| Title: | Strategic use of dissociation in ethical argumentation on abortion |
| Author: | Simona Mazilu |
| Publication: | Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics, X (2) |
| p-ISSN: | 2069-9239 |
| Publisher: | Universitatea din București |
| Place: | București |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with the dialectical and rhetorical consequences of the use of dissociation in ethical argumentation on abortion. Disputants make strategic use of dissociation to advance their standpoints, to establish the starting points of the discussion and to argue in favor or against abortion as well. From the pragma-dialectical perspective (van Rees 2002, 2003, 2005a, 2005b, 2006), dissociation is defined as an argumentative technique by which a unitary concept is divided into two different concepts of which one is intended as positive while the other one as negative. The analysis of a religious text on abortion shows that by means of dissociation abortion can be conceived of as “an unspeakable crime” or “the deliberate killing of an innocent human being” as opposed to “interruption of pregnancy”, the term preferred by pro-choice supporters. I claim that the protagonist uses dissociation as a rhetorical strategy aimed at persuading both the interlocutor and the audience. |
| Key words: | dissociation, strategic maneuvering, dialectical (un)soundness, fallacies |
| Links: |  pdf  html |
Citations to this publication: 0
References in this publication: 0
The citations/references list is based on indexed publications only, and may therefore be incomplete.
For any and all inquiries related to the database, please contact us at [Please enable javascript to view.].
Preview:
