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Card 4.2.2 · Root IV — Logic

Argumentation Theory

What does an argument have to do, besides be valid?

Argumentation theory studies what makes a real-world argument good — not merely valid, but adequate to its purpose in an actual exchange between people.

From The Coordinates of Thought by Syed Raheel Shahzad, card 4.2.2, page 194

On this card
  1. Where it sits
  2. The frameworks
  3. Key figures
  4. Connections
  5. On Coordinates of Thought

Where it sits

Under 4.2 Informal logic. Borders 4.2.3 Rhetoric, 2.7 Social epistemology, 4.1.3.

The frameworks

FrameworkWhat it supplies
Toulmin modelClaim, grounds, warrant, backing, qualifier, rebuttal
Pragma-dialecticsRules for a discussion aimed at resolving disagreement
Argumentation schemesRecurring patterns, each with its own critical questions
Dialectical modelsArgument as a rule-governed exchange with burdens and moves
Nyaya vadaDebate conducted to reach truth, distinguished from debate to win

Key figures

FigureDatesTraditionContribution
Aristotle384–322 BCEGreekTopics; dialectic as a discipline
The Nyaya schoolc. 2nd c. CE onwardIndianFormal debate rules; three kinds of discussion distinguished
Stephen Toulmin1922–2009AnalyticThe layout of arguments
Frans van Eemerenb. 1946DutchPragma-dialectics, with Rob Grootendorst

Connections

→ 4.2 · ↔ 4.2.3, 4.1.3, 2.7.1, 4.2.1 · ◇ pragma-dialectics, argumentation schemes · ○ Classical; Modern; Table 3

→ narrower questions · ↔ questions it borders · ◇ the positions, mapped in Part III of the book · ○ the eras and comparison tables (Parts IV and V)

The full card is in the book

In The Coordinates of Thought this card goes on to a worked example that sets the answers against one case, and to where the question touches daily life — page 194.

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