Manifest Rationality: A Pragmatic Theory of Argument

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Manifest Rationality : A Pragmatic Theory of Argument Johnson, Ralph H. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 0805821732 9780805821734 9780585330693 English Reasoning. 2000 BC177.J54 2000eb 153.4/3 Reasoning.

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Manifest Rationality A Pragmatic Theory of Argument Ralph H. Johnson University of Windsor

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Copyright © 2000 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Johnson, Ralph H. Manifest rationality : a pragmatic theory of argument / Ralph H. Johnson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-8058-2173-2 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 0-8058-2174-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Reasoning. I. Title. BC177 .J54 2000 153.4'3dc21 99-058491 Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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To Maggie, for her love and support through all these years

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CONTENTS

Preface

xi

Introduction

1

Part I The Historical Context

9

1. Context: Argumentation as a Cultural Practice

Argumentation and Rationality

Argumentation Under Seige

The Network Problem

The Centrality and Importance of Argumentation

Argumentation Distinguished

The Benefits of Argumentation

Conclusion 2. Context: The Study of Argumentation

The Re-emergence of Argumentation Theory

Argumentation Theory versus the Theory of Argument

Informal Logic as a Theory of Argument

Setting the Stage

11 12

14

21

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28 28

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The Nature of Theory of Argument

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Govier's Typology

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Previous Theories of Argument

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Adequacy Conditions for a Theory of Argument

56

Conclusion 3. Paradigm Abandoned: Critique of Deductivism

57 58

FDL: A Monistic Theory

59

FDL Criticized

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FDL Rejected

81

Positivism: A Dualist Theory of Argument

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Conductivism: A Pluralistic Theory of Argument

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Conclusion

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4. Lessons from the Past

The Truth Behind Conductivism

Excursus: The Theory of Reasoning

Hamblin on the Concept of Argument

The Problems With FDL: An Alternative View

The Mathematicization of Logic

Lessons From the Past

Conclusion

91 92

95

98

102

104

105

107

Part II A Pragmatic Theory of Argument

109

5. Informal Logic: An Alternative Theory of Argument

111

A Brief Account of the Rise of Informal Logic

What Is Informal Logic?

Informal Logic and the Theory of Analysis

Informal Logic and the Theory of Appraisal

Who, or What, Then, Is an Informal Logician?

Conclusion 6. Argument as Manifest Rationality: A Pragmatic Conception

Critique of Current Definitions of Argument

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A Brief Detour Into the History of Argumentation

A New Framework for the Theory of Analysis

Fundamental Characteristics of Argumentation

Rethinking the Nature of Argument

Objections and Replies

Walton on Argument and Reasoning

Benefits of the Pragmatic Approach 7. What Makes a Good Argument? Toward a Theory of Evaluation

Further Reflections on Hamblin

Criteria for Good Argument

Other Normative Criteria

Satisfaction of the Adequacy Conditions

Conclusion 8. Principles of Criticism

Criticism and Evaluation

The Principle of Vulnerability

The Principle of Parity

The Principle of Logical Neutrality

The Principle of Discrimination

150

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180 182

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Responding to Criticism

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Concluding Reflections on Criticism

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Part III Matters Dialectical

249

9. Criticisms, Objections, and Replies

251

Informal LogicAn Oxymoron

Informal LogicSee Formal Logic

Informal LogicSee Rhetoric

Informal LogicSee Epistemology

Informal LogicSee Sexism

Conclusion 10. Alternative Theories of Argument

Dialogue Logics

Field Theories

The Pragma-Dialectical Approach

Willard's Theory of Argumentation

Conclusion 11. Outstanding Issues and the Research Agenda

Possible Solutions to Outstanding Problems

Research Agenda for Informal Logic

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Conclusion 12. Retrospect and Prospect

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The Gap Between Theory and Practice: Some Reflections on Toulmin's Revolution

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Future Directions for the Theory of Argument

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The Theory of Reasoning

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The Significance of Informal Logic

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Conclusion References

371

Author Index

381

Subject index

385

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PREFACE This book is an attempt to work through some of the theoretical issues that have been accumulating in informal logic since the 1980s. At the same time, it is an attempt to define a core position in the theory of argument in which those issues can be further explored. As my position develops, other issues will arise that transcend this discussion and can only be answered by the development of a theory of reasoning. That is a recurrent theme in what follows. When I began thinking about arguments and how to appraise them more than 25 years ago, I thought of an argument mainly as a product. Under the influence of people like my colleagues, Tony Blair, Joe Wenzel, Charles Willard, and other members of the speech communication community, I gradually came to an appreciation of an argument as a process. Under the influence of Dewey (as interpreted by Bernstein, 1971) and more recently having benefited from the work of Govier, Barth, and Walton, I have begun to see the importance of viewing an argument as the product of the practice of argumentation. A satisfactory theory of argument must include all three dimensions of argument: product, process, and practice. That, too, is a recurrent theme in this book. In this volume, I have attempted to occupy middle ground. The approach to argument I advocate is broader than that of traditional logic, which sees argument as a formal structure. On the other hand, it is narrower and stricter than that advocated by some other theorists; for example, Willard and Gilbert, who view argument as a type of communication. The underlying concern that motivates this work is the health of the practice of argumentation as an important cultural artifact. As I read the signs of the times, they are not propitious as far as argumentation is concerned. If, as I believe, argumentation belongs on the list of endangered species, we must take special pains to protect it, to ensure its survival, and to nourish it. Part of what this entails is distinguishing it carefully from, while still seeing it in relationship to other forms of reasoning and other sociocultural practices that it resembles. That, too, is a recurrent theme in this book.

