This type of argumentation, implicitly or explicitly appealing to the end of human existence, is a rhetorical device intended to make a request or a wish sound more convincing or, on the contrary, to eliminate the possibility of communication altogether. From a pragmatic point of view, argumentum ad morti is very much of the same type as a mechanical argument - a kind of highly incorrect "argumentation" intended to break down the discussion. Thus, the specific character of an argumentum ad morti is determined by its logical and semantic contents and the pragmatic purpose of its use. The possibilities of using this type of argument in discussion, i.e. the process of uncovering the truth or reaching an agreement, are very limited. Polemic, a dispute the purpose of which is to win the argument, provides a more natural context for argumentum ad morti. It is, in fact, an anti-dixi rhetorical figure with a very wide range of mechanisms, from logical and semantic constructions to performative speech act and even physical action, i.e., literally, a destructive mechanical argument.

Unlike other forms of anti-dixi devices, argumentum ad morti is not only a rhetorical figure the use of which leads to verbal communication failure. It breaks down the communication process by appealing to non-verbal reality and thus making the discussion senseless. The illocutionary force of this figure is determined by the degree of intensity on the scale of its devices, ranging from inductive generalization and deductive operations to taking generalization to its superior limit, to the danger of going over the existential bounds of discourse, loss of the existential status of its subject sphere and physical menace making the communication process inessential and its subject matter or even the opponent himself non-existent. This style of argumentation is peculiar to "pre-logical" communities with an undeveloped and unclaimed logical culture of social communication and appealing to physical strength rather than law and arbitrariness rather than freedom.