An applied relevance theory of the making and understanding of rhetorical arguments

Abstract

This essay outlines an application of relevance theory in linguistic pragmatics to the field of rhetorica argument. According to Raskin and Weiser (1987, pp. 247-249), an application is accomplished when data, theories, and/or methods of a ‘source field’ are emptoyed to address problems in a ‘target field’, creating a ‘problem-oriented’ applied theory for the target field. The problem that this application is designed to address is the excessively rationalistic conception of the making and understanding-communication-of rhetorical arguments. Relevance theory is appealed to because it suggests how this rationalistic version of the conlmunication of rhetorical arguments might be exploded, rationality becoming only one dimension of the activity. The applied theory allows for multiple coincidental rclevances (strategic, rational, and worldly) during the communication of arguments, these relevances corresponding to horizons of awareness with regard to which arguments are made and understood. Such a theory represents an extension and an adjustment of the concept of relevance in linguistic pragmatics for the needs and purposes of rhetorical argurl~erlt. The communication of rhetorical ar~unlents becomes not exclusively a matter of implying and inferring that utterances lend support to or prove claims. The activity includes-when arguments arc maximally relevant-people’s awareness of how arguments serve to achieve ends and satisfy motivations. The effect of this inclusive version of coincidental rhetorical rclevances on argument theory is salutary. Problems created by an implausible rationalistic bias arc avoided, and the theory of the communication of rhetorical argumer~ts comes closer to accounting for what has been observed to concern participants in everyday argument.