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A further concern underlying this work is for logic as a discipline. In the 20th century, logic turned to mathematics for insight and focus. Once result was the development of powerful theorieslogic became a science rich in theory, whereas a focus on logic as a craft virtually disappeared. Perhaps that is what Nietzsche (1976) was thinking about when he wrote, "Learning to think: in our schools one no longer has any idea of this, Even in universities, even among the real scholars of philosophy, logic as a theory, as a practice, as a craft, is beginning to die out . . . (p. 512).1 As is evident, I have been influenced in the development of my views by the work of a great many philosophers, logicians, speech communication theorists, and discussions and correspondence over the years. I mention only four here. First, the work of Stephen Toulmin provided important leads and support but whose work I now see as limited in important ways. Second, I am also heavily indebted to E. M. Barth, whose approach to argumentation combines the desire for rigor associated with formal logic, along with the recognition that logic must be engaged in the sociopolitical sphere. Third, it has been with the greatest pleasure that toward the end of the writing of this book, I had the opportunity to read again a series of papers by Henry W. Johnstone, Jr. I was pleased to find that, in many ways, our ideas are similar. His work was particularly helpful in the rewriting of chapter 8. Finally, I am deeply indebted to my colleague and friend, Tony Blair, for more than 25 years of a continuing and fruitful conversation about these (any many other) matters. RALPH H. JOHNSON Acknowledgments A great many friends and colleagues have read various parts of this work, and provided me with first-rate criticism, often accompanied by suggestions about how to do it better. I have not taken them all but I am certainly grateful for having had the benefit of their ideas. These colleagues and friends have also provided the kind of moral support without which this book could not have been written. Here, discrimination (in the sense talked about in this book) is scarcely possible and so they are listed here alphabetically. I thank you all, each and every one, and ask forgiveness and understanding from those whose names I have failed to include. 1Twilight of the Idols (The "Improvers" of Mankind), p. 512.

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I also wish to thank the editors at Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. for shepherding this project along, beginning with Linda Bathgate, then an assiduous copyeditor whose name I do not know for a thorough job on the typescript, and especially to Sondra Guideman for her continued guidance and support at crunch time. I also thank my research assistant, Gary Fogal, for his help nailing down references and compiling the index. Colleagues:

Former students:

Jonathan Adler Derek Allen Else Barth Robert Binkley Tony Blair Jerry Cederblom Frans van Eemeren Alec Fisher James Freeman Dick Fulkerson Michael Gilbert Jen Glaser Jean Goodwin Trudy Govier Leo Groarke Rob Grootendorst Hans Villem Hansen David Hitchcock John Hoaglund Sally Jackson Scott Jacobs Fred Kauffeld Erik C. W. Krabbe Michael Leff John Mackenzie Dennis Matthies Gerald Nosich Richard Paul Bob Pinto Nicholas Rescher Michael Scriven Harvey Siegel Christopher Tindale Marius Vermaak Douglas Walton Perry Weddle

Jill Binker Brad Bowen Donald Caron Debra Cox Wichert Hochert Takuzo Konishi Jay Latkoczky David Macdonald Salim Murad Jessica Shumake Matthias Mooij Elizabeth Skakoon

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INTRODUCTION The Re-emergence of Argumentation Theory Argumentation theory, or the theory of argument, has (re-)emerged as an important focal point of interdisciplinary research and interest.1 Not just philosophers and logicians but also linguists, speech communication theorists, rhetoricians, and psychologistsamong othershave written extensively about it. In my own discipline of philosophy, what has come to be known in some circles as the Informal Logic Movement has been partly responsible for bringing the theory of argument back into the limelight. But there are other philosophical sources of interest. Thus, Habermas (1981) wrote, ''The concept of rationality that I have introduced . . . has to be elucidated in terms of a theory of argumentation. Notwithstanding a venerable tradition going back to Aristotle, however, this theory is still in its beginnings" (p. 22). Habermas was right in wanting to connect rationality and argumentation, but I think he had it backwards: rationality first, argumentation afterward. In other words, if the practice of argumentation is to be understood, it must be understood in terms of rationality. A basic theme developed in this book is that the practice of argumentation is best understood as an exercise in manifest rationality. 1 I do not think that a great deal depends on whether I refer to this study as "the theory of argument," as many philosophers and logicians refer to it, or "the theory of argumentation," as, for example, those in the speech communication community refer to it, or "argumentation theory." In any event, I continue to use both terms until chapter 2, where I discuss a way of differentiating them. For evidence of the renewed interest, see van Eemeren, Grootendorst, Snoeck Henkemans et al. (1996).

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In addition to the philosophical interest in argumentation, there have been other developments that have sparked renewed interest in the theory of argumentation. One of the most important has been the emergence of the thinking skills movement, the goal of which is to install the teaching of thinking into its rightful place in education at all levels. This has led to the development of a number of initiatives, some of which focus on critical thinking, others that focus on problem solving, others on some other form of thinking or reasoning, and so on.2 This plurality of initiatives is what Resnick (1987) referred to when she wrote in her survey: Philosophers promote critical thinking and logical reasoning skills, developmental psychologists point to metacognition, and cognitive scientists study cognitive strategies and heuristics. Educators advocate training in study skills and problem solving. How should we make sense of these many labels? Do critical thinking, metacognition, cognitive strategies and study skills refer to the same kind of capabilities? And how are they related to problem-solving abilities that mathematicians, scientists and engineers try to teach their students? (p. 1) Such questions as these, important and right-minded in my view, give rise to what I call The Network Problem,3 to be discussed in detail in chapter 1. The Emergence of Informal Logic As one who has been involved with informal logic for over 25 years, I would like to tell at least part of the story of its emergence, for I believe that story has a bearing on the resurgence of interest in the theory of argument. In 1966 I was hired by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Windsor. Symbolicmathematical logic had been one of my areas of specialization in graduate school, so I naturally inherited the logic course. Things went along well enough for the first couple of years but around 1970, students began to approach me with the following complaint, "This logic doesn't really help me much in my daily life." I said, "That's right, nor was it meant to." They said, "So where do we go?" I said, ''I don't know." About this time, my Department Head, Peter Wilkinson, had been picking up similar vibrations from students and suggested that I think about devel2 See Nickerson, Perkins, and Smith (1985) for a comprehensive overview of thinking programs. 3 During the height of the debate about the terms "analytic" and "synthetic," it was evident that the discussion about these two terms would inevitably have implications for other terms in their neighborhood: conceptual, empirical, formal, contingent, necessary, and so forth. See Grice and Strawson (1956).

