Strategic manoeuvring in argumentative discourse

Abstract

The “argumentative predicament” is that in every argumentative move strategic manoeuvring has to take place in order to keep the balance between aiming for effectiveness and maintaining reasonableness. In order to do justice to the strategic manoeuvring, next to dialectical insights about maintaining reasonableness also rhetorical insights about achieving effectiveness need to be incorporated in the theorizing. In strategic manoeuvring three aspects can be analytically distinguished: selection from the available “topical potential”, adaptation to “audience demand” and utilizing “presentational devices”. More encompassing argumentative strategies involve coordinated strategic manoeuvring with regard to these three aspects in a succession of argumentative moves. Strategic manoeuvring derails when a rule for critical discussion is violated. As is illustrated in an extension of the reconstruction of an argumentative text provided in the previous chapter, including an account of the strategic manoeuvring results in a richer and more accurate analysis which can be better accounted for and leads to a more pertinent evaluation.