DISSOCIATION in REASONING and ARGUMENTATION by Takuzo
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by D-Scholarship@Pitt DISSOCIATION IN REASONING AND ARGUMENTATION by Takuzo Konishi BA in Literature, Waseda University, 1994 Master of Arts in Communication, Wayne State University, 1999 Master of Arts in Philosophy, University of Windsor, 2000 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Takuzo Konishi It was defended on February 20, 2014 and approved by John Lyne, Professor, Department of Communication E. Johanna Hartelius, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Nicholas Rescher, Professor, Department of Philosophy Merrilee H. Salmon, Emeritus Professor, Department of Philosophy Dissertation Advisor: Gordon R. Mitchell, Associate Professor, Department of Communication ii Copyright © by Takuzo Konishi 2014 iii DISSOCIATION IN REASONING AND ARGUMENTATION Takuzo Konishi, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 This dissertation inquires into the nature of dissociation – a maneuver through which a single entity is subdivided and arranged according to a hierarchy – as proposed by Chaim Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca. Drawing on their New Rhetoric Project, Perelman’s regressive philosophy, and research on argumentation schemes, I develop ways of conceptualizing, analyzing, and appraising dissociation as it is utilized in reasoning and argument in natural language. I first examine Chaim Perelman’s regressive philosophy to better situate argumentation in relation to demonstration, then delineate the Project’s framework of argumentation as constituted by a speaker, an audience, and an argumentative discourse. Argumentation is defined here as a symbolic act increasing audience members’ epistemic adherence to a thesis, based on their adherence to the premise and the scheme’s changing of their “level of adherence.” Additionally, I conceptualize dissociation in relation to association, breaking links, and what I call “re-confirming connecting links.” In the process of conceptualization, I defend the position that dissociation and three other categories of argument contain, but are not reducible to, argumentation schemes proper. Based on the four-partite category of argument and the premise-scheme-thesis structure, I analyze eight examples of dissociation and validate the notion that dissociation makes use of various argumentation schemes proper in advancing definitive theses, subdividing an entity, and arranging the subdivided entities according to a hierarchy. Building upon the analysis of dissociation, I explore iv ways in which to appraise dissociation by incorporating regressive philosophy, critical questions, and universal audience. Principles of regressive philosophy remind the critic that argumentation challenges the totality of experience in the rhetorical situation, never achieves certainty, and leaves room for revision. Critical questions address specific points that dissociation must answer in order to count as a “cogent” argument. The universal audience, anchored in particular audience members, must be constructed to maintain the balance between normative orientations of appraisal as well as realistic expectations of the rhetorical situation. Besides advancing our understanding of dissociation, this dissertation contributes to a richer understanding of the New Rhetoric Project, defends relativism in argumentation, and emphasizes the significance of production as well as appraisal of argument. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ..................................................................................................................................... X 1.0INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE ..................................................... 3 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE ......................... 25 1.3 OVERVIEW OF CHAPTER STRUCTURE .................................................. 29 2.0ARGUMENTATION IN THE NEW RHETORIC PROJECT ......................................... 32 2.1 CHAIM PERELMAN’S THEORY OF JUSTICE, PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY, REGRESSIVE PHILOSOPHY AND LEGAL STUDIES ................. 32 2.2 THE FRAMEWORK OF ARGUMENTATION AND COMPONENTS OF AN ARGUMENT ................................................................................................................ 40 2.3 OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES ........................................................................ 55 2.4 SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER ................................................................... 57 3.0CLASSIFYING ARGUMENTATION SCHEMES IN THE NEW RHETORIC PROJECT .................................................................................................................................... 61 3.1 ARGUMENT, REASONING, REASONING/ARGUMENTATION SCHEMES ........................................................................................................................... 62 3.2 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CLASSIFYING REASONING AND ARGUMENTATION SCHEMES ..................................................................................... 66 vi 3.3 TYPES OF ARGUMENT ACCORDING TO THE AUDIENCE MEMBERS’ ADHERENCE .............................................................................................. 69 3.4 OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES ........................................................................ 80 3.5 SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER ................................................................... 87 4.0DISSOCIATION RECONFIGURED .................................................................................. 92 4.1 ASSOCIATION AND DISSOCIATION CLASSIFIED AND CONCEPTUALIZED ........................................................................................................ 92 4.2 USES OF DISSOCIATION IN REASONING AND ARGUMENT ............. 99 4.3 ARGUMENTATION SCHEMES USED IN DISSOCIATION .................. 122 4.4 OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES ...................................................................... 128 4.5 SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER ................................................................. 135 5.0THE NEW RHETORICAL APPRAISAL OF DISSOCIATION ................................... 139 5.1 SIGNIFICANCE AND THE CURRENT STATE OF THEORY AND PRACTICE OF APPRAISAL OF ARGUMENT ......................................................... 140 5.2 ANCHORED CONSTRUCTION OF AUDIENCE AND HEALTHY RELATIVISM IN THE NEW RHETORICAL FRAMEWORK OF APPRAISING ARGUMENT .................................................................................................................... 147 5.3 PRINCIPLES OF APPRAISING DISSOCIATION IN THE NEW RHETORICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................... 156 5.4 APPRAISING DISSOCIATIVE ARGUMENTS ......................................... 165 5.5 REPLIES TO RITIVOI’S CONTEXTUALISM .......................................... 183 5.6 SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER ................................................................. 187 6.0CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 190 vii 6.1 ANSWERS TO RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................. 190 6.2 ADDITIONAL FINDINGS ............................................................................. 193 6.2.1 Contributions to the New Rhetoric Project ............................................... 193 6.2.2 Defense of healthy relativism ...................................................................... 196 6.2.3 Relationship between appraisal and production of argument ................ 198 6.3 LIMITS OF THE CURRENT RESEARCH ................................................. 201 6.4 AGENDA FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ........................................................ 202 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 206 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Different types of premises used in argumentation ....................................................... 50 Figure 2. Different types of theses used in argumentation ........................................................... 52 Figure 3. Controversial thesis without premise and argumentation scheme ................................ 53 Figure 4. Controversial thesis and acceptable premise ................................................................. 54 Figure 5. Acceptable thesis and premise and the argumentation scheme ..................................... 54 Figure 6. Four categories of arguments ........................................................................................ 73 Figure 7. Summary of four categories of arguments .................................................................... 74 Figure 8. Elements of dissociation ................................................................................................ 94 Figure 9. Association and dissociation and their subcategories ................................................... 97 Figure 10. Summary of the example arguments ......................................................................... 126 Figure 11. Dissociation and its subcategories ............................................................................. 127 ix PREFACE It was