Open AccessJustifying a recommendation: tell a story or present an argument?
Author(s) -
P.J. van den Hoven
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
res rhetorica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2392-3113
DOI - 10.29107/rr2017.4.2
Subject(s) - argumentative , argument (complex analysis) , presentation (obstetrics) , rationality , narrative , position (finance) , face (sociological concept) , epistemology , sociology , computer science , aesthetics , linguistics , philosophy , social science , economics , medicine , chemistry , biochemistry , finance , radiology
In the deliberative genre there is a complex ‘playground’ of choices to present a recommendation; a rhetorician has to determine his or her position. Relevant dimensions are the coerciveness of the recommendation and the strength of its justification, but also the presentation format, varying from prototypical narrative to prototypical argumentative. In different contexts this playground seems to be exploited in different ways and employed with different intensity. It is argued that this can best be understood in terms of different ideas about the management of the audience’s face and in terms of different concepts of rationality thatprevail in specific socio-cultural contexts.