Page 109 - Gabrijela Kišiček and Igor Ž. Žagar (eds.), What do we know about the world? Rhetorical and argumentative perspectives, Digital Library, Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana 2013
P. 109
Acts and Strategies of Defining 109
Fabrizio Macagno, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Summary
Definitions are not simply descriptions of meaning. They are acts that have different
purposes and conditions. They can be dialogical tools for altering and sometimes
manipulating the hearers’ commitments. They can be rhetorical instruments that
can lead the interlocutor to a specific decision. The concept of persuasive definition
captures the rhetorical dimension of the definitions of specific words, called “emo-
tive”. By modifying their meaning or the hierarchy of values that they are associated
with, the speaker can redirect the interlocutor’s attitudes towards a situation. From a
pragmatic perspective, the meaning of a word can be described in different fashions,
and be the content of different types of speech acts. Not only can the speaker remind
the audience of a shared meaning, or stipulate or advance a new one; he can also per-
form definitional acts by omitting definitions, or taking them for granted. These si-
lent acts are potentially mischievous, as they can be used to manipulate what the in-
terlocutors are dialogically bound to, altering the burden of proof. The implicit re-
definition represents the most powerful tactic for committing the interlocutor to a
meaning that he has not agreed upon, nor that can he accept.
Key words: definition; emotive language; persuasion strategies; speech act; implic-
it definition
A1. Introduction
ristotle defined the notion of definition (horismos) as a discourse,
or an expression (logos) signifying what a thing is, or rather, its
essence (Topics, 101b 31; Chiba, 2010) by indicating its genus and
its difference. However, he then pointed out that there can be other
types of “discourses” (apart from the genus-difference one) that fall un-
Fabrizio Macagno, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Summary
Definitions are not simply descriptions of meaning. They are acts that have different
purposes and conditions. They can be dialogical tools for altering and sometimes
manipulating the hearers’ commitments. They can be rhetorical instruments that
can lead the interlocutor to a specific decision. The concept of persuasive definition
captures the rhetorical dimension of the definitions of specific words, called “emo-
tive”. By modifying their meaning or the hierarchy of values that they are associated
with, the speaker can redirect the interlocutor’s attitudes towards a situation. From a
pragmatic perspective, the meaning of a word can be described in different fashions,
and be the content of different types of speech acts. Not only can the speaker remind
the audience of a shared meaning, or stipulate or advance a new one; he can also per-
form definitional acts by omitting definitions, or taking them for granted. These si-
lent acts are potentially mischievous, as they can be used to manipulate what the in-
terlocutors are dialogically bound to, altering the burden of proof. The implicit re-
definition represents the most powerful tactic for committing the interlocutor to a
meaning that he has not agreed upon, nor that can he accept.
Key words: definition; emotive language; persuasion strategies; speech act; implic-
it definition
A1. Introduction
ristotle defined the notion of definition (horismos) as a discourse,
or an expression (logos) signifying what a thing is, or rather, its
essence (Topics, 101b 31; Chiba, 2010) by indicating its genus and
its difference. However, he then pointed out that there can be other
types of “discourses” (apart from the genus-difference one) that fall un-
