Rational Discourse Research Articles

Shifting from Post-Truth to Truth in Jonathan Lichtenstein’s The Pull of Negative Gravity

The concept of post-truth, popularised especially in 2016, exerts its influence across various areas from everyday life to diplomatic relations. Although its use and examination have notably increased in the last decade, the concept was used in the early years of the twenty-first century. For instance, during the 2003 Iraq War, both politicians and the ordinary public as well used this concept and produced both pro-war and anti-war post-truth discourses. Additionally, playwrights have represented post-truth discourses in their plays, both challenging prevailing political discourses and conveying their own messages through theatrical productions. One of these works, which scrutinise the post-truth discourses regarding the Iraq War, is Jonathan Lichtenstein’s play The Pull of Negative Gravity staged at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh in 2004 and published by Nick Hern Books in the same year. The play deals with the financial, familial and psychological difficulties of a Welsh farming family who sends one of their members to the Iraq War. The soldier’s experience of war and military service is glorified through post-truth narratives prior to his return from Iraq. However, upon his paralysed return from the war, the family members are compelled to face the undeniable realities, and all those positive discourses are replaced by factual truths. Thus, the play conveys to its audience/reader the message that emotionally-charged post- truth imaginations can be challenged through visible and objective realities. Considering such. Considering such viewpoints, the objective of this article is to examine both how Lichtenstein’s play unveils the post-truth discourses in the society concerning the Iraq War, and the strategy it follows to contend with such discourses.

Motivational discourse and campaign-style mobilisation: A positive discourse analysis of language poverty alleviation discourse in China.

Many studies have investigated language poverty related to aspects of economic assistance, water scarcity, gender inequality, climate change, etc. However, a focus on language policy discourse has been lacking. Language policy discourse is vital because it can be deemed as preliminary to language poverty alleviation action, influencing the success of its implementation. To fill this gap, this study employed positive discourse analysis to investigate discursive strategies used in the discourse of language poverty alleviation in Chinese language policies. The finding shows that through four main discursive strategies-nomination, argumentation, perspectivisation, and predication-official documents concerning language poverty alleviation constructed motivational discourse and applied campaign-style mobilisation to encourage people to follow the implementation of language poverty alleviation. This study sheds light on the official purpose of using certain discursive strategies in language poverty alleviation discourse and some ideological implications behind it and sets an example of the popularisation of official languages to tackle poverty alleviation from a linguistic perspective for other countries/regions.

Explanatory Value of Reason in Public Space: Use and Misuse in Political Speech

In this article, the concept of communicative rationality and its practical application in public debates will be explored. Focusing on the importance of the communicative treatment of reason, validity, and its practical implications, the article critically examines Jürgen Habermas's theory of communicative action and its ethical elements. The potential difficulties of bridging the gap between theory and practice are highlighted by discussing the distinction between theoretical discourse and discursive practice. Through an analysis of Habermas' approach, the paper aims to improve public discourse quality and understand how communicative reason works in practical terms. It considers the pragmatic context of communicative action, the importance of claiming validity, and the process of validating. It discusses the concept of communicative reason in the context of concrete instances of communication, such as public discussion. It emphasizes the importance of communicative reason and the pursuit of the common good in promoting productive discussion and compromise.

‘Please don’t insult Dog. He is a loyal friend!’ The use of animal metaphors for evaluation and positioning on a Chinese Political Web Forum

This study focuses on how animal metaphors are deployed by Chinese social media users to evaluate others and negotiate social positioning in online grassroots political discourse. Animal metaphors are important devices for expressing judgement of human behaviour. This is due, first, to perceived similarities and differences between humans and (other) animals and, second, due to the ‘Great Chain’ idea of human superiority and dominance over animals. Animal metaphors are commonly deployed in communication that is interpersonally volatile, such as on social media, regardless of what language this occurs in. Through an analysis of the interpersonal systems of appraisal and involvement, we found that contributors often adopt highly charged animal metaphors to negatively evaluate each other and to create and maintain a left-right political division.

