Steve Oswald: Pragmatics and rhetoric

Abstract

He is a founding member and vice-chair of the European Conference on Argumentation (ECA), as well as a founding member of the Collectif Romand de Recherches sur l'Argumentation (CoRReA) and the Argumentation and Language (ARGAGE) conference series. His research spans across the language sciences, cognitive science, the study of argumentation, and discourse analysis. His research trajectory led him to defend a cognitive pragmatic model of non-cooperative and manipulative communication (Oswald, 2010). During this period, he delved into the study of argumentation and rhetoric, with a particular interest in issues related to the influence of meaning on discourse effects. In recent years, he has closely examined the connections between pragmatics and argumentation, exploring their methodological intersections, shared concepts, and mutual influence to better map their close relationship (Oswald, 2022(Oswald, , 2023a(Oswald, , 2023b. His interdisciplinary approach draws on typical experimental methodologies from cognitive sciences to address classical rhetorical questions, such as the effects of persuasion. This approach rejuvenates rhetorical studies by documenting the intuitions or empirical observations of ancient rhetoricians.