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Persuasive Games in Political and Professional Dialogue
Edited by Răzvan Săftoiu, Maria-Ionela Neagu and Stanca Măda
[Dialogue Studies 26] 2015
► pp. 39–54

Pre-election TV debates – persuasive games between ethos, logos, and pathos

| University of Warsaw (Poland)
| University of Warsaw (Poland)
This article presents argumentation in pre-electoral TV debates. Three debate cycles are analyzed – in Poland (2010), Great Britain (2010), and the United States (2008). They represent an example of a ritual dispute marked by the format or rhetorical order – dispositio – governing the persuasive discourse taking place in the TV micro-situation. A macro-situation applies to the communication between politicians and electors which involves different argumentation. It can be divided into central (logos) and peripheral (pathos and ethos). The authors analyze these types of argumentation. What is more, a difference between ad rem, ad hominem and ad auditores arguments is described. The debate format as well as the factual/eristic argumentation techniques used to build one’s ethos are depicted.
Published online: 1 October 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.26.03bud
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2016. Confrontation and collaboration in the course of the election debate. Language and Dialogue 6:3 ► pp. 370 ff. DOI logo

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