Deliberators’ Awareness of Attitude Transformation

The significance of deliberators’ awareness of attitude transformation can be derived directly from deliberative democracy theory, but the issue has received little attention in research. This paper is an attempt to synthesize literature on factors influencing this awareness into a heuristic that can guide further inquiry. Conceptualizing learning as a fundamental mechanism through which attitudes are influenced during deliberation, either consciously or subconsciously, this heuristic stipulates that the level of awareness of any transformation is enhanced by overt persuasion in accordance with communicative rationality, and lowered, first, by various subconscious biases prompted in dialogue settings, and, second, by certain forms of calculated manipulation of deliberators. For illustrative purposes, the paper also presents a few more tangible, if tentative, observations from two small Swedish citizen dialogues that exemplify how design of deliberation may interact with factors influencing awareness of attitude transformation in real-life settings. More specifically, the observations suggest that ‘hot’ dialogues addressing well-defined and conflictual policy choices may favor awareness, while ‘colder’ consensus-oriented dialogues on broader issues might make participants less aware.

The Premises of Kalām in Rational Discussions according to Fakḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī

Kelâm disiplininde ispatın ne olduğuna dair bir açıklama, kendinden önceki gelenekleri metodoloji açısından bir değerlendirmeye tabi tutan Fahreddin er-Râzî tarafından gündeme getirilmiştir. Kitâbü’l-Erbâ‘în’in son bölümündeki sunuma göre kelâmın aklî konuları ispatta kullandığı üç temel öncül bulunmaktadır. Bunlar nefy-ispat, kemal-noksan ve vücup-imkân öncülleridir. Fahreddin er-Râzî nefy ve ispat öncülünü, tasavvur ve tasdik kavramlarıyla doğrudan ilişkili olarak inceler. Kemâl ve noksan öncülü, kemâl sıfatlarının Allah hakkında zorunlu olduğu, noksan sıfatlarının ise Allah’tan nefyedilmesi gerektiğini ortaya koyar. Vücup ve imkân öncülü ise akıl sahiplerinin akıllarının ulaştığı son noktadır. Râzî’nin felsefe-kelâm arasını birleştirme gayretleri, İbn Sînâ’nın açıklamaları çerçevesinde bu öncül bağlamında ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu çalışmada Râzî’nin el-Erba‘în eserinde özet olarak belirttiği öncüller, diğer eserlerinde önce çıkan bazı açıklamalar ve bağlamlar dikkate alınarak değerlendirilecek ve Râzî’nin bu öncülleri başlıca hangi kelâmî bağlamlarda kullandığı tespit edilmeye çalışılacaktır. Râzî’nin külliyatı çok geniş bir yelpazeyi kapsadığı için, İslam bilimlerine bütüncül bakış açısını sergilediği Mefâtîhü’l-Gayb’ındaki yorumlarına özel atıflarda bulunulacaktır. Çalışma konusu, Râzî'nin klasik kelâmın yöntemine getirdiği eleştirilerin bir somut örneğini sunması açısından, özellikle İslamî ilimler metodolojisi konusundaki araştırmalara bir katkı olarak değerlendirilebilir. Çalışmada sonuç olarak Râzî'nin kelâm eleştirisini sadece bir tarih okuması düzeyinde bırakmayarak, klasik kelâmı önermeler eşliğinde yapısal olarak incelediği görülmüştür. Râzî bu adımı, yazdığı tefsir ile tüm naklî ve aklî bilimleri ilahî vahye bağlayarak tamamlamıştır.

Conflict Resolution through Communication: Habermasian Study of Pinter’s The Homecoming

In his Communicative Action Theory, Habermas argues that it is possible to achieve an innovative rationality which has the ability to resolve social conflicts and reach consensus and mutual understanding through communicative action. This ‘communicative rationality’ rests on intersubjective recognition of Habrmasian three ‘validity claims’: Truth, Rightness, and Truthfulness. Based on this classification and drawing on critical-qualitative research into Pinter’s The Homecoming, this paper examines the speech acts of the characters in this play to see if they are able to redeem their criticisable validity claims discursively in their familial context. The conclusion which is drawn here is that ‘emancipation’ can be achieved through ‘communicative rationality’ only if all the members of family and, on a larger scale, all members of society have an equal share of power; and, ‘communicative action’ can be possible even through silence, monologues, and deformed dialogues which are Pinter’s unique style in composing theatrical dialogues. Keywords: Habermas, Pinter, The Homecoming, Communicative rationality, Communicative action.

