Rhetorical argumentation and organizational ethos: case studies in Portuguese contexts

Abstract

The study of argumentation, according to the classic precepts, as we know, is linked to a logical-discursive concept. However, nowadays, in the various social practices, the act of arguing must be revised, considering not only its rational dimension (logos), but its ethical (ethos) and pathetic (pathos) dimensions, traditionally studied by Rhetoric. It is this rhetorical argumentation, strategically ´semiotized´ that is present in media, political, advertising, and business discourses. In view of the relevance of the theme, in the current world, this work focuses on the analysis of this argumentation in a specific text genre: the advertisement present in organizational discourses. With that, this paper aims at demonstrating how companies make use of ‘politically correct’ argumentative-rhetorical strategies to build an organizational ethos more 'appropriate' to the socially values accepted today. Thus, it aims to show that ‘being politically correct’ in organizational communication may require different text-linguistic argumentative strategies, depending on institutional market interests. In order to achieve the objectives, some case studies selected from Portuguese transportation industries were analyzed. Preliminary studies attest that environmental issues (one of the relevant aspects for characterizing the sustainability of companies), evidenced by politically correct companies, in their triple bottom line, are directly related to ethical values, and these are ´semiotized´ distinctly in the analyzed texts. Evidently, these values are at the service of pragmatic values, characteristic of organizational communication centered on their marketing role.