oa De analyse van strategisch manoeuvreren met pragmatische argumenten

The analysis of strategic manoeuvring with pragmatic arguments

This article examines how strategic maneuvering with an argument can be analyzed systematically. According to Van Eemeren (2010), strategic maneuvering takes place in the discussion as a whole, in each discussion stage, but also in each individual discussion move, such as providing an argument. This article gives an overview of the steps to be taken in analyzing strategic maneuvering and offers a method for analyzing the maneuvering with an argument. It is argued that maneuvering with arguments can be analyzed more precisely with the help of the argument scheme. Pragmatic argumentation is used as an example. The maneuvering is described by examining which choices have been made with respect to the three aspects of strategic maneuvering in concretizing the central premise in the scheme, in this case ‘Action X leads to desirable consequence Y’. As an example, the article provides an analysis of maneuvering with pragmatic arguments in the British vaccination brochure Arm against cervical cancer. Your guide to the HPV vaccination (2012). The analysis shows how the maneuvering helps to create a much more positive image of the (effects of the) vaccination than is justified. With the method presented here, strategic maneuvering can be described much more systematically and precisely and potential rhetorical effects can be better explained.