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  3. Master in Communication Sciences
  4. area of specialisation in Strategic Communication
  5. Argumentative Strategies

Argumentative Strategies

Objectives

a) To analyze arguments, highlighting the type of argument scheme used to support a conclusion
b) To assess the probative weight of an argument
c) To individuate fallacies and counter weak or deceptive arguments
d) To improve interpretation and critical thinking abilities

Transferable Skills:
Assessing arguments; argumentation and critical thinking skills; presentational abilities.

The analysis of the argument structure improves the students ability to individuate and reconstruct the implicit dimensions of reasoning. The explanation of basic logical concepts provides the students with instruments for assessing the validity of arguments and individuating formal fallacies. The teaching of fundamental argumentation schemes provides the student with an instrument for the analysis, reconstruction and evaluation of arguments, leading them to distinguishing between reasonable or acceptable arguments and fallacious moves. The analysis of emotions is carried out in relation with the argument

General characterization

Code

722011050

Credits

10.0

Responsible teacher

Fabrizio Macagno

Hours

Weekly - 3

Total - 280

Teaching language

English

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography


  • Course Material (na Novacopia e no inforestudante)


Additional readings



  • Walton D (1990) What is reasoning? What is an argument? J Philos 87:399–419. https://doi.org/10.2307/2026735

  • Walton, D. (2006). Fundamentals of critical argumentation. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Teaching method

Dialogic-argumentative teaching approach. Explanation of the theoretical foundations. Whole class discussion on the most complex concepts. Analytical and production exercises – both with the whole class and in small groups.

Evaluation method

1. Written test consisting in two parts: Theoretical questions (open ended); Exercises on the subject matters of the first part of the course (propositional logic; basics of pragmatics; categorical logic; argumentation schemes; emotions; fallacies; explanation; Toulmin’s structure). (60%)



2. Homework consisting in a written analysis of an argumentative text (political speech, political debate, advertisment campaign, etc.) using argumentation schemes. (40%).

Subject matter

Description

The analysis of argument structure improves the student’s ability to individuate and reconstruct the distinct dimensions of reasoning. The teaching of fundamental argumentation schemes provides the student with an instrument for the analysis, reconstruction, and evaluation of arguments, leading them to distinguishing between acceptable arguments and fallacious moves. The emotions are reconstructed considering their distinct dimensions and persuasive uses, allowing both the critical analysis of the emotive aspect of messages, and the development of the capacity to generate emotions strategically

Learning objectives

a) Analyze and assess the argumentative structure of political discourse and advertising messages
b) Detect fallacies and deceiving messages
c) Understand the mechanisms interfering with critical thinking
d) Improve the interpretative and critical thinking skills

Transferrable Skills: Develop and attack arguments; defuse deceiving techniques; present information in a persuasive manner

Lectures

1. Argumentative dialogues and Ethos, Pathos, Logos
2. The commitments in dialogue, and their relationship to the speaker's image. The mechanisms for developing the ethos or attacking it
3. The structure of arguments
4. The types of evidence: How to distinguish and assess the probative force of evidence and detect fake news
5. Speech acts and the implicit dimension of messages
6. Generalizations and the related fallacies
7. The syllogism and the enthymeme: the representation of our deductive reasoning
8. Persuasive definition and the false dilemma
9. The structure of emotions
10. The use of authority in persuasion: Appeal to experts and ad hominem
11. Decision-making arguments. How we decide and how ads and political discourse interfere with our reasoning
12. Causal argument: What a cause is, and how it is used for persuasion
13. Analogy and its uses in advertising and politics