On the rhetoric of COVID‑19 negationism

the case of Fernando Nobre

Abstract

In this paper, we aim to frame the perspective of rhetoric and argumentation on the problem of the so-called “negationism” of COVID-19, whereby such a concept is understood to mean not so much, or simply, the rejection of the medical identification of this disease, but, fundamentally, the denial of its gravity and its pandemic amplitude as a matter of public health, or the denial of the measures adopted to combat it, in general, by the competent authorities. The positions defended on the subject by a specialized medical authority but labelled and stigmatized as “negationist” (Fernando Nobre, former visiting Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, and doctor honoris causa by the same University), serve as a case study.