Analyzing metaphor in argumentative discourse

  • Jean Wagemans
Keywords: analogy, argumentation, argument classification, metaphor, metaphorical argument, metaphorical standpoint, Periodic Table of Arguments, typology of arguments, typology of debate propositions

Abstract

Invited paper

This paper is aimed at providing the building blocks of a method for analyzing metaphor in argumentative discourse. It focuses on two specific argumentative uses of metaphor: (1) metaphor as (part of) a standpoint and (2) metaphor as (part of) an argument. After an explanation of some basic argumentation theoretical insights concerning types of standpoints and arguments, it will be demonstrated how these insights can be applied by analyzing a number of concrete examples of the use of metaphor in argumentative discourse.

References

ANDERSON, Michael L. (2014), After phrenology: Neural reuse and the interactive brain, The MIT Press, Cambridge (MA), London.

CAREY, B. (2015), Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: Our soldiers are lions, led by ‘craven, politicized weaklings’, published by downtrend.com on April 22, 2015, retrieved from http://downtrend.com/brian-carey/lt-col-ralph-peters-our-soldiers-are-lions-led-by-craven-politicized-weaklings.

VAN EEMEREN Frans H., GARSSEN Bart J., KRABBE Erik C. W., SNOECK HENKEMANS Francisca A., VERHEIJ Bart H., WAGEMANS Jean H. M. (2014), Handbook of Argumentation Theory, Springer, Dordrecht.

EIMERS, Nathalie (2008), Reconstructing and evaluating the argument by figurative analogy: The risks and gains of using the argument by figurative analogy in parliamentary debate, MA thesis, University of Amsterdam, dare.uva.nl/document/121912.

GARSSEN, Bart J. (2009), Comparing the incomparable: Figurative analogies in a dialectical testing procedure, in VAN EEMEREN Frans H., GARSSEN Bart J. (eds.), Pondering on problems of argumentation: Twenty essays on theoretical issues, Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 133-140.

GIBBS, Raymond W. (2008), The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

KӦVECSES, Zoltan (2010), Metaphor: A practical introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York.

LAKOFF George, JOHNSON Mark (1980), Metaphors we live by, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

LAUSBERG, Heinrich (1998), Handbook of literary rhetoric: A foundation for literary study, Brill, Leiden, Boston, Köln (Handbuch der literarischen Rhetorik: Eine Grundlegung der Literaturwissenschaft, transl. by Bliss Matthew T., Jansen Annemiek, Orton David E., MAx Hueber Verlag, Ismaning bei München, 1973).

MACAGNO Fabrizio, ZAVATTA Benedetta (2014), «Reconstructing metaphorical meaning», in Argumentation, n. 28 (4), pp. 453-488.

MERLEAU-PONTY, Maurice (1967), The structure of behavior, Beacon Press, Boston (La structure du comportement, transl. by, Fisher Alden L., Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1942).

MUSOLFF, Andreas (2004), Metaphor and political discourse: Analogical reasoning in debates about Europe, Palgrave Macmillan Basingstoke, New York.

VAN NIMWEGEN, Katja (2015), Metaphorical argumentation in popular science: Towards argumentative analysis of metaphors about the nature of the brain, MA thesis, University of Amsterdam, dare.uva.nl/document/613532.

OSWALD Steve, RIHS Alain (2014). «Metaphor as argument: Rhetorical and epistemic advantages of extended metaphors», in Argumentation, n. 28 (2), pp. 133-159.

PERELMAN Chaim, OLBRECHTS-TYTECA Lucie (1969), The new rhetoric: A treatise on argumentation, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame (Indiana) (La nouvelle rhétorique: Traité de l'argumentation, Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1958).

SANTIBÁÑEZ, Cristián (2010), «Metaphors and argumentation: The case of Chilean parliamentarian media participation», in Journal of Pragmatics, n. 42 (4), pp. 973-989.

SCHUT Daniel, WAGEMANS Jean H. M. (2014), Argumentatie en debat, Boom Lemma, Den Haag.

STEEN, Gerard J. (2013), The cognitive-linguistic revolution in metaphor studies, in LITTLEMORE Janette, TAYLOR John R. (eds.), The Bloomsbury companion to cognitive linguistics, Bloomsbury, London, New York, pp. 117-142.

SVAČINOVÁ, Iva (2014), «Reconstruction of metaphors in argumentation: A case study of Lincoln’s metaphor of “swapping horses while crossing a stream”», in Cogency, n. 6 (2), pp. 67-89.

UEDING, Gert (2001), Historisches Wörterbuch der Rhetorik (Band 5: L-Musi), Niemeyer, Tübingen.

WAGEMANS, Jean H. M. (2014), «Een systematische catalogus van argumenten», in Tijdschrift voor Taalbeheersing, n. 36 (1), pp. 11-30.

WAGEMANS, Jean H. M. (2016), Constructing a Periodic Table of Arguments, in BONDY Pat, BENACQUISTA Laura (eds.), Argumentation, Objectivity and Bias: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation (OSSA), 18-21 May 2016, OSSA, Windsor (ON), pp. 1-12.

WIELEN, P. van der (2013), Gesprek op 24: Peter Hacker, Broadcasted by VPRO on June 7, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.npo.nl/gesprek-op-24/07-06-2013/WO_VPRO_365447.

How to Cite
Wagemans, J. (1) “Analyzing metaphor in argumentative discourse”, Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio, 10(2). Available at: http://www.rifl.unical.it/index.php/rifl/article/view/406 (Accessed: 14December2024).