"Which one of those three is suitable for us, Catholics, you know well"

Łukasz Damian Libowski

Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic University of John Paul II in Lublin
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6175-0823

Abstract

This paper presents the arguments, by which Rev. Jan Melzer tried during a sermon on April 26, 1925, to persuade the faithful entrusted to him to vote for Wilhelm Marx, a Catholic candidate for the Weimar Republic presidency. In the first part of the text the arguments are presented, by which Melzer reasons them into a careful and well-thought participation in the election. There are two arguments: the first one is based on the importance of the election, the second on the fact that the campaign was full of deception. In the second (main) part of the text the arguments are set forth, by which Melzer attempts to convince his audience to a very specific action, namely to vote for the Catholic. Among the arguments there are two sub-groups: the first one consists of general arguments (i.e. not pertaining to the candidates in person), the second one consists of those arguments that refer to the candidates’ characteristics or competence. In the first sub-group there are the arguments: from fidelity to one’s conscience, from the obligation, from the (priest’s and bishop’s) authority, and the one from the necessity to compensate for unknown events that happened in Wojnowice on April 19, 1925. The second sub-group consists of only one argument from the “nature” of the candidates; it is in two versions: negative and positive. The paper is concluded by three summarizing notes.

Keywords:

Rev. Jan Melzer, Wilhelm Marx, presidential elections in Weimar Republic (1925), Church and politics, political sermon, argumentation, kinds of argumentation