Rhetoric, Argumentation and Philosophy

Recommended Prerequisites

Command of Portuguese language.

Ability to consult bibliography in English.

Teaching Methods

Theoretic / pratical classes: lessons followed by debate (40%); reading, commentary and discussion of texts previously selected (30%); written and oral presentations, by the students, followed by debate (30%).

Assessment

According to the Rules of Assessement of the Faculty of Letters (Regulamento de Avaliação de Conhecimentos do 2º Ciclo).

Learning Outcomes

Students shall be able:

a) To distinguish and characterize the several types of approaches to rhetoric and argumentation from ancient Greece to nowadays, bearing in mind, specially, the status of philosophy;

b) To contextualize historically and philosophically the emergence and development of the main contemporary theories on thetoric and argumentation;

c) To apply creatively and critically the above mentioned competencies to some of the most important problems of the contemporary societies.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1.Historical synopsis: rhetoric and argumentation in the history of occidental philosophy (from Plato and Aristotle to present days)

2.The conflict beteween rhetoric and argumentation, on the one hand, and philosophy, on the other hand; presuppositions and implications;

3.The rhetorical and argumentative paradigm in the 20^th century and the status of philosophy;

3.1.Chaïm Perelman / Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca, and Stephen Toulmin;

3.2.   The historical divide between rhetoric and argumentation;

3.3.The philosophical approach to argumentation in comparison with others (linguistics, sociology, law theory, etc.);

4.The new contemporary schools of rhetoric and argumentation theory and the status of philosophy.

Head Lecturer(s)

Henrique Carlos Jales Ribeiro

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Research work: 100.0%

Bibliography

Eemeren, F. H. van et al (1996). Fundamentals of Argumentation theory: A Handbook of Historical Backgrounds and Contemporary Developments, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate. 

Eemeren, F. H. van, & Grootedorst, R. (2004). A Sistematic Theory of Argumentation: The Pragma-Dialectical Approach, Cambridge: CUP. 

Johnson, R. (1996). The Rise of Informal Logic: Essays on Argumentation, Critical Thinking, Reasoning and Politics, NewporNews, Virginia: Vale Press. 

Perelman, C., & Olbrechts-Tyteca, L. (1958). Traité de l’argumentation: La nouvelle rhétorique, Paris: PUF.

Ribeiro, H. J. (ed.) (2009). Rhetoric and Argumentation in the Beginning of the XXIst century, Coimbra: Coimbra University Press. 

Toulmin, S. (1958). The Uses of Argument, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.