Argumentation across Communities of Practice: Multi-disciplinary perspectives(10 Argumentation in Context)

Featuring multidisciplinary and transcultural investigations, this volume showcases state-of-the-art scholarship about the impact of argumentation-based discourses and field-specific argumentation practices in a wide range of communities of practice belonging to the media, social, legal and political spheres. The investigations make use of integrative, wide-ranging theoretical perspectives and empirical research methodologies with a focus on argumentation strategies in real-life environments, both private and public, and in constantly growing virtual environments. This book brings together linguists, argumentation scholars, philosophers and communication specialists who convincingly show how interpersonal and/or intergroup interactions shape, challenge or change the argumentative practices of users, what argumentation skills and strategies become critical and consequential, how argumentative discourse contexts may stimulate or prevent critical reflection and debate, and what are the wider implications at personal, institutional and societal levels. Reaching beyond the boundaries of linguistics and argumentation sciences, this book should be a valuable resource for researchers as well as practitioners in the fields of pragmatic linguistics, argumentation studies, rhetoric, discourse analysis, political sciences and media studies.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction (by Ilie, Cornelia); 2. Part I. Theoretical perspectives on argumentation - revisited; 3. Chapter 1. Uncontroversial arguments (by Dufour, Michel); 4. Chapter 2. Connection premises: Their character, criticism, and defence (by Laar, Jan Albert van); 5. Chapter 3. Argumentative and non-argumentative rhetorical content: Two examples in same-sex marriage discourse (by Bermejo-Luque, Lilian); 6. Part II. Argumentation practices in political discourse environments; 7. Chapter 4. Questioning the questionable: Arguments and counter-arguments in political accountability interviews (by Ilie, Cornelia); 8. Chapter 5. Reason and passion in political rhetoric: The case of Louise Michel's (1830-1905) revolutionary discourse (by Kienpointner, Manfred); 9. Chapter 6. Interpersonal style(s) in diplomatic argumentation online: A study of argument schemes and evaluation in press releases of UNSC permanent members (by Swain, Elizabeth); 10. Part III. Argumentation practices in legal discourse environments; 11. Chapter 7. The interpreter-mediated police interview as argumentative discourse in context: A case-study (by Garzone, Giuliana); 12. Chapter 8. Context and genre in judicial argumentation: A case-study (by Santulli, Francesca); 13. Part IV. Argumentation practices in debates on societal and family issues; 14. Chapter 9. Caught between profitability and responsibility: Arguing legitimacy in the pharmaceutical industry (by Catenaccio, Paola); 15. Chapter 10. Multi-participant TV debate as an argumentative activity type (by Demir, Yeliz); 16. Chapter 11. The transmission of what is taken for granted in children's socialization: The role of argumentation in family interactions (by Bova, Antonio); 17. Part V. Argumentation practices in multi-modal discourse environments; 18. Chapter 12. Visual arguments in activists' campaigns: A pragmadialectical perspective (by Degano, Chiara); 19. Chapter 13. Attacks on the cartoonist's strategic manoeuvring: An argumentative analysis of criticism on political cartoons (by Plug, H. Jose)

Review :
This engaging book, I am convinced, will fill a significant need in connecting close study of actual argumentative practice with theoretical reflection representing multiple approaches rather than a preconceived doctrine. An essential read to be warmly welcomed. This fresh and compelling volume makes a significant contribution to our understanding of argumentation in real-life discourse environments. Ilie and Garzone have brought together authors from a range of disciplines to address how argumentation is manifested and practiced in diverse legal, political, social and other contexts. The critical investigations not only offer new and valuable insights on field-specific argumentation strategies by combining updated analytical tools with interdisciplinary theoretical approaches, but also provide in-depth scrutiny of culture-related argumentation contexts. This book is essential reading for all those who research the complex processes by means of which argumentation is conducted in everyday communicative contexts. Given the diversity of approaches and topics shown in the ten chapters of this volume, it seems clear that Tseronis and Forceville have successfully exhibited the wide range of topics and approaches that can be distinguished in the study of multimodal argumentation and rhetoric. The collection confirms that the combination of multimodal argumentation and rhetoric constitutes a promising topic of research, which deserves in our view more attention. The collection also makes clear that the development of this field will unavoidably be full of doubts and controversies. This book illustrates how far the study of argumentation has come from its old textbook tradition of perfect syllogisms and awful fallacies. Instead, argumentation is taken as a situated, natural activity. At their most theoretical, writers consider the possibility of arguments that lack controversy or that take a visual form. At their most practical, contributors study the institutional and informal constraints on arguing that takes place in politics, police interviews, pharmaceutical companies’ public positions, families, and international diplomacy. The scope and depth of these treatments recommend them to readers interested in argumentation, rhetoric, and the possibility of reasonable dialogue. The new move forward is to apply argumentation theories to real examples of arguments, such as those found in a variety of sociocultural and political contexts. This book does just that. Starting from the premise that argumentation in practice is both dialogic in nature and always contextualized, Argumentation across Communities of Practice draws together an impressive array of theoretical explorations and detailed case studies to create a representative framework for understanding how dialogic argumentative processes work in real-life settings. This focus addresses an under-researched area in argumentation studies; as such, this volume is indispensable reading for critically minded students of argumentation, language and communication studies.