The psychiatrization of the opponent in polemical context

Marianne Doury (1) , Pascale Mansier (1)

1 LCP - Laboratoire de communication politique

his paper deals with a variant of the ad hominem argument that challenges the opponent’s mental health. Semi-technical terms borrowed from psychiatric paradigms (such as autistic, paranoiac, hysterical) are thus appealed to in order to disqualify the opponent. Based on three examples from polemical discussions on political issues, we investigate what kind of behavior triggers such accusations, how they are justified, and how they are handled by the speaker to whom they are addressed.

Étude de l'utilisation de mots issus du vocabulaire de la psychiatrie ("parano", "hystérique", "autiste") dans le discours politique à des fins de discrétisation de l'adversaire.

Mots clés: disqualifying strategy; ad hominem argument; mental pathologies

Mots clés: argumentation; ad hominem; disqualification; pathologie mentale

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Marianne Doury, Pascale Mansier. The psychiatrization of the opponent in polemical context. Frans H. van Eemeren; Bart Garssen. Scrutinizing Argumentation in Practice, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp.217-232, 2015, 9789027268082. ⟨10.1075/aic.9.12dou⟩. ⟨hal-01388752⟩