Teaching argumentation theory and practice: The case of 12 Angry Men

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to illustrate how the pragma-dialectical model of critical discussion may be explained and studied with the jurors' deliberations in the film 12 Angry Men. The film itself may be understood as an argument by example, and to defend this idea we take into consideration the thesis that the filmmaker wants to establish, the constraints of the medium, and the three classical perspectives on argumentation. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.