic dimensions of pragma-dialectics, the scope of the theory, the rhetorical dimension and moral quality, the treatment of the fallacies, and the epistemic dimension. (shrink)

This paper concerns the character of argumentation in inner dialogue, i.e. dialogue that an individual keeps to herself in her own mind. The problem of inner dialogue research is the methodological difficulty connected with its externalization. In the text, the activity of crisis diary-writing is suggested as a way of naturally externalizing inner decision-making. By adopting a pragma-dialectic approach to argumentation, the text attempts to characterize crisis diary-writing as an argumentative activity type. The argumentative characterization of crisis diary-writing involves (...) identifying the institutional point and implemented genre as well as distinguishing the empirical counterparts of the four stages of critical discussion. For illustration, the paper draws its examples from Anne Frank’s Diary. As a result of the characterization achieved in the paper, it is concluded that crisis diary-writing is a conventionalized deliberative activity type preconditioned by implicit norms governing the conduct of argumentation. (shrink)

During the past thirty years the pragma-dialectical theorizing has developed in various steps from designing an abstract ideal model for critical discussion to examining strategic manoeuvring in the various argumentative activity types in which argumentative discourse manifests itself in argumentative reality. The response to the theoretical proposals that have been made includes, next to approval, also various kinds of criticisms. This paper explores the nature and thrust of these criticisms. In doing so, a distinction is made between criticisms concerning (...) the dialectical and the pragmatic dimensions of pragma-dialectics, the scope of the theory, the rhetorical dimension and moral quality, the treatment of the fallacies, and the epistemic dimension. (shrink)

Analytic philosophers have, since the pioneering work of B.K. Matilal, emphasized the contributions of Nyāya philosophers to what contemporary philosophy considers epistemology. More recently, scholarly work demonstrates the relevance of their ideas to argumentation theory, an interdisciplinary area of study drawing on epistemology as well as logic, rhetoric, and linguistics. This paper shows how early Nyāya theorizing about argumentation, from Vātsyāyana to Jayanta Bhaṭṭa, can fruitfully be juxtaposed with the pragma-dialectic approach to argumentation pioneered by Frans van Eemeren. I (...) illustrate the implications of this analysis with a case study from Jayanta Bhaṭṭa’s satirical play, Much Ado about Religion (Āgamaḍambara). (shrink)

I present a “reduced” version of the fifteen Pragma-dialectical rules and inquire into their theoretical status as necessary conditions for a critical discussion. Questions: In what respect is PD’s non-sufficiency a deficiency, can and must it be remedied? Brief answers: with respect to defining the concept ‘critical discussion,’ possibly, yes, if, and only if, one seeks to identify the concept ‘critical discussion’; no, if PD is for fallacy-detection.

According to the pragma-dialectical ideal of reasonableness, in case of a difference of opinion the protagonist and the antagonist of a standpoint should attempt to find out by means of a critical discussion whether the protagonist's standpoint is capable of withstanding the antagonist's criticism. In this paper, the authors formulate the latest version of their basic rules for the performance of speech acts in the various stages that can beanalytically distinguished in a critical discussion that can lead to the (...) resolution of a single and non-mixed difference opinion. (shrink)

In this paper we suggest an understanding of the self within the conceptual framework of situated affectivity, proposing the notion of an affectively extended self and arguing that the construction, diachronic re-shaping and maintenance of the self is mediated first by affective interactions. We initially consider the different variations on the conception of the extended self that have been already proposed in the literature. We then propose our alternative, contextualising it within the current debate on situated affectivity. While the idea (...) that we exploit the external environment in order to manage our affective life is now rather widespread among philosophers, its potential consequences for and connections with the debate on the self remain underexplored. Drawing on James’ intuition of the “material self”, which clearly connects the self and the emotions in agency, and broadly envisioning an extension of the self beyond its organismic boundaries, we propose our pragmatist conception of the self: an affectively extended self that relies on affective artifacts and practices to construct its identity extended beyond skin and skull. (shrink)

In this article the author develops a framework for a pragma-dialectical reconstruction of teleological argumentation in a legal context. Ideas taken from legal theory are integrated in a pragma-dialectical model for analyzing and evaluating argumentation, thus providing a more systematic and elaborate framework for assessing the quality of teleological arguments in a legal context. Teleological argumentation in a legal context is approached as a specific form of pragmatic argumentation. The legal criteria that are relevant for the evaluation of (...) teleological argumentation are discussed and translated in terms of critical questions that are relevant for the evaluation of the various forms of teleological argumentation. (shrink)

