Interpreting Straw Man Argumentation: The Pragmatics of Quotation and Reporting [Hardcover]

This book shows how research in linguistic pragmatics, philosophy of language,?and rhetoric can be connected through argumentation to analyze a recognizably?common strategy used in political and everyday conversation, namely the distortion?of anothers words in an argumentative exchange. Straw man argumentation refers to?the modification of a position by misquoting, misreporting or wrenching the original?speakers statements from their context in order to attack them more easily or more?effectively. Through 63 examples taken from different contexts (including political?and forensic discourses and dialogs) and 20 legal cases, the book analyzes the explicit?and implicit types of straw man, shows how to assess the correctness of a quote or a?report, and illustrates the arguments that can be used for supporting an interpretation?and defending against a distortion. The tools of argumentation theory, a discipline aimed at investigating the uses of arguments by combining insights from pragmatics, logic, and communication,?are applied?to provide an original account of interpretation and reporting, and to describe and illustrate tactics and procedures that can be used and implemented for practical purposes.. This book will appeal to scholars?in the fields of political communication, communication in general, argumentation?theory, rhetoric and pragmatics, as well as to people working in public speech, speech?writing, and discourse analysis.

Introduction.- Using Quotations: Their Argumentative uses and Their Manipulations.- Communicative Intentions and Commitments.- Establishing Commitments between Ambiguity and Misquotation.- The Strategies of Misattribution of Commitments.- Evaluating Relevance and Commitments in Rhetorical Straw Man.- Commitment and Pls5