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Part of
Contextualizing Pragma-Dialectics
Edited by Frans H. van Eemeren and Peng Wu
[Argumentation in Context 12] 2017
► pp. 225–254

Chapter 13
Strategic maneuvering by personal attacks at press conferences of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Personal attack/ad hominem viewed from different theoretical perspectives
  • 3.Institutional preconditions for strategic maneuvering by personal attack in spokespersons’ argumentative replies
  • 4.Personal attacks in spokespersons’ replies
    • 4.1Direct personal attacks
      • 4.1.1 Attacking the person by accusation of bad character
      • 4.1.2Attacking the person by accusation of bad faith
      • 4.1.3Attacking the person by accusation of low intelligence
      • 4.1.4Attacking the person for lacking expertise
    • 4.2 Indirect personal attacks
      • 4.2.1Attacking the person by accusation of suspicious motives
      • 4.2.2Attacking the person by ascribing suspicious interests
    • 4.3 You too personal attacks
      • 4.3.1Inconsistency between someone’s words and actions
      • 4.3.2Inconsistency between someone’s past and present actions
      • 4.3.3Inconsistency between someone’s previous and present words
      • 4.3.4Just words but no actions
  • 5.Strategic maneuvering by personal attacks in making a convincing case
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aic.12.13wu
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Liu, Donghong
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[no author supplied]
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