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oping a new course in logic that would respond to these demands. I began looking around for a possible textbook but could not find one, until a sales representative gave me a prepublication sample chapter of Kahane's Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric (1971), in which I read the following lines: Today's students demand a marriage of theory and practice. That is why so many of them judge introductory courses on logic, fallacy, and even rhetoric not relevant to their interests. In class a few years back, while I was going over the (to me) fascinating intricacies of the predicate logic quantifier rules, a student asked in disgust how anything he'd learned all semester long had any bearing whatever on President Johnson's decision to escalate again in Vietnam. I mumbled something about bad logic on Johnson's part, and then stated that Introduction to Logic was not that kind of course. His reply was to ask what courses did take up such matters, and I had to admit that so far as I knew none did. He wanted what most students today want, a course relevant to everyday reasoning, a course relevant to the arguments they hear and read about race, pollution, poverty, sex, atomic warfare, the population explosion, and all the other problems faced by the human race in the second half of the twentieth century. (p. vii) Kahane understood that students wanted logic to be useful, to be relevant! No doubt he was responding to what was widely known as The Student Revolt of the late 1960s, replete with its sit-ins and takeovers, student demand for representation in the governing process, and the demand for relevance in courses. In the fall of 1970, I offered a course called Applied Logic, using Kahane's text. The basic idea was to teach students how to appraise arguments by looking for characteristic failings called fallacies. I could see right away that this kind of course was going to work much better and also that it was going to be a lot of work, both theoretically and pedagogically. It occurred to me that it would be good to have someone with whom to share the undertaking. I put out a call to my colleague Tony Blair, who was eager to join in the process of further developing and refining such a course. Following Kahane's lead, we started down the road of (what we would later call) informal logic by using fallacy theory. Instead of asking whether an argument is sound (whether it has true premises and is a valid argument), the question we asked was, "Does the argument contain any fallacies?" As we worked with Kahane's text for several years, we found ourselves unsatisfied by various aspects of his presentation. First, Kahane's descriptions of fallacies were often inadequate to allow the student to identify them. He described "begging the question" as an argument in which the premise fails to support the conclusion. This description could equally well be a description of irrelevant reason. Second, Kahane did not require that students

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produce justification for their charges of fallacy. Indeed, his own practice of criticism often went no further than merely asserting that such-and-such a fallacy had been committed. We sought to remedy this deficiency by developing identity conditions for each fallacy. We required the student to justify any claim that a certain fallacy had occurred by showing that the conditions for the occurrence of that fallacy were satisfied. Third, we were dissatisfied with Kahane's classification of fallacy. As we reflected on the fallacies in the inventory, we developed the hypothesis that every fallacy could be seen as a violation either of the relevance requirement, of the sufficiency requirement, or of the acceptability requirement. We developed this approach to argument using fallacy theory as modified by these ideas in our own informal logic text, Logical Self-Defense, first published in 1977 by McGrawHill Ryerson of Toronto. The goal that led us to the (re-)development of informal logic was pedagogical. We were looking for a better way to teach logic and better logical tools to put into our students' hands. But it must not be thought that this interest alone fueled the development of informal logic. Other lines of force were already at work at the theoretical level. They are discussed in chapter 2. The argument of this book is that informal logic, properly developed, is well positioned to satisfy the deeper needs of a theory of argument. To an identification of those deeper needs, I now turn. Limitations of Traditional Logic Suppose for the moment that Habermas (1981) was right in thinking that an adequate theory of argumentation does not exist. That is, an adequate theoretical answer is not had for the normative question, "What criteria or features must an argument possess in order for it to be a good argument?" The approach to the study of argument in this book may be broadly characterized as logical rather than rhetorical or epistemological. It situates itself within the tradition of inquiry that traces itself back to the work of Aristotle and Plato. I argue that the logical tradition of the 20th century does not equip scholars to answer the question. Logicians in the 20th century have been interested in other questions and although it has been possible to tease out a story about good arguments from their answers to those questions, I argue that this theory is inadequate as a theory of argument and that what is needed is a refocusing within logic itself. In my view, informal logic provides just such a refocusing. In chapter 7, I discuss the normative question in detail. But to foreshadow developments there, I offer here three suggestions to explain why there is not a satisfactory answer to the normative question.

