Ebook: Dialectic and Rhetoric: The Warp and Woof of Argumentation Analysis

In 1999 we invited a small number of colleagues to take part in a colloquium - voted to the analysis of argumentative discourse from two kinds of perspective: a dialectical and a rhetorical perspective. Our intention was to start a thorough disc- sion on the commonalities and differences between the two approaches. In this way we hoped to promote the development of analytic tools for dealing with argum- tation in which, in some way or other, the merits of both approaches are combined. The colloquium took place at the University of Amsterdam. In 2000 it was followed by a second colloquium at New York University, and in 2001 by a third one at Northwestern University. We are grateful to all three universities for giving us the chance to organize three exciting and fruitful meetings and we thank Eugene Garver, Eveline T. Feteris, M.A. van Rees, Ralph Johnson, A. Francisca Snoeck Hen- mans, Jose Plug, Bart Garssen, and Leah Polcar, who took part in the discussions but are not represented in this volume, for their critical and useful contributions.

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This volume discusses two distinct perspectives on the analysis of argumentative discourse: the dialectical and the rhetorical perspective. Both theoretical approaches have a long and eminent history, which is also complex. After their first development in Antiquity, remarkable changes have taken place in the way in which dialectic and rhetoric, and their relationship, have been viewed. This volume intends to open a thorough discussion of the two approaches, their commonalities and differences, and the ways in which, in some combination or other, they can be used to further the development of sound analytic tools for dealing with argumentation.
Dialectic and Rhetoric: The Warp and Woof of Argumentation Analysis contains essays by prominent scholars in dialetic and rhetoric: J.A.E. Bons, Frans H. van Eemeren, Jean Goodwin, Hanns Hohmann, Peter Houtlosser, Scott Jacobs, Erik C.W. Krabbe, Fred J. Kauffeld, Michael Leff, and Edward Schlappa. All authors explain certain views on the role that dialetic and rhetoric can play, alone or in combination, in conceptualizing and analyzing argumentative discourse. The collection of essays as a whole is meant to be an inspiration to all those interested in improving the quality of the analysis of argumentative discourse.