The Rhetoric of Reason: Language in Benjamin Fondane

Abstract: Lev Shestov considers all discourse rhetorical. His work denounces rationalist discourse as an imposture that denies its own appeal to irrational impulses. Fondane’s poetry betrays the same consciousness of rhetoric: while it does not have a persuasive function per se, it involves circuits of address and oratorical concerns. In Fondane, there is a subjectivist tendency at work: selfhood can never be set aside. Fondane locates the self and the passions at the heart of all speech, denouncing philosophy’s pretensions to dispassionate, objective, “rational” discourse.

Dichotomization as a Basis of Positive Communication Analysis in an Intercultural Context

The aim of the paper is to investigate the constituent features and mechanisms of positive communication and reveal their correlation with politeness. The study is based on a mixed-method research design including Positive Discourse Analysis, dichotomic division and conversational analysis, and is carried out on the material of the book The Family by Nina Fedorova (1940). The results indicate that the dichotomy positive vs negative attitude is basic for the study and implements the contrast between good and evil, ethical and unethical behaviour. The juxtaposition of attraction vs disattraction refers to the perception of an interlocutor as likable or unlikable. The dichotomy activism vs passivism reflects the willingness or unwillingness to interact, while communication involvement vs alienation is associated with the communicator's engagement in the interlocutor's affairs. The juxtaposition of alterocentrism vs egocentrism indicates whether a communicator is focused on one's own or other people's interests. The dichotomy social support vs social indifference is a reflection of empathy or its absence. In the dichotomy constructive vs destructive communication creative behaviour aimed at resolving a difficult situation is opposed to destructive actions leading to the deterioration or break-up of a relationship. One of the most important constituents of positive communication is congruency which denotes authenticity and correspondence of the person's genuine inner self with the image addressed to the outer world. Positive communication is intrinsically linked with, though not identical to, politeness. The latter does not act as an aim per se, but is rather a tool employed to make an interaction conflict-free, smooth and harmonious.

Positive Discourse Analysis of the Presidential Rhetoric at the G20 Summit 2022 in Bali, Indonesia

Abstract. This study aims to uncover the utilization of positive discourse in presidential rhetoric during the G20 Summit 2022. This qualitative study employs a dataset of speeches delivered by the President of Indonesia, obtained from the official website of The Secretary of the Cabinet of the Republic of Indonesia. The speeches were published online between November 14 and 16, 2022. The procedures involve examining the speeches, identifying positive language, categorizing the data into three main themes (i.e., uniting, being optimistic, and maintaining world peace), analyzing rhetorical strategies and interpreting the data using the Positive Discourse Analysis approach. The results show that the President of Indonesia encourages all countries to unite to achieve common goals. Despite a severe toll on the world economy after the pandemic, he spreads optimism to the summit. He also persuades everyone to maintain world peace. These three focal points are conveyed by utilizing personal pronouns ‘we’ to strengthen the sense of collectivity and build unity and ‘I’ to highlight his good leadership quality. Justification for the negative impacts of war is expressed through conditional clauses. Other discursive strategies in his rhetoric include using lexical choices, parallel structures, modals, metaphors, rhetorical questions, and repetitive phrases. The encouragement and uplifting messages in the speeches may boost positive vibes in the meeting. The use of rhetorical techniques can impact international relations, economic cooperation, and how people worldwide work together to address common issues.Keywords: Positive Discourse Analysis, president, indonesia, G20, summit

The politics of piety: Muslim self-fashioning in Pakistani cricketers’ autobiographies

ABSTRACT This article offers a pioneering exploration of the cultural politics of Muslim self-fashioning in the autobiographies of three Pakistani cricketers. It examines the autobiographies of Javed Miandad, Shoaib Akhtar, and Mushtaq Ahmed, and proposes that the very assertions of the players’ Muslim identity have the potential to serve as counter discourses vis-à-vis the racist and Islamophobic perspectives on Pakistan and its cricketing cultures. It further demonstrates that the cultural politics of these religious discourses are contingent on the nature of the particular texts’ engagement with certain Eurocentric conceptions of modernity. It argues that the autobiographies of Miandad and Akhtar have counterhegemonic implications in that the references to divine intervention and divine will serve to construct partially non-modern cricketing subjectivities that form a counterpoint to the normative status of rational and/or technological discourses in modern cricket. The article further argues that certain forms of Muslim self-fashioning assume regressive, Occidentalist overtones. Such an ‘othering’ of Western modernity is explicated with reference to the autobiography of Mushtaq Ahmed. By examining the heterogenous cultural politics of religious discourses found in these texts, the article underscores the complex ways in which the non-Western cricketing discourses engage with the predominantly Eurocentric semiotics of the contemporary sport.