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First, 20th century logicians have been tended to be hide-bound by a tradition that was largely a prioristic in nature. I develop this point in chapter 4. Second, the 20th century tradition in logic has been working with a deficient (anemic) concept of argumentone that does not distinguish clearly enough between argument and inference. There is an important conceptual issue about the very nature of argument that must be dealt with before an adequate normative theory of argument can hope to be developed. I discuss this aspect of the theory in chapters 5 and 6. Third, and as a result of the first and second, logicians have paid insufficient attention to the practice of argumentation and to looking and seeing what qualities good arguments possess. These reflections suggest to me that the time has come to revise the reorientation begun by Toulmin (1958) and Perelman (1969). Each of them identified the culprit as the traditional model of argument. Each sought to develop a new and better modelalthough in different ways. As important as they were historically, both of these important initiatives seem to me to have the same defect: each relies too heavily on the jurisprudential model. More on this point in chapter 2. Toward a More Adequate Normative Theory of Argument These reflections point to a need for a more adequate theory of argumentation. I deliberately avoid the temptation to call for yet another revolution or paradigm shift. The place to begin is by developing a healthy concept of argument. We need to go as far as we can with that concept and attempt to draw from it the appropriate normative criteria. But we need, as well, to take the empirical turn.4 This turn will serve two purposes. First, it will provide a reference point against which to measure our intuitions. Second, it may help us to uncover aspects of argumentative strength that we would not otherwise have noticed. In that way, we can wed the normative and the empirical. We find specimens of argumentation that, in intuitions, are regarded as good (strong) arguments, and then seek to identify the qualities that make them so. As becomes apparent in chapter 1, the recent history of the practice of argumentation has not been a happy one. On the one hand, logicians (following Russell and Whitehead) largely abandoned it. On the other hand, it 4 Weinstein (1993) complained that informal logicians have been a prioristic. I discuss this complaint in chapters 10 and 11.

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has been besieged by the broader intellectual (and commercial) culture. In no small part is the motivation for this work therapeutic: to rescue and shore up the practice of argumentation and to restore it to a place of centrality. In working toward these ends, I do not suppose that there was a Golden Age in the past when the practice of argumentation reigned supreme. No such fiction is needed to emphasize the importance of refurbishing the practice, nor do I need to downgrade what were the central developments in logic (theory of entailment and proof theory) and in culture (the shift from text to image) in order to achieve this. Yet I have to fight my way through some of the clutter and obscuring mechanisms that occurred with what I call the mathematization of logic (a phrase I explain in chapter 4) and the consequent impoverishment of the conception of argument. The Plan of the Book The main thesis I develop is that the normative dimension of the theory of argument (what I call the theory of appraisal) must develop out of a proper understanding of the practice of argumentation and in that sense will be pragmatic in character. I further argue that to solve the problems, it will be necessary to abandon some privileged conceptions about argument; that is, that it is essentially inferential and formal in character. Informal logic presents itself as a framework within which to carry out these tasks. This book divides into four parts. Chapters 1 through 4 present the historical context for this work. Chapter 1 situates the problem, explaining the recent emergence of the theory of argument and why in our contemporary culture it is important to develop a better theory of argumentation. Chapter 2 focuses on the theory of argument as an area of philosophical inquiry and, in particular, the seminal efforts of Hamblin, Toulmin, and Govier. In chapter 3, I argue that none of the traditional theories can provide an adequate theory of argumentation. In chapter 4, I give my attempt to explain in greater detail why an adequate theory of argumentation is lacking. Part II, comprising chapters 5 through 8, presents the theoretical core of my position. In chapter 5, I discuss the possibilities for the theory of argument represented by the emergence of informal logic. In chapter 6, I turn to the task of developing and presenting a richer conception of argument. This requires that I step back and first discuss the practice of argumentation. From that, I proceed to develop a fortified conception of argument. In chapter 7, I present the normative part of my theory. I outline my answer to the question, "What standards should be invoked in evaluating an argument?" In chapter 8, I present and argue for principles of argument criticism (which I distinguish from standards of evaluation).

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Part III, comprising chapters 9 through 11, is dialectical in character. In chapter 9, I look at some of the objections to informal logic as the theory of argument, then I discuss my responses to them. In chapter 10, I review some of the alternative theories of argument. Chapter 11 is my attempt to solve some of the problems that have emerged. I also propose a research agenda. Chapter 12 is my conclusionan attempt to link up the problems discussed in this work with the need for the theory of reasoning as well as with issues on the broader philosophical scene.

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PART I THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

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Chapter 1 Context: Argumentation as a Cultural Practice Argumentation is an extremely powerful and valuable cultural practice that has fallen on hard times. In the course of this book, I attempt to explain why this has happened. My hope is that the approach to argumentation developed here will help to revitalize this valuable practice and restore it to a place of prominence. Because an argument is an exercise in rationality, its status and fate in the wider culture depend on that culture's assumptions about the nature and value of rationality. After a preliminary specification of what is meant here by rationality, I discuss the evidence that the practice of argumentation does not enjoy a place of prominence in this culture. (By "this culture," I mean the North American and European cultures of the second half of the 20th century.) Argumentation is an extremely important human practice, perhaps never more important than at this moment in history. Still, the situation is not altogether bleak; there are some promising signs. For the past 20 or so years, momentum has been building in various parts of the academy in various countries around the worldall to some degree focusing on the practice of argumentation. Much work is still needed and what I have attempted in this book is to define more clearly the nature of the work that is needed in order to shore up the practice of argumentation. I believe that informal logic has a vital contribution to make to the future development of the study of argumentation.

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Argumentation and Rationality Argumentation: A Preliminary Specification By now, most who study argumentation are familiar with the processproduct distinction as it applies to argument.1 The term "argument" can be used to refer either to the process or to the product of that process. My main concern in this book is with argument as a productand particularly with the normative issues surrounding it: How to evaluate it and how to criticize it. However, the theory that I offer here proceeds on the assumption that to understand the product called argument, it is necessary to situate it within its proper context: the practice of argumentation. By "the practice of argumentation," I understand the sociocultural activity of constructing, presenting, interpreting, criticizing, and revising arguments. (This is very close to what MacIntrye, 1981, called a "tradition.") This activity cannot be understood as the activity of any individual or group of individuals but rather must be understood within the network of customs, habits, and activities of the broader society that gives birth to it, that continues to maintain it and that the practice serves. An argument is a product of that practice that means that typically it is the outcome of a process of arguing that involves both the arguer and the other. Thus, the matrix I propose for theorizing about the practice of argumentation is composed of these three elements: (a) the productargument, (b) the processarguing, and (c) the agentsthe arguer and other. (See Fig. 1.1.) The Connection between Argumentation and Rationality The connection between argumentation and rationality becomes evident when I take up, in detail, the nature of the practice. I can anticipate some of that discussion here, however, and say that the practice of argumentation is teleological. Argumentation clearly serves to help us achieve many different goals, among them persuasion, justification, inquiry, belief maintenance, decision making, and so forth. These claims belong to the level of theory and so the intimate connection between argumentation as a practice and rationality suggests, as well, a theoretical link between their corresponding studies, as the earlier introductory quote from Habermas suggests. Argumentation as a practice is intimately connected with rationality. First, argumentation depends on rationality. Indeed, it depends on a specifically human form of rationality.2 There may well be empirical evidence that 1 See O'Keefe (1977, 1982). 2 Such as Bennett (1989) is after, for example.

