Complications in argumentative reality

The aim of a pragma-dialectical analysis is to reconstruct the process of resolving a difference of opinion occurring in an argumentative discourse or text. This means that argumentative reality is systematically analyzed from the perspective of a critical discussion. All components of the discourse or text that are in any way relevant to the resolution are in the reconstruction taken into account; all components that are irrelevant to this concern are left out. In this manner, an analytic reconstruction is given of the argumentative “deep structure” of the discourse or text.

What exactly does such an analytic reconstruction of an argumentative discourse or text entail? As we have explained, this kind of analysis derives its pragmatic character from the fact that the discourse or text is viewed as a coherent whole of speech acts; its dialectical character lies in the premise that these speech acts are part of a systematic attempt to resolve a difference of opinion by means of a critical discussion. In the reconstruction, the speech acts performed in the discourse or text are, where this is possible with the help of the ideal model of a critical discussion, analyzed as argumentative moves that are aimed at bringing about a resolution of a difference of opinion.

In a pragma-dialectical reconstruction, the desired analytic determination of the discourse or text is achieved by interpreting each of its components from the perspective of the resolution of a difference of opinion, and then examining whether it is relevant in this connection.