Conductive argument as a mode of strategic maneuvering

Abstract

This paper argues that conductive arguments may be understood from a rhetorical perspective. It demonstrates that conductive arguments can be regarded as a particular mode of strategic maneuvering, and their uses can be adequately analyzed and evaluated by adopting the theoretical tools developed in extended Pragma-Dialectics. Moreover, it contends that conductive arguments should not be characterized as representing the mechanism of weighing and balancing to reach a conclusion, therefore treating them as a new logical type might be misleading.