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The Process The Arguer

The Other

The Product = The Argument

Fig. 1.1 The practice of argumentation. dolphins can think. Perhaps they can solve problems. To that extent, it may be argued that they must be able to master some logic. But there is no evidence that dolphins (or any other form of animal life) have within their form of life a practice in any way similar to the practice of argumentation in our culture. Not only does argumentation depend on rationality, argumentation exhibits rationality and increases it. Rationality is highly implicated in argumentation. (More on this in chapter 6.) The thesis underlying the current work is that if argumentation is to be properly understood, it must be seen as an exhibition of rationality, specifically of what I call manifest rationality. But this is to get ahead of the story. The next step must be to provide a preliminary specification of rationality. Rationality: A Preliminary Specification The issue here is how to understand rationality for the purpose at handwhich is to show the contribution that informal logic can make to the development of a better theory of argumentation. The idea that rationality is at the heart of argumentation is not unique to Habermas. Biro and Siegel (1992) said, "Rationality is thus at the heart of argumentation, and argumentation theory should be understood as being concerned with the ability of arguments to render beliefs rational" (p. 97). The only caveat I would add is that this formulation seems to suggest that before the argument is presented, the belief may not be rational. Also, the conclusion of an argument will typically be a belief. An argument renders the conclusion more rational than it was before the argument was available. I would also suggest that the arguer's conclusion need not be one that is believed. The arguer may simply wish to explore the development of a line of thought without committing to the conclusion. However, the main point here I agree with completely is that rationality lies at the heart of the practice. Now the question arises (and is urged by MacIntyre in his own way): whose rationality? There are multiple approaches to rationality. Which of them shall I choose? I will rely on the work of Siegel (1988)a work focused on the development of a theory of critical thinking. There, Siegel devoted a postscript to this very topic. His reflections are both illuminating and helpful. Siegel began by noting that there are many conceptions of rationality but that the one that appears most in line with the needs of the theory of critical

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thinking is the meansend approach to rationality. However, Siegel saw important limitations in that approach. For one thing, this approach tends to undercut the distinction between what it is prudent and what it is moral. Because the theory proposed here will have a moral dimension, if Siegel was right, no meansend approach to rationality will be satisfying. Another weakness is that this approach to rationality is incapable of taking into account the role of character. Siegel was concerned with this because his own approach to critical thinking relied heavily on character. We find that the practice of argumentation also places demands on character; that is, the rules that govern the arguer and his behavior are such that for the arguer to satisfy them, certain character traits appear to be necessary. I agree, then, with Siegel (1988) when he wrote: At a minimum, then, we need a better account of rationality than the means-end account if we are to further our understanding of rationality, and of the many philosophical problems which center on that notion. We need an account of rationality which recognizes various sorts of reasons and which provides in sight into the nature and epistemic force of reasons, and which affords the possibility of the rational scrutiny of ends. (p. 131) In other words, no merely instrumental understanding of rationality will suffice. To put the matter in terms of Habermas' three interests of knowledge (1978), to meet the demands of this task, a satisfactory theory of rationality must be at the practical or theoretical level. My preliminary specification of rationality, then, is this: Rationality is the ability to engage in the practice of giving and receiving reasons. Accordingly, to be rational means to be able to engage in the giving and receiving of reasons. This bare bones specification is rudimentary enough to cohere with a fully developed theory of the sort Siegel envisaged and allows me to develop my own theory of argumentation. Having discussed the connection between rationality and argumentation and the nature of rationality, I turn next to the task of assessing the current state of the practice of argumentation. In the next section, I look at some threats to the practice. In the section that follows, I look at some more hopeful indicators. Argumentation under Siege The practice of argumentation has been under siege in this culture from different directions. At the practical level, the challenge comes from values in the culture itself. At the theoretical level, the challenge comes from the divorce that took place between logic and argumentation earlier in this century. One hope I have for this book is that it provides some basis for

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rapprochement between logic and argumentation, for closer ties, and in that way help to bolster the practice. I first discuss the conditions for the practice of argumentation and then indicate why the situation in our culture is not conducive to this practice. Conditions of the Practice What are the conditions of the practice of argumentation? What conditions must be present in a culture before the practice of argumentation can take root and prosper? I suggest that at least the following four are involved: 1. Common interest. Such a practice in any culture presupposes some common interest(s) that unites some members of that culture in some fashion. There are various ways to describe that common interest: It might be described as getting to the truth, it might be described as inquiry, or it might be described as persuasion. But there must be some common interest for this practice to exist. 2. Different viewpoints. We must presuppose that, among the members of the culture, there must be some serious level of disagreement about some issue of importance to their interests such that it makes sense for the arguer to attempt to persuade others of his or her point of view. For this to occur, a culture must have achieved some degree of rationality, have moved beyond a mythopoetic standpoint. A society in which disagreement is absent, downplayed, minimized, or forbidden is not likely to have a strong tradition of the kind of discourse required for argumentation. 3. Trust in rationality. We must suppose that a culture in which rationalityat least in the minimal sense previously definedhas achieved a modest presence. Rationality must be understood and valued. It need not be the culture's highest ideal, and yet there must exist within the culture a tacit agreement that it is desirable to attempt a resolution of at least some differences by rational means. I must suppose that members of that culture jointly possess the viewwhether or not it is articulated by themthat one way to achieve their goal, to realize their common interest or purpose, is by rational means. An agreement that the attempt to win assent in any way other than by the force of the evidence and reasoning is something to be avoided. 4. Openness to change. The agreement implicit in the trust in rationality, in its turn, implies that those who participate in the practice are open to changing their views as a result of argument. That is, unless one of the possible outcomes of the process were a change in view, there would not be any incentive for a rational mind to engage in the practice. When I think of the present cultural environment with these four conditions in mind, I can better understand why the practice of argumentation is