Disagreement space consists of all the commitments and understandings required for an utterance to take on its discourse function. These are virtual standpoints that can be called out for explicit argumentation. This paper shows how the Inquisition systematically controlled disagreement space, preventing some apparently important standpoints from ever being argued about, and requiring attention to others that may not have initially seemed relevant. This control of disagreement space constituted violation of the rules for critical discussion. The essay suggests that the (...) idea of disagreement space be slightly enlarged, to show the distinctions among virtual, possible, and actual disagreement spaces. The Inquisition's extra-argumentative power is what permitted its specification of the possible disagreement space. The analysis suggests that pragma-dialectics may have application in the criticism and analysis of social institutions. (shrink)

I first became interested in De dialectica in 1966, while I was doing re search on Augustine's knowledge of logic. At the time I made a transla tion of the Maurist text and included it as an appendix to my doctoral dissertation (Yale, 1967). In 1971 I thoroughly revised the translation on the basis of the critical text of Wilhelm Crecelius (1857) and I have re cently revised it again to conform to Professor Jan Pinborg's new edition. The only previously (...) published translation of the whole of De dialectica. is N. H. Barreau's French translation in the Oeuvres completes de Saint Augustin (1873). Thomas Stanley translated parts of Chapters Six and Nine into English as part of the account of Stoic logic in his History of Philosophy (Pt. VIII, 1656). I offer De dialectica in English in the hope that it will be of some interest to historians of logic and of the liberal arts tradition and to students of the thought of Augustine. In translating I have for the most part been as literal as is consistent with English usage. Although inclusion of the Latin text might have justified a freer translation, for example, the use of modern technical terms, it seemed better to stay close to the Latin. One of the. values in studying a work such as De dialectica is to see familiar topics discussed in a terminology not so familiar. In the translation I follow these conventions. (shrink)

The purpose of this research review is to examine the usefulness of reconstructing problematic interpersonal conflict behavior as violations of rules for critical discussions. Dialectical reconstruction of interpersonal conflict behavior sheds light on the ways in which dialectical fallacies influence not only the course of a critical discussion, but also the personal and relationship outcomes experienced by arguers. Conflict sequences such as cross complaining and demand/withdraw are shown to be problematic, in part, because they prevent parties from resolving their difference (...) through rational dialogue. The paper concludes by presenting some implications of the pragma-dialectical reconstruction of interpersonal conflict behavior. (shrink)

Reflexión sobre los desafíos que enfrenta el pensamiento crítico a propósito del 30 aniversario de la fundación de la revista Dialéctica. Se destaca la capacidad permanente de la revista para pulsar lo mejor del pensamiento crítico de cada etapa por la que ha pasado. Fiel a aquella sentencia clásica de una filosofía y un pensamiento social como «crítica radical de todo lo existente», la revista ha sabido al mismo tiempo conservar clarividencia sobre el horizonte de sentido desde donde habría (...) de realizarse la crítica que sus páginas albergaba. El rigor teórico que la ha acompañado no ha sido mella para su compromiso con la praxis liberadora en sus más variadas manifestaciones. Ha sido dinámica, abierta en todo momento a los nuevos signos epocales, pero al mismo tiempo capaz de no cejar ante modismos intelectuales que dieran al traste con el designio que le dio origen. El principal desafío que enfrenta Dialéctica sigue siendo el mismo, su destino continúa asociado al del pensamiento crítico. Y éste, a su vez, necesita una reevaluación permanente acorde a su propia naturaleza. La celebración del 30 aniversario de Dialéctica constituye, pues, una excelente ocasión para reflexionar sobre la situación actual y perspectivas del pensamiento crítico. (shrink)

Reflexión sobre los desafíos que enfrenta el pensamiento crítico a propósito del 30 aniversario de la fundación de la revista Dialéctica. Se destaca la capacidad permanente de la revista para pulsar lo mejor del pensamiento crítico de cada etapa por la que ha pasado. Fiel a aquella sentencia clásica de una filosofía y un pensamiento social como «crítica radical de todo lo existente», la revista ha sabido al mismo tiempo conservar clarividencia sobre el horizonte de sentido desde donde habría (...) de realizarse la crítica que sus páginas albergaba. El rigor teórico que la ha acompañado no ha sido mella para su compromiso con la praxis liberadora en sus más variadas manifestaciones. Ha sido dinámica, abierta en todo momento a los nuevos signos epocales, pero al mismo tiempo capaz de no cejar ante modismos intelectuales que dieran al traste con el designio que le dio origen. El principal desafío que enfrenta Dialéctica sigue siendo el mismo, su destino continúa asociado al del pensamiento crítico. Y éste, a su vez, necesita una reevaluación permanente acorde a su propia naturaleza. La celebración del 30 aniversario de Dialéctica constituye, pues, una excelente ocasión para reflexionar sobre la situación actual y perspectivas del pensamiento crítico. (shrink)

