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Article published In: Metaphor and the Social World
Vol. 10:1 (2020) ► pp.121–140

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Violence metaphors for cancer

Pragmatic and symptomatic arguments against

 | University of Amsterdam
 | University of Amsterdam
 | University of Amsterdam
Published online: 1 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.19005.wac
Abstract
The use of violence metaphors for cancer has been widely criticised both in academic and non-academic contexts (see Harrington, K. J. (2012). The use of metaphor in discourse about cancer: A review of the literature. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 16(4), 408–412. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Semino, E., Demjén, Z., Demmen, J., Koller, V., Payne, S., Hardie, A., & Rayson, P. (2015). The online use of Violence and Journey metaphors by patients with cancer, as compared with health professionals: a mixed methods study. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, 7(1): 60–66. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Whereas previous research on violence metaphors for cancer has focused on the use and functions of these metaphors by and for different stakeholder groups, no studies to date have examined the (various) arguments that are raised in public discourse that is critical of said metaphors. Applying concepts from pragma-dialectical argumentation theory (Van Eemeren, F. H., & Grootendorst, R. (1992). Argumentation, communication, and fallacies: A pragma-dialectical perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), this paper sets out to analyse types of argumentation occurring in critical public discussions of violence metaphors for cancer. Close argumentative analyses of actual discourse examples will be provided in order to illustrate the differences between two types of argumentation in particular, i.e. pragmatic and symptomatic argumentation.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature
  • 3.The pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation
  • 4.Case studies
    • 4.1Pragmatic resistance
    • 4.2Symptomatic resistance
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (25)
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van Poppel, Lotte & Roosmaryn Pilgram
2024. Exploiting metaphor in disagreement. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 12:1 ► pp. 111 ff. DOI logo
Wackers, Dunja Y. M. & H. José Plug
2022. Countering Undesirable Implications of Violence Metaphors for Cancer through Metaphor Extension. Metaphor and Symbol 37:1 ► pp. 55 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2023. Slowing Metaphor Down [Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 26], DOI logo

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