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threatened, for it seems that at least two of the four conditions either are not satisfied, or only barely so. About Condition 1. Is there, for example, a common interest in North America such as would be necessary here? How might that common interest be described? About Condition 2. This condition seems well satisfied for there are many differences in the culturelifeworld (so many that it seems questionable whether condition 1 can be satisfied). About Condition 3. This condition raises this question: Is there something in the culture that might be described as a faith in rationality? I discuss this in greater detail in the next section. About Condition 4. This condition appears on the surface to be satisfiable, for the culture seems restless and eager for changeeven to the point of being obsessed by the new. But that is not what this condition is about: Here, I am speaking of openness to change in one's point of view, in one's repertoire of beliefs. What seems to be in evidence here is dogmatism. Many have noted that public discourse is in disarray in this culture (Kingwell, 1995). The crucial factor in any assessment of the status of argumentation would have to be condition 3, and so I now propose to discuss some threats to the trust in rationality presupposed by the practice of argumentation. The First Threat: Logic Itself Strange to say, but one basic threat to the practice of argumentation has come from a place one would least expect itfrom logic itself. This claim will strike many as strange because, historically, the connection between the two has been strong. One way of stating the connection is that logic has been understood to be the theory of argumentor at least the normative part of it. What can it mean, then, to suggest that logic is a threat to the practice of argumentation? The answer to this question is given in detail in chapter 4. To briefly anticipate that discussion here, let me just say that in the 20th century, logic came under the influence of mathematics. The result was a gradual shift in logic's selfunderstandingaway from the study of argumentation as a practice in natural language and toward the abstract study of entailment relationships, especially as these can be modeled in formalized languages.

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Mention the word logic and for many people, the walls go up. The very word tends to bring to mind certain misperceptions. When people in this society think of logic, they may recall their college experience. For many it was a disastrous episode in which they were introduced either to the highly technical form of logic called symbolic or mathematical logic or else given an updated version of Aristotelian syllogistic. For most, such experiences were enough to persuade them that logic had nothing to offer. Worse still, they might have come away from such encounters with the belief that they were not logical. But the logic to which they were introduced was only distantly related to the logic of argumentation. On the one hand, then, logic distanced itself from argumentation. On the other hand, educational experience created barriers for many people. So it is that logic itself represents a threat to the practice of argumentation. The Second Threat: Contemporary Culture and the Underevaluation of Argumentation From its very inception, the United States has been suspicious of, if not hostile to, intellectual experience (Hofstadter, 1963). To that degree, one might expect a skeptical attitude to an intellectual practice such as argumentation. In the 20th century, this antipathy has grown. The Image of Thinking in Our Culture The problem is that there is none! Or almost none. This is not a culture or society that values thinking highly, at least not if we are to judge by the images and values that we see on the most important cultural mediumTV. Television holds out to the viewer a world in which what counts is the hustle, the wisecrack, brawn, money, sex appealindeed, it seems almost every human trait except reasoning. One would be hard pressed to think of a character on prime time TV whose essential attractiveness comes from the fact that he or she is an intelligent person who uses his or her mind constructively and effectively. The power of the human mind is rarely given powerful or compelling representation on TV. Now, you might point to Star Trek and Spock as possible counterexamples. Spock is clearly intelligent, but his is an intelligence in which emotion has no place. That is worrisome because although Spock is intelligent and has welldeveloped analytic skills, his head and his heart seem to dwell in different universes. This creates the idea that being logical means being unemotional, aseptic, or clinical. This is a lamentable mythology: Logic and emotion can, do, and should work together. A human without emotion and

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affect is quite as deranged as one without mind and reason.3 What is needed is the integration, of these qualities, which is why Spock is a bad representation of human intelligence. Someone may point to the more intellectually sophisticated programming on Public Television. Someone else may point out that cable television has immensely widened the range of choices and the types of content that TV can provide. The problem with such views is that they overlook the degree to which network television still furnishes much of the content of cable television programming. Although each of these has had a mitigating influence on mainline network television, I do not believe that this alters the fundamental point I am making, which is that television has had a deleterious influence on rationality and particularly on argumentation. Insofar as we take TV as a window on our culture and look through that window, the conclusion we must come to is that thinking, the life of the mind as it represents itself in a practice like argumentation, has no significant presence in our culture. The Image of Argumentation in Our Culture When the average person hears talk of an argument, what probably comes to mind immediately is a dispute or a quarrel. They will think perhaps of a TV talk show in which people argue about issues (like abortion, affirmative action, pornography) and about personal affairs (sleeping with the wife's best friend). This limited conception of argumentation is far from the practice that is the focus of this work. But mention of TV talk shows leads naturally to a discussion of the next threat. It does not help, then, that what transpires on talk shows, like the Oprah Winfrey show, whatever their value (and I do not deny that there is value) may be, is often thought to be a forum where one can see argumentation at work. There is some plausibility to such a view. After all, the mother and the daughter are shown staking out a point of view on the issue (whether she should be allowed to marry a senior citizen, for example); each regards her point of view as true; each advances reasons; each criticizes the otherusually in heated and personal terms. There is an audience to whom they are addressing their arguments and who they are seeking to persuade. But real arguments, such as is the focal point of the theory developed in this book, complete with their core and dialectical trappings, will appear too erudite, too talky, or too rational to make an appearance on Oprah. There is a gulf between entertainment values (which rule TV and, in particular, talk shows) and rational values, a point that leads naturally to the third threatTV. 3 Kierkegaard (1845) already expressed this clearly. Contemporary neurological research supports it. See Damasio (1994).

