The Persuasive Force of Demanding

Abstract

Demanding is a fundamental rhetorical strategy for marginalized groups, but recent rhetorical theories of demanding have not explained how speakers can design demands to influence addressees to accede. Psychoanalytic and decolonial theories have identified constitutive functions, but have not explained how speakers can design demands that pressure addressees to accede. Speech act theories have explained specific kinds of demands but have not synthesized insights into a model of demanding generally. We draw on normative pragmatic theory to argue that speakers design demands that generate persuasive force by openly making visible their intent to influence addressees to accede and bringing to bear a reciprocal obligation for themselves and addressees to live up to the norm of "right makes might.

A Normative Pragmatic Theory of Exhorting

“…By describing the normative structure of exhorting, we add to the inventory of reasons why social actors make arguments-e.g., rationally resolving differences of opinion, justifying belief or action, displaying identity, expanding an agenda, and more (Asen 2005;Hample and Irions 2015). In addition, we continue a line of research showing the relationship of making arguments to master speech acts such as proposing and accusing (Jacobs 1989;Innocenti and Kathol 2018;Kauffeld 1998). 1 Further, our analysis of Lincoln's exhortation follows historical and contemporary rhetorical theorizing (Conley 1984) showing that making arguments may be analyzed as a strategic maneuver (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 2000) designed to inspire principled action.…”

“…Normative pragmatic theory explains why speakers can reasonably expect their messages to secure intended responses from addressees-e.g., to consider a proposal (Kauffeld 1998), to defer to an expert (Goodwin 2011), to accede to demands (Innocenti and Kathol 2018). The accounts are based on, first, norms brought to bear by making utterances intended to secure responses from addressees and, second, practical reasoning underlying those utterances.…”

“…We answer this question by providing a normative pragmatic account of exhorting (e.g., van Eemeren et al 2014, 454-459;Goodwin 2011;Innocenti and Kathol 2018;Jacobs 2000;Kauffeld 1998;Kauffeld 2009a;Kauffeld 2009b;Pinto 2007). After outlining basic normative pragmatic theory, we first argue that exhorting comprises making statements openly urging addressees to perform some principled course of action; openly intending to inspire addressees to act on the principles; and intending that addressees' recognition of the intentions to urge and inspire creates reasons to grant a sympathetic hearing to what the speaker has to say.…”