Violence metaphors for cancer
Pragmatic and symptomatic arguments against
The use of violence metaphors for cancer has been widely criticised both in academic and non-academic contexts
(see Harrington, 2012; Semino et al., 2015).
Whereas previous research on violence metaphors for cancer has focused on the use and functions of these metaphors by and for
different stakeholder groups, no studies to date have examined the (various) arguments that are raised in public discourse that is
critical of said metaphors. Applying concepts from pragma-dialectical argumentation theory (Van Eemeren & Grootendorst, 1992), this paper sets out to analyse types of argumentation occurring in critical
public discussions of violence metaphors for cancer. Close argumentative analyses of actual discourse examples will be provided in
order to illustrate the differences between two types of argumentation in particular, i.e. pragmatic and symptomatic
argumentation.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Literature
- 3.The pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation
- 4.Case studies
- 4.1Pragmatic resistance
- 4.2Symptomatic resistance
- 5.Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
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Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Wackers, Dunja Y. M. & H. José Plug
2022.
Countering Undesirable Implications of Violence Metaphors for Cancer through Metaphor Extension.
Metaphor and Symbol 37:1
► pp. 55 ff.
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