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A Third Threat: The TV Image Television is an enormously popular and powerful cultural force. In their study of television Lichter, Lichter, and Rothman (1994) asserted, ''Television has transcended its role as mere entertainment to become a potent force shaping everyday life" (p. 12). In North America, televisions are found in 99% of the homes. More homes have TV than have telephones or any other cultural item. The amount of time spent watching TV exceeds time devoted to any other single activity except sleeping. Given that it is a force of this magnitude, it is only to be expected that it will have its detractors. Indeed, television has been held responsible for many of the ills that beset the culture: the breakdown of the family and the family dinner hour, decline in literacy, increase in violence, and so forth. My concern here is the influence that TV has had on the practice of argumentation. I believe that the influence is largely negative and can be discussed under a number of headings. 1. Television competes with books for time and attention. Because my view holds text as the primary repository of argumentation, the less time people spend with text, the less the experience they have with an orientation conducive to argumentation. 2. Television rarely engages the rational mind at its rational level. People turn on the TV to escape from the work day world with its problems and frustrations. The last thing that they want is to be confronted with the demands of thinking. It has been said that the level of programming on network TV in the United States is that of an adolescent. (That may well be a generous estimate.) 3. Another reason television represents an obstacle to argumentation is that TV is an imagistic medium that aims at the emotions, whereas print (the main medium for argumentation) is a much more abstract medium that aims at the mind. A 4-year-old child has all the equipment needed to watch (almost all) TV. But to be able to read, the child's mind must be more developed, capable of more than imagistic pattern recognition. Let me develop this contrast, with thanks to Postman (1979) who argued that television is "the first curriculum." With that evocative phrase, Postman called attention to such considerations as these. First, TV is the first instructor (aside from parents) that a child of this culture encounters. Television has become a kind of baby-sitter. Children are accustomed to it and its lessons from a very early age. Second, because the school curriculum's primary form of information is language, its style of teaching is expository. It concerns itself with facts and argument. The school curriculum is both rationalistic and secular in its outlook. Television is both aesthetic and [at

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least] quasi-religious because its primary form of information is the image; its style of teaching is narration. And because of that, it is concerned with showing concrete people and situations toward which one responds either by accepting or rejecting them on emotional grounds.4 Third, TV is a permissive instructor. You can talk while being instructed, you can eat, you can read the newspaper. There are no prerequisites for watching Laverne and Shirley in the way that mathematics is a prerequisite for some kinds of physics. In the school curriculum, if the student repeatedly does not pay attention, the teacher may remove him from class. In the TV curriculum, if the student repeatedly does not pay attention, the teacher is removed from class (i.e., the program is removed). Postman contrasted digital and analogic symbols. A digital symbol is one like a letter or word or statement whose relation to what it symbolizes is arbitrary. An analogic symbol (a picture, icon, or TV image) bears a striking similarity to what it symbolizes. Postman's thesis is that TVrelying as it does on analogic symbolshas changed the educational and the wider human environment in important ways. I think Postman was right. His thesis becomes somewhat more alluring when the waves of fact about TV consumption and penetration of our culture are allowed to wash over us. Although many students have enormous trouble connecting with this practiceargumentationthat is so crucial for critical thinking, there is still no denying the fact that they are visually literate and indeed sophisticated in some sensevery quick to spot and to appreciate creative uses of images and pictures. One need only observe how quickly today's generation can process rock videos, play Nintendo, and grasp commercials, all of which are highly sophisticated products. In effect, the attempt to initiate students into the practice of argumentation is akin to introducing them to a foreign culture. Conclusion It has often been said that democracy depends on an informed electorateone that is capable of weighing and debating the issues. Its citizens must be able to argue with one another and with their leaders and would-be leaders, to argue about the issues of the day. This activity continues but there have been some basic changes. One way to index these changes is the following type of contrast. In 1858, when Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were both running for Illinois Senator, they staged a series of debates. These debates lasted for hours and 4 Postman's own literate orientation manifests itself in the phrase "accepting or rejecting them on emotional grounds" (p. 59). I have reservations about whether that is an apt characterization.

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the citizens who attended followed them closely and carefully. Contrast that to how such debates occur today, in highly structured settings, under the presence of the television camera. No candidate gets to speak for more than a few minutes at a time. Each candidate wants to avoid making a fatal mistake (such as Ford made against Carter in 1976). Each wants to parry the other effectively the way that Reagan did Carter in 1980 or the way that Mulroney did Turner in the Canadian federal election in 1983. How can anyone expect to develop a relatively complex line of argumentation in such a context? The answer is clear: It cannot be done. I have been discussing what appears to me to be serious threats both in the Academy and in the wider culture to the practice of argumentation. Now for the good news. The Network Problem One of the most hopeful developments has been the emergence of the thinking-skills movement, which has as the aim of installing the teaching of thinking skills into its rightful place in education at all levels. This has led to the development of a number of initiatives, some of which target critical thinking, others that target some other form of thinking or reasoning, others that focus on problem solving, and so on.5 It was this plurality of initiatives that Resnick (1987) had in mind when she asked: How should we make sense of these many labels? Do critical thinking, metacognition, cognitive strategies and study skills refer to the same kind of capabilities? And how are they related to problem-solving abilities that mathematicians, scientists and engineers try to teach their students? (p. 1) Such questions as these, important and right-minded in my view, form part of what I call The Network Problem. The Network Problem: First Form How are these various constructs that have been introduced to improve thinking skills related to one another? How is critical thinking related to problem solving? to metacognition? to argumentation? to informal logic? and to reasoning in general? The Network Problem is the term I give to the task of providing a clear understanding of these concepts and their interrelationships. The implica5 See Nickerson, Perkins, & Smith (1985) for a comprehensive overview of thinking programs.

