Philosophy & Rhetoric Dec 2024

Intellectual Grandstanding: An Epistemic Bad in Argument

Lucy Alsip Vollbrecht Washington University in St. Louis

Abstract

ABSTRACT There is a growing body of literature on virtue signaling or moral grandstanding, but relatively little has been said about virtue signaling’s cousin, intellect signaling or intellectual grandstanding. This article develops a working definition of intellectual grandstanding as it occurs in argumentative contexts. With this definition in hand, this article argues that intellectual grandstanding impedes epistemic success in argument on each major model of argument today. Intellectual grandstanding in argument fails to respect other arguers, it sustains disagreements, and it produces little reliable epistemic justification. Given this convergence of reasons, the article concludes that intellectual grandstanding poses a serious epistemic problem for argumentative exchange and deserves our immediate attention.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2024-12-31
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.57.4.0390
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (1)

  1. Thimsen (2022)
    What Is Performative Activism?
    Philosophy & Rhetoric
Also cites 11 works outside this index ↓
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    Argumentation  ↗
  2. (2008)
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    Argumentation  ↗
  3. (2016)
    “Virtue and Arguers.”
    Topoi  ↗
  4. (2017)
    “Brothers in Arms: Virtue and Pragma-Dialectics.”
    Argumentation  ↗
  5. (2018)
    “Virtuous Arguers: Responsible and Reliable.”
    Argumentation  ↗
  6. (2021)
    “Virtue Signaling Is Virtuous.”
    Synthese  ↗
  7. (2016)
    “The Virtuous Arguer: One Person, Four Roles.”
    Topoi  ↗
  8. (2016)
    “Moral Grandstanding.”
    Philosophy & Public Affairs  ↗
  9. (1999)
    “Strategic Manoeuvering in Argumentative Discourse.”
    Discourse Studies  ↗
  10. (2006)
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    Argumentation  ↗
  11. (2021)
    “Reflections on Intellectual Grandstanding.”
    Southwest Philosophy Review  ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network →

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