Rhetorical Figures in Strategic Maneuvering in Religious Argumentative Discourse

Abstract

One of the three aspects of strategic maneuvering in argumentation is presentational devices or rhetorical figures. This aspect is the one in which the first and the second are manifested. It refers to the way in which an argument is posited or the rhetorical aspect of the argument. Due to its invaluable importance in argumentation, the present study sets itself for the exploration of the presentational devices or the rhetorical figures in Muslims-atheists debates. The study adopts an eclectic model for analysis of (Eemeren, 2010; McQuarrie & Mick, 1996) and (Lawrence, Visser, & Reed, 2017). It has been found that both debating parties use the same schemes like repetition and antithesis. As for tropes, Muslim arguers use more tropes like irony, simile, metaphor, parody and rhetorical question whereas atheists use irony, simile, praeteritio and rhetorical question.