Pondering on Problems of Argumentation: Twenty Essays on Theoretical Issues

In Pondering on Problems of Argumentation twenty essays are collected that deal with theoretical issues in the study of argumentation. Although the list of theoretical issues discussed in these essays is by no means comprehensive, the issues that are treated are certainly representative of the kind of problems the international community of argumentation scholars is pondering on at the moment. Characteristically, this international community includes scholars from different academic backgrounds, varying from classicists, philosophers, and linguists to logicians, and social scientists. These scholars favour different approaches to argumentation, varying from formal and dialectical approaches to informal and rhetorical pragmatic approaches. Because most of the perspectives on argumentation that are en vogue are represented, this volume provides a multidisciplinary – and as far as different approaches are combined even interdisciplinary – outlook on the current state of affairs in argumentation theory.

In all contributions to Pondering on Problems of Argumentation the emphasis is on sharing theoretical reflections on argumentation rather than presenting the results of empirical experiments, qualitative analysis, case studies, or applications of theoretical instruments. Some of the contributions deal with problems of argumentation that have been recognized as theoretical issues for a considerable time, like the problems of fallaciousness and identifying argumentation structures. Other contributions discuss issues that have become a focus of attention only recently or regained their prominence, such as the relationship between dialectic and rhetoric, and the strategic use of the argumentative technique of dissociation. In line with new developments that have taken place, a new input to the theoretical study of argumentation is offered by researchers coming from disciplines that have matured during the past decades, such as pragmatics and discourse analysis. All the same, scholars stemming from long-established disciplines, such as the classics, also play a part in the renewal by shedding a new light on the problems of argumentation. For all contributions goes that their authors really ponder on problems of argumentation without claiming to have found the final theoretical solution to these problems. As it should be in the study of argumentation, all essays that are presented here are fully open to criticism.