Rhetorical Argumentation and Extremism

This book explores the role indirect argumentation plays, and has played, in changing societies by bringing positions previously regarded as extremist into the status quo. This volume will interest scholars and advanced students of argumentation, critical thinking, and rhetoric.

Rhetorical Argumentation and Extremism explores the role indirect argumentation plays, and has played, in changing societies by bringing positions previously regarded as extremist into the status quo. After building the theoretical foundations of the project, the concept of extremism is employed as an issue of wide interest that then serves as a vehicle to illustrate the claims about rhetorical argumentation. A case is made for why the rhetorical perspective on argumentation is best placed to act as the theory of choice for the book, before a series of cases studies illustrates past and present instances of societal modification by means of the strategies of rhetorical argumentation. Exploring cases such as suffrage, the Arab Spring, Occupy Wallstreet, and Climate Change, the contributing authors identify some of the principal strategies involved in such argumentation and offer suggestions for developing them. The insights acquired allow for the further study and development of key strategies in the later chapters. This volume will interest scholars and advanced students of argumentation, critical thinking, and rhetoric.