Going Multimodal: What is a Mode of Arguing and Why Does it Matter?

Abstract

During the last decade, one source of debate in argumentation theory has been the notion that there are different modes of arguing that need to be distinguished when analyzing and evaluating arguments. Visual argument is often cited as a paradigm example. This paper discusses the ways in which it and modes of arguing that invoke non-verbal sounds, smells, tactile sensations, music and other non-verbal entities may be defined and conceptualized. Though some attempts to construct a 'multimodal' theory of argument are criticized, it advocates for an argumentation theory that makes room for visual arguing and for other non-verbal modes that have not been explored in depth. In the process, the paper provides a method for identifying the structure of multimodal arguments and argues that adding modes to our theoretical tool box is an important step toward a comprehensive account of argument.

Logical Form and the Vernacular Revisited

“…Both questions stand in need of clarification. First, when we use the term ‘argument’ we are not asking whether, to use Leo Groarke's () notion, there are ‘modes of arguing’ that are non‐linguistic, or that involve non‐linguistic components. We think it fairly clear that there are non‐linguistic arguing‐behaviours: one can wave one's arms, or jump up and down, or point to a location on a map in order to make one's argumentative point.…”

Discussing discourse modalities in argument theory: Reconsidering a paradigm

“…The mimetic relation of that element of the discourse world with the audience's reality, however, is not one of pure correspondence. The rhetor, the maker of the documentary, confronted with the question whether these children lived in the specific and other visuals can be considered indirect speech acts as he represents nonverbal discourse elements unanalyzed in the new form of diagramming in key-component tables he proposes (Groarke 2015). 12 One finds an interesting discussion of the ideas of Oldenburg and Leff in Govier and Jansen (2011).…”

We Have Yet to See the “Visual Argument”

“…Can the showing of a visual be placed in the same basket with the advancing of the proverbial "Socrates is mortal because Socrates is a man and all men are mortal"? For the purpose of tackling this question, I will examine Groarke's (2015) paper in which various examples of visual and other unimodal arguments are identified. The following situation is said to contain "a clear act of arguing" (2015, p. 136).…”