Understanding Argumentative Texts: Structure and Techniques
Argumentative Texts: Purpose and Function
The purpose of an argumentative text is to convince the interlocutor, employing a persuasive function that is inherently subjective. These texts are present in many different contexts, both written and oral.
Areas Where Argumentative Texts Are Found
- News Media: Articles, letters to the editor, editorials, critiques, debates, and round tables.
- Judicial Texts: Arguments produced by prosecutors and defense lawyers.
- Politics: Political rallies and advertising.
- Commercial: Advertisements and promotional materials.
- Military: Speeches and essays.
- Religious: Sermons.
The predominant genre is the essay, which can be literary, philosophical, historical, etc.
Elements and Organization of Argumentative Texts
Argumentative texts revolve around a controversial issue on which an opinion is expressed to persuade the audience. The essence of the argument is the thesis.
Premises: These are generally accepted principles that prepare the reasoning, often based on common sense and shared values like the right to life, respect for the plurality of opinions and cultures, freedom, and social justice.
Reasoning: A series of arguments are presented to prove the thesis. These can be accompanied by counterarguments (antithesis).
Structure
The structure of an argumentative text depends on the strategy of argumentation and the elements at hand:
- Deductive Structure: The thesis is presented at the beginning and immediately supported by arguments.
- Inductive Structure: The thesis is presented as the logical conclusion of the arguments. This structure often starts with weaker arguments and ends with the most influential ones.
Parts of an Argumentative Text
- Introduction: Introduces the topic and places it within a specific context (socio-cultural, historical, economic, etc.).
- Development: This is the body of the text, where the argumentative narrative unfolds. Arguments are presented to prove the thesis. These may be accompanied by citations, examples, anecdotes, or statistics to substantiate technical data.
- Conclusion: Briefly summarizes the issue and the main arguments, reaffirming the thesis. It is important to avoid an abrupt ending and instead provide a satisfactory conclusion.
Rational and Emotional Arguments
Two major mechanisms are used to influence the recipient:
- Rational Arguments: These include analogy (comparison), authority (reference to a work with prestige), quantity (more may seem more reasonable), quality (where quality, not quantity, is decisive), and utility (beauty, pleasure, etc.).
- Emotional Arguments: These are often used to elicit an emotional response from the audience, sometimes employing fallacious reasoning to achieve this goal.
Common Fallacies
Fallacies are illegitimate arguments that may sound convincing but are logically flawed. Some common fallacies include:
- Hasty generalizations
- False statements
- Ad hominem attacks (rejecting the person making the argument)
- Bandwagon fallacy (assuming something is good because many people adopt it)
- False dilemmas
- Equivocation (using words with multiple meanings)
- Manipulating citations
Rhetorical Techniques
Rhetorical techniques make the text more attractive and compelling. These include:
- Presenting the issuer or receiver in the text.
- Using a vocabulary of assumptions.
- Employing rhetorical devices like antithesis, paradox, irony, analogy, and metaphor.
- Using chiasmus (e.g., “to work to live or live to work”).
- Using interjections (e.g., “Phew!”).
- Changing linguistic register.
Modalization
Modalization refers to the presence of the issuer in the text. In argumentative texts, this is often expressed openly through the issuer’s evaluation of certain words, expressions, or constructions. This can indicate:
- Degree of certainty (evidence, security, probability, doubt, ignorance, falsehood).
- Degree of necessity or obligation.
- Quantitative assessment.
- Qualitative assessment.