Creating equitable spaces for all learners: Transforming classrooms through biography-driven instructional conversations

This paper employs positive discourse analysis to explore the discourse practices of grade-level teachers at a diverse elementary school. It examines how discourse was used to invite and nurture learners’ willingness to share about and maximize the sociocultural and linguistic dimensions of their biographies. Two episodes of instructional conversation are used to illustrate how formal text properties of instructional conversations as well as social practices of the classroom influenced discourse and instantiated culturally responsive/sustaining pedagogy. Among findings, the discourse was found to position students as knowledgeable and capable, with use of mediation tools and teachers’ situational responsiveness emerging as pivotal instructional practices. Results highlighted the benefits of biography-driven discourse for culturally and linguistically diverse learners and illustrated the potential of positive discourse analysis to advance social transformation.

Hierophany and Sport

A deeper understanding of sport cannot remain only in rational discourse that transforms reality into quantified data but must descend into philosophical areas that also accept the multiple figurativeness of symbols. By means of not literal but metaphorical truthfulness, sport can then be examined as a potential space of hierophany, that is, the manifestation of the sacred in the sphere of the profane. The paper argues in favor of the thesis that a more precise description of hierophany can highlight the difference between the presentation and representation of the sacred. While the physical activities that were part of the religious cult of archaic societies can be considered hierophanies in the mode of presentation (making present) of the sacred, no such direct parallel can be drawn for modern sport. Sport can be seen through the lens of implicit religion as a representation (an agency), not a presentation of the sacred.

THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL FACT:
 MAIN RESEARCH APPROACHES

Social fact is a complex multidimensional phenomenon that has recently attracted
 the attention of social scientists. The essence of social fact cannot be explained within the
 framework of only one theory. The article analyses the nature of social fact within the framework
 of classical and non-classical social knowledge, as well as modern theories of structuration by
 E. Giddens, communicative rationality by P. Bourdieu, the theory of speech acts by J. Searle,
 and the concept of social ontology by B. Epstein. The problem of hypostasising concepts and the
 phenomenon of relativistic social ontology are considered. It is concluded that it is necessary to
 develop intersubjective forms of explanation of social facts and to overcome psychologisation
 and individualisation of social theories.

DARI KRITIS KE TINDAKAN KOMUNIKATIF

DARI KRITIS KE TINDAKAN KOMUNIKATIF

Интеграция информации как фактор порождения семантически осложнённых предложений в разговорной речи

The article conducts a multidimensional study of two semantically condensed evaluation sentences specific for everyday colloquial speech: N1 – (это) Adv-o and Adv – (не) значит Adv. In colloquial speech, the subject of the conversation is most often not described, but evaluated by the participants of the social interaction, and this assessment, as a rule, does not need motivation. Statements constructed according to the models N 1 – (это) Adv-o and Adv – (не) значит Adv are necessary and possible precisely in colloquial speech due to the speaker’s lack of striving for the accuracy of the expression of thought. In everyday communication, there is a tendency to implicit meanings due to the conceptual integration of information. The generation of these axiological statements turns out to be a socially significant speech fact, since it reflects the desire of the members of the speech community to express folk wisdom. This phenomenon is dualistic: on the one hand, it reflects the speaker’s unconscious desire to compress information, on the other, it is associated with the creative transformation of the reality surrounding the addressee, the identification of connections and relationships between fragments of reality. During this complex mental process, the speaker identifies and evaluates the most important fragments of reality and synthesizes the results of these mental operations in the form of a semantically complex structure. The sentences we study arise as a result of the integration of information, occupy strong positions in everyday discourse and hlp the addressee formulate generalizing conclusions and maxims. The integration of thoughts, in turn, contributes to the development of the language, since it increases the amount of transmitted information per unit of time.

Discursive Strategies Utilized in King Abdullah II's Speeches during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Addressing the Nation

While several researchers have investigated the linguistic features of Presidential and Royal speeches, there is a gap in the literature regarding discursive strategies used in the speeches of Presidents and Monarchs during crises. The study aims at identifying the main discursive strategies used by His Majesty King Abdullah II in addressing Jordanians during COVID-19. Therefore, the study adopted the Positive Discourse Analysis approach (PDA) to investigate the usage of discursive strategies in three speeches of King Abdullah II during COVID-19. The study revealed that the King used nomination, prediction, argumentation, perspectivization and intensification, and mitigation strategies in appeasing Jordanians and conveying his directives to the government regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Technology and older adults in British loneliness policy and political discourse.

