Rhetorics of pre-electoral debate

analysis of the arguments used in the presidential race of 2018

Abstract

This paper aims to present the analysis of the arguments used by the candidates for the presidency of the republic in the first televised pre-electoral debate, held by the broadcaster Band on August 9, 2018. The openings of the speeches of eight candidates for the election are analyzed, they are: Álvaro Dias (PODEMOS), Cabo Daciolo (PATRIOTA), Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB), Marina Silva (REDE), Jair Bolsonaro (PSL), Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), Henrique Meirelles (MDB) and Ciro Gomes (PDT). The argumentative typology and the articulation between arguments and figures are investigated. As a theoretical foundation, it starts from the assumptions of New Rhetoric, whose The new rhetoric - a treatise on argumentation of Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca is the main reference. The works of Plantin (2008), Fiorin (2015; 2020), Abreu (2009) and Emediato (2008) are also used, which help in the understanding of some categories of argument. As a result, the complexity of argumentative discourses is perceived through inter-argument articulation and the intensification of certain arguments through figures of rhetoric.