Page 58 - 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. 58
What Do We Know about the World? worry (-)
worry (+)
pneumonia a cold
uu
Let us now change the argumentative variables in (10) and (11). In-
stead of at best/at worst, we shall use even in (10’) and (11’), which results
in:
AB
(10’) This is a cold, even a flu. > Take care!
AB
(11’) *This is pneumonia, even a flu. > Take care!
In accordance with our (i.e. Ducrot’s) definitions of the weak and
strong application of topoi, the introduction of the argumentative vari-
able even changes (inverses) the force of the arguments (B is now repre-
sented as stronger than A), and with this also the argumentative orienta-
tion itself! From the argument This is a cold, even a flu, we can no longer
conclude Don’t worry, but only Take care. Which entirely complies with
the negative argumentative scale of worry (-) – as well as with our gen-
eral knowledge of the world – where flu occupies a lower position than
a cold, thus being closer to the cause of worry since the scale is negative.
That our claim about the decisive role (of the choice) of the argu-
mentative variable is not exaggerated is demonstrated by the “transform-
ation” of example (11). What happens to example (11) after we change
the variable? To a “flu” (which occupies a lower position than pneu-
monia on the positive argumentative scale of worry (+)) the mere pres-
ence of even in the utterance, i.e. the argumentative orientation inher-
ent to even, assigns the value of the stronger argument, thus leading to
the conclusion Take care. Namely, the argumentative orientation inher-
ent to even does not allow the argument following it to be weaker than
the one preceding it; on the contrary, the argument introduced by even
(i.e. the argument following the (argumentative) variable even), is repre-
worry (+)
pneumonia a cold
uu
Let us now change the argumentative variables in (10) and (11). In-
stead of at best/at worst, we shall use even in (10’) and (11’), which results
in:
AB
(10’) This is a cold, even a flu. > Take care!
AB
(11’) *This is pneumonia, even a flu. > Take care!
In accordance with our (i.e. Ducrot’s) definitions of the weak and
strong application of topoi, the introduction of the argumentative vari-
able even changes (inverses) the force of the arguments (B is now repre-
sented as stronger than A), and with this also the argumentative orienta-
tion itself! From the argument This is a cold, even a flu, we can no longer
conclude Don’t worry, but only Take care. Which entirely complies with
the negative argumentative scale of worry (-) – as well as with our gen-
eral knowledge of the world – where flu occupies a lower position than
a cold, thus being closer to the cause of worry since the scale is negative.
That our claim about the decisive role (of the choice) of the argu-
mentative variable is not exaggerated is demonstrated by the “transform-
ation” of example (11). What happens to example (11) after we change
the variable? To a “flu” (which occupies a lower position than pneu-
monia on the positive argumentative scale of worry (+)) the mere pres-
ence of even in the utterance, i.e. the argumentative orientation inher-
ent to even, assigns the value of the stronger argument, thus leading to
the conclusion Take care. Namely, the argumentative orientation inher-
ent to even does not allow the argument following it to be weaker than
the one preceding it; on the contrary, the argument introduced by even
(i.e. the argument following the (argumentative) variable even), is repre-
