
Fallacies and Free Speech
Selected Discourses in Early America
Juhani Rudanko(Author)
Palgrave Macmillan (Publisher)
Published on 2. April 2021
Book
Hardback
VII, 134 pages
978-3-030-67876-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book offers a new perspective on selected discourses and texts bearing on the evolution of a distinctively American tradition of free speech. The author's approach privileges fallacy theory, especially the fallacy of
ad socordiam
, in a key Congressional debate in 1789 and other forms of verbal manipulation in newspaper editorials during the War of 1812. He argues that in order to understand James Madison's role in the evolution of a broad conception of freedom of speech, it is imperative to examine the nature of the verbal attacks targeted at him. These attacks are documented, analyzed with the concept of aggravated impoliteness, and used to demonstrate that it was Madison's toleration of criticism, even in wartime, that provided a foundation for a broad conception of freedom of speech. This book will be of interest to both scholars and lay readers with an interest in the application of discourse analysis and historical pragmatics to political debates, argumentation theoryand fallacy theory, and the evolution of the concept of freedom of speech in the early years of the United States.
More details
Edition
1st ed. 2021
Language
English
Place of publication
Cham
Switzerland
Publishing group
Springer International Publishing
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
VII, 134 p.
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
308 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-030-67876-0 (9783030678760)
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-67877-7
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2021
Palgrave Macmillan
€64.19
Available for download
Person
Juhani Rudanko
is Professor Emeritus at Tampere University, Finland. He was Associate Professor of English at that university from 1979 to 2001 and then Professor from 2001 to 2016. His publications include books and articles on the system of English predicate complementation, including its evolution, and on early American political history.
Content
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Probing Deeper than the Surface of Discourse: Identifying Fallacies in a Political Debate in 1789.- Chapter 3: Political Rhetoric in Wartime: a Study from 1812.- Chapter 4: Attacks on the Madison Administration in the Federal Republican in Early 1813.- Chapter 5: James Madison, the Father of Freedom of Speech.- Chapter 6: Conclusion.