Keywords:
argumentation, fallacy, speech acts, intentionality, pragmatics, question, rhetoricCopyright (c) 2024 Revista Iberoamericana de Argumentación
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Abstract
Rhetorical questions are questions asked by the speaker whose answer is obvious or does not exist and, therefore, the speaker asks the question without the intention of receiving an answer. It is necessary to analyse and offer a pragmatic explanation of how these questions work and how speakers use them. I develop two possible explanations of how these questions work: one based on speech act theories, and one based on speakers' intentions and apply the proposal based on speech act theory. Moreover, rhetorical questions can have different uses and goals. I distinguish two uses: conversational uses with the aim of modulating the force of the speaker's message and argumentative uses related to the activity of arguing. Within argumentative uses, I distinguish three uses: the expression of arguments (premises or conclusions) and the use of presuppositions.
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