Stages of Argumentative Dialogue
Argumentative dialogues (refer to 20241028171128-Types_of_Argumentative_Dialogue) come in stages (Walton 2008, 8):
From “Argument as Reasoned Dialogue¨ in Informal Logic
The three stages are (Walton 2008, 8-10):
- Opening stage, wherein the participants should agree to, or indicate their willingness to, “engage in a particular type of dialogue¨ and wherein the “rules of the dialogue¨ are made “as clear as possible to the participants.¨ In addition, “the issue of the dialogue must be announced, agreed upon, or clarified.¨
- Argumentation stage or middle stage, wherein “each side puts forward its arguments to defend its view, and also put forward criticisms and objections to the other party’s view.¨ In the process, any “participant has an obligation to make a serious effort to fulfill his own goal in the dialogue¨ as well as “to allow the other party to fulfill his obligation.¨ Hence, “the goal of the dialogue must be carried out by the appropriate methods.¨
- Closing stage, wherein “the goal of the dialogue has been fulfilled, or where the participants agree the dialogue can end.¨ A fundamental expectation is that “[a] participant should not try to opt out illicitly just because things do not seem to be going his way.¨
The dialogue rules that are set out in the opening stage of argumentative dialogue can be of 4 types (Walton 2008, 9):
- Locution rules that “state the kinds of speech acts or locutions¨ that are allowed in the dialogue.
- Dialogue rules that “specify turn-taking¨ and “when participants are allowed or required to advance locutions.¨
- Commitment rules that “specify how each type of locution leads to commitments on the part of a participant.¨
- Strategic rules that “determine what sequence of locutions constitutes fulfillment of the goal of the dialogue¨
logic informal_logic communication_theory argumentation_theory argumentative_dialogue reason reasoning locutions locution linguistics pragmatics turn-taking rules procedure argumentation
bibliography
- “Argument as Reasoned Dialogue.” In Informal Logic: A Pragmatic Approach, 2nd ed., 2–37. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.