Online Speaker Series on Argumentation
Lecture 1: Pragmatics for argumentation (3rd, March, China time: 18:00-19:30)
Speaker: Steve Oswald (English Department, University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
Abstract: The relationship between argumentation and language has recently attracted a great deal of attention through various publications in the field of argumentation studies (see e.g., Boogaart et al., 2021; Hinton, 2021; Oswald et al., 2018, 2020). In this talk I propose a historical overview of this relationship by narrowing the scope of my inquiry onto the various ways in which argumentation studies, over the last 50 years, have drawn on research in the field of linguistic pragmatics, which I will limit here to its speech act-theoretic and inferential traditions, respectively based on the seminal groundwork of Austin and Grice (Austin, 1962; Grice, 1989).
I will first discuss various points of contact between the two disciplines, as they have been put forth by researchers in argumentation over time. I will accordingly consider (i) the proximity between objects of study, (ii) a range of concepts overlapping between the two disciplines, (iii) available bi-disciplinary methodological options, and (iv) extant theoretical integrations. In the second part of my talk, I will examine current work at the interface of argumentation and pragmatics and reflect, with some examples, on promising future directions which demonstrate that the research potential of this interface is far from being exhausted.
Bio: Steve OSWALD is Senior Lecturer in the English Department, University of Fribourg, and Lecturer at the Institute of English Studies, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. His current research, which is broadly concerned with the relationship between language and cognition and mainly covers issues in argumentation theory and pragmatics, is situated at the interface between (cognitive) pragmatics, linguistics, cognitive psychology, argumentation theory and discourse analysis. He has published widely in numerous international peer-reviewed journals and has won several reserach projects. Among others, he is the vice-chair of the European Network for Argumentation and Public Policy Analysis (APPLY, 2018-2023, COST Action, funded by Horizon 2020). For more details, see https://sites.google.com/view/steveoswald
Chair: Frank Zenker (Nankai University)
Lecture Link:
https://meeting.tencent.com/dm/FNI6WfkbN1Y3
Code: 2333
Talks are streamed using Tencent's VOOV Meeting software. To join online, please download the VOOV app and create a free account at: https://voovmeeting.com/download-center.html
The local audience meets at the College of Philosophy, Nankai University, room 318.
