Skip to main content
Log in

Justifying My Position in Your Terms: Cross-cultural Argumentation in a Globalized World

  • Published:
Argumentation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A ‘community of minds’ has long been presumed to be a condition of possibility for genuine argumentative interactions. In part because of this disciplinary presupposition, argumentation scholars tend to exclude from their scope of inquiry conflict resolution among culturally heterogeneous and ideologically incompatible formations. Such a stance needs to be reexamined in view of recent developments in the on-going process of globalization. The unprecedented worldwide economic and financial integration has created for the first time a ‘generalized interest’ across national and continental boundaries. The need to countercheck global market forces has given rise to calls for a ‘global legal/ethical system’ or even a ‘transnational public sphere.’ Non-Western interlocutors in general are willing to debate cross-cultural issues in Western terms. Increasingly, Western interlocutors are also seeking to justify Western positions in non-Western terms. This emerging situation renders it both necessary and possible to argue across the boundaries of communities that do not share the same cultural or rhetorical tradition. It also poses a host of theoretical and practical issues whose exploration and analysis should become a new focus of argumentation studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Alford, William P.: 1992, ‘Making a Goddess of Democracy from Loose Sands: Thoughts on Human Rights in the People's Republic of China', in Abdullahi A. An-Na`im (ed.), Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, pp. 65–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • An-Na`im, Abdullahi Ahmed (ed.): 1992, Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balslev, Anindita Niyogi: 1991, Cultural Otherness: Correspondence with Richard Rorty, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beer, Francis A. and Robert Hariman (eds.): 1996, Post-Realism: The Rhetorical Turn in International Relations, Michigan State University Press, East Lansing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, Daniel A.: 1977, ‘The East Asian Challenge to Human Rights: Reflections on an East-West Dialogue', Human Rights Quarterly 18(3), 641–667

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, Richard J.: 1991, ‘Incommensurability and Otherness Revisited', in Culture and Modernity: East-West Philosophic Perspectives, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, pp. 85–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collier, David and Steven Levitsky: 1997, ‘Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research', World Politics 49(3), 430–451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crossette, Barbara: 1997, ‘Mary Robinson: New U.N. Voice Stresses Balance in Approaching Human Rights', The New York Times, Internet Edition, October 6, 1997.

  • Davidson, Donald: 1973–1974, ‘On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme', Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 47, 5–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • DePalma, Anthony: 1998, ‘U.S. Gets Cold Shoulder at a Culture Conference', International Herald Tribune (Internet Edition), Thursday, July 2, 1998.

  • Dews, Peter: 1986/1992, ‘Editor's Introduction', in Jügen Habermas, Autonomy and Solidarity, Verso, London, pp. 1–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eemeren, Frans H. van and Rob Grootendorst et al.: 1996, Fundamentals of Argumentation Theory, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eemeren, Frans H. van and Rob Grootendorst: 1992, Argumentation, Communication, and Fallacies, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geertz, Clifford: 1995, After the Fact, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, Samuel P.: 1998, ‘Democracy is Nice, But Not for Everyone', The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette June 28, 1998, C1.

  • Kausikan, Bilahari: 1997, ‘Government that Works', Journal of Democracy 8(2), 24–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lueken, Geert-Lueke: 1990, ‘Incommensurability, Rules of Argumentation, and Anticipation', in Frans H. van Eemeren et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Argumentation, pp. 244–252.

  • Lyotard, Jean-François: 1988, The Differend: Phrases in Dispute, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahathir, Mohamad: 1997, ‘Asian Economies: Challenges and Opportunities’ (A Speech Given on September 20, 1997 at the Hong Kong Convention of the World Bank), available on-line at http://www.smpke.jpm.my/pm3.htm. Other speeches of his referred to in this paper are available at the same web site.

  • Perelman, Ch. and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca: 1969, The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quine, W. V.: 1960, Word and Object, M.I.T. press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roach, Colleen: 1997, ‘The Western World and the NWICO: United They Stand?', in Peter Golding and Phil Harris (eds.), Beyond Cultural Imperialism: Globalization, Communication, and the New International Order, Sage Publications, London, pp. 94–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rorty, Richard: 1989, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger, Stephen: 1997, ‘Moving to One-World Society', The Los Angeles Times (Internet Edition) Monday, October 27, 1997.

  • Sen, Amartya: 1996, ‘Thinking about Human Rights and Asian Values', Human Rights Dialogue 4, On-line, Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs.

  • Sreberny-Mohammadi, Annabelle: 1996, ‘Introduction’, in Sandra Braman and Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi (eds.), Globalization, Communication, and Transnational Civil Society, Hampton Press, Cresskill, pp. 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Liu, Y. Justifying My Position in Your Terms: Cross-cultural Argumentation in a Globalized World. Argumentation 13, 297–315 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007866519621

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007866519621

Navigation