Pragma-dialectical approaches to legal argumentation seem to be rather different from traditional approaches appealing to standards of propositional logic. Pragma-dialectical analysis of arguments by analogy and e contrario seem to fall foul to the rigors of logical analysis, in which problems or even concepts of analogy and e contrario seem to disappear. The brunt of both types of special legal argumentation appears to be borne by often implicit general principles and an appeal to the system of the law (...) as a whole. Still, pragma-dialectics and logical analysis of legal argument are best seen as fruitfully supplementing each other in ongoing research of ever evolving legal argument. (shrink)

In the pragma-dialectical approach, fallacies are considered incorrect moves in a discussion for which the goal is successful resolution of a dispute. Ten rules are given for effective conduct at the various stages of such a critical discussion (confrontation, opening, argumentation, concluding). Fallacies are discussed as violations of these rules, taking into account all speech acts which are traditionally recognized as fallacies. Special attention is paid to the role played by implicitness in fallacies in everyday language use. It is (...) stressed that identifying and acknowledging fallacies in ordinary discussions always has a conditional character. Differences between the pragma-dialectical perspective, the Standard Treatment, and the formal logic approach to fallacy analysis are discussed. (shrink)

This article explains the design and development of the pragma-dialectical approach to fallacies. In this approach fallacies are viewed as violations of the standards for critical discussion that are expressed in a code of conduct for reasonable argumentative discourse. After the problem-solving validity in resolving differences of opinion of the rules of this code has been discussed, their conventional validity for real-life arguers is demonstrated. Starting from the extended version of the theory in which the strategic maneuvering taking place (...) in argumentative discourse is included, the article explains that the violations of the rules that are committed in the fallacies involve derailments of strategic maneuvering. This culminates in a discussion of the exploitation of hidden fallaciousness as an unreasonable way of increasing the effectiveness of argumentative discourse – a vital topic of research in present-day pragma-dialectics. (shrink)

In this article, after arguing that present approaches to improving problem-solving discussions for various reasons are not satisfactory, I turn to the pragma-dialectic approach to argumentative discourse to derive a normative framework that can serve as a point of departure to enhance the quality of problem-solving discussions. I then show how this approach can be used as analytical and evaluative instrument that can help the analyst to establish whether participants in actual practice act in a fashion that is in (...) accord with the norms posited. Two real-life problem-solving discussions provide the material for this demonstration. (shrink)

This paper describes the development of pragma-dialectics as a theory of argumentative discourse. First the development of the pragma-dialectical model of a critical discussion is explained, with the rules that are to be complied with in order to avoid fallacies from occurring. Then the integration is discussed of rhetorical insight in the dialectical framework. In this endeavour, the concept of strategic manoeuvring is explained that allows for a more refined and more profoundly justified analysis of argumentative discourse and (...) a better identification of fallacies. The paper ends with a brief overview of current research projects. (shrink)

The present paper elaborates a deductivist account of natural language argu-ment in the context of pragma-dialectics. It reviews earlier debates, criticizes some standard misconceptions in the literature, and argues that the identification and analysis of deductive argument schemes can be the basis of a compelling theory of argumentative discourse.

The overall goal of this paper is to show that computational modelling of argumentation theories is a useful tool to deepen them. Specifically, it provides a basic computational formalization of part of Pragma-dialectics’ model of a critical discussion, which serves as a basis for analyzing this influential theory of argumentation. Such analysis reveals some weaknesses and leaves some questions opened for Pragma-dialectics. Particularly, it shows that the model of a critical discussion is not independent of the model of (...) reasoning/inference chosen, because, while it performs differently with different models of reasoning, it does not work well with some of them. (shrink)

In this article, after arguing that present approaches to improving problem-solving discussions for various reasons are not satisfactory, I turn to the pragma-dialectic approach to argumentative discourse to derive a normative framework that can serve as a point of departure to enhance the quality of problem-solving discussions. I then show how this approach can be used as analytical and evaluative instrument that can help the analyst to establish whether participants in actual practice act in a fashion that is in (...) accord with the norms posited. Two real-life problem-solving discussions provide the material for this demonstration. (shrink)

The translation of Apology 30b 2–4 has long been controversial. The standard translation of this sentence reveals a Socrates who wants to highlight a problem about virtue by making an extremely optimistic statement about it; the alternative translation supported by Myles Burnyeat and Christopher Rowe would suppress the problem by appearing to resolve it. A detailed examination of Socrates’ speech at 28b–31c, defending the nobility of his Delphic activity, finds fault with the resolution proposed by Burnyeat and Rowe, shows how (...) Socrates’ speech is informed by his clear awareness of human hopes for virtue, highlights his clarity about his situation, and addresses the question of the character of the Socratic virtue or toughness that is the by-product of his activity. (shrink)