This article provides an analysis of recent loneliness policy and political discourses from the United Kingdom pertaining to older adults. Although government asserts that several groups in society are "at risk" of loneliness, older adults remain the most frequent targets of policy interventions. Technology is positioned as playing a role in the causation and alleviation of loneliness. Little research has examined loneliness in political discourses. With a focus on how loneliness intersects with themes of technology and aging, this article presents an analysis of discourses guided by Bacchi's What is the Problem Represented to Be (WPR) framework. It endeavors to answer the following questions: What is the problem of loneliness among older adults represented to be, and what is the role of technology in this context - problem or solution? In the discourses, assertions are made that issues of loneliness, societal change and digital exclusion are intertwined. Lonely older adults are problematized as hard to find and thus connect with interventions, warranting surveillance measures like loneliness heatmaps. Technological interventions to assist older adults in maintaining independence and connections to social networks are often proposed as solutions. The findings indicate dominant discourses position older adults primarily as subjects in need of care and as non-users of technology. Technology is positioned as a cost-effective tool to fill gaps in an overburdened and under-funded social care system that compounds issues of loneliness. The author argues the neoliberal and stigmatizing undertones within the corpus may undermine efforts to combat loneliness. Further, austerity is silent in the dominant problematizations of loneliness, foreclosing upon alternatives that problematize loneliness as resulting from neoliberal policies that continue to dismantle public infrastructure and social care.

Reconstruction of Communicative Rationality: A Study on the Digital Mass Media Society in Indonesia

Purpose: This study looked at the cognitive response of Indonesian society (i.e. people using digital media) to narratives constructed by digital media. Theoretical framework: It is necessary to establish an argumentative relationship of "communication" between digital media and society, since the narratives constructed by digital media are particular interests. Method: This study used a qualitative approach, conducting a sociological analysis of narratives in the community of digital mass media users, especially mass resources for convergence (kompas.com, tempo.co and tribunnews.com). The technique of triangulation of technical sources and theories to demonstrate the validity of narrative data of people using digital media. Results and Conclusions: The digital society can create and create imaginary spaces based on its law and culture. Therefore, a word of "communication" between the two is needed to come to terms with rational language. This relationship is a communication society based on the value of emancipatory critical rationality to achieve "consensus". Therefore, the problem posed in this study is: "how is the cognitive response and shape of the digital society in Indonesia, within the age of digital media?". Research Implications: Knowing the digital narrative of the media is solid and changes its passive role to be "interactive" (in itself as a subject) with the media. Right now, the community doesn't have much resilience. Originality/value: Meanwhile, the relationship between digital society and communication technology has three options, namely, first, digital society positions itself as technology; second, humanize technology as itself; and third, dialectically compromising the potential of humanity and technology.

Implementation of the strategy of internationalization of higher education as a «soft power» tool of the state

Introduction. The following article analyzes the interpretations of the concept of «soft power» implemented in the field of Russian higher education. In connection with the discussion in scientific circles of the ambivalence of the concept of «soft power» from the moment of its appearance and in the subsequent period, various interpretations of opposite and complementary concepts with the word «power» are given here. The components and functions of «soft power» reflected in the documents and concepts of the state»s foreign policy are considered. Purpose setting. At present, when political and economic sanctions have also changed the landscape of international educational cooperation, the possibilities of the «soft power» tools of our state have been significantly decreased. Methodology and methods of the study. As a tool for promoting cultural values and ideals, higher education accumulates opportunities for cultural, scientific, technical, socio-political and economic impact on the individual and society. Results. The communication space of Russian universities will be able to integrate a new rational discourse through delivering various educational exchange programmes and cultural, educational projects, with the involvement of modern information communication technologies. The implementation of this task requires the strategic development of the internationalization of higher education. Conclusion. Cooperation in various fields of science and technology remains an important tool for improving international political stability and mutual understanding. Germany is an example of successful development and promotion of national ideas and interests, i.e. increasing the «weight» of the state in the international arena through education. At the same time, the main function of «soft power» is performed in latent form, when the influence of the state is not straightforward, but hidden.