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tion of adopting this term is that because these terms are part of a network, clarity about any one of them necessarily involves not only seeing it clearly but seeing it in relationship to the others in the network. To understand what critical thinking is, one must not only have some kind of definition of what it is but also some idea of how it is like and how it is different from, say, problem solving, higher-order thinking, or metacognition. And if it is true, as I think it is, that all of these denotes forms or types of reasoning, that fact may provide the key to the solution. The questions just raised strike me as being as interesting as they are reasonable. But what kind of question am I dealing with here? These questions are matters of definition. What kind of definition? There is too much divergence, too much apparent difference for any definition to be lexical. At this point, any definition must be stipulative. A stipulative definition without the necessary theory and argumentation to support it will not satisfy my needs. I need to see what happens if I approach matters as this theory suggests and what happens when I approach them another way. What is ultimately needed, in my view, is a theory of reasoning in which these terms are all given appropriate definition and their relationship to one another is developed. That theory will contain recommendations about how to understand critical thinking and its relationship to problem solving. It is my hypothesis that these terms must be understood in relationship to one another and not, as is presently the case, in isolation from one another. (See Fig. 1.2.) To expand on this point briefly, to use the terms "critical thinking" and "problem solving" as though they were interchangeable, or mean the same thing, is confusing. Such confusion cannot be cleared up simply by providing a definition of critical thinking because what needs to be seen is not just the real nature of critical thinking but the nature of problem solving also, and how these two stand in relation to each other. Such clarification is the work of what I call the theory of reasoning. At present, no such theory exists. My hope is that this book underscores the importance of such a theory and may even indicate the direction in which it must go. This, then, is my formulation of the first format of The Network Problem and it leads directly to a second form of this same problem. Critical Thinking Problem Solving Metacognition

Higher Order Thinking Informal Logic Reasoning

Fig. 1.2 The network problemfirst form.

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The Network Problem: Second Form The second form of The Network Problem emerges once we begin to focus attention on reasoning and argumentation and find ourselves confronting another set of questions, among them: How does reasoning relate to argumentation? How is reasoning related to rationality? to intelligence? to knowledge? to thinking? to argument? These terms also form a network in the sense that clarity about any one of them appears to some degree to be dependent on the others. (See Fig. 1.3.) It is evident that the crucial term here is reasoning because it is the only one that figures in both forms of the problem. Moreover, when one looks at the terms in this second form of The Network Problem, one realizes that the situation is anomalous: There is much work done on the theory of knowledge, the theory of rationality, and the theory of intelligence, but there is next to nothing that can be looked to as a theory of reasoning. One of the implications of the argument of this book is that the theory of argumentation itself requires supplementation by the development of the theory of reasoning. I hope to demonstrate that, although I may make some progress in the course of this book in dealing with questions about argumentation, in the final analysis, I cannot hope for adequate comprehension without support from a theory of reasoning. The Centrality and Importance of Argumentation In response to the list of impediments discussed earlier, I can well imagine someone who says, "So what? What's at stake here anyway? What hangs in the balance?" Before I answer that question, it is important to acknowledge that outside the academy, in what some would call the "life-world" (Phenomenology) or the arena (Barth, 1987), I notice also that the decay of the old world order, which was based largely on post-World War II coalitions existing under the threat of military force and power, are everywhere giving way to new alignments. The dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 by its own citizens was a remarkable event, as was the end of the Soviet Regime Reasoning Knowledge Intelligence

Rationality Thinking Argument

Fig. 1.3 The network problemsecond form.

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in Russia. There is talk of a New World Order, one based on common interest and rational persuasion. As we reach the end of the millennium and the year 2000, it must be understood that the only force that can be used is the force of the stronger argument. This point was made by Lasch (1992). According to Leo (1995): Lasch argued that a citizenry can't be informed unless it argues. He wrote that only an impassioned political argument makes the arguer look hard for evidence that will back up or tear down his position. Until we have to defend our opinions in public, he said, they remain half-formed convictions based on random impressions: "We come to know our minds only be explaining ourselves to others." (p. 24) Later on, Leo concluded: "We need a lot more emphasis on public discourse and common problems, and a lot less moaning about our individual psyches" (p. 24). In his defense of political liberalism, Rawls (1993) made a similar point. He said: "Public reason is characteristic of a democratic people: it is the reason of its citizens, of those sharing the status of equal citizenship" (p. 213). Although Rawls spoke of what he called "public reason," much of what he said applies to argumentation as it is discussed in this book. In fact, it could be argued that argumentation just is public reason. The practice of argumentation offers important benefits to the state, the public, and the individual. But if those benefits are to stand clear, I need at this point to differentiate between argumentation and the other types of reasoning with which it is sometimes confused or identified. Argumentation Distinguished The full development of the contrasts that follow will raise questions to some degree, in that I am assuming, provisionally, an understanding of argument and argumentation that will be developed later in chapter 6. As I showed earlier this chapter, argument belongs to a network of terms that have been driven to the forefront by the recent attention given to thinking and argumentation in education. I here attempt only the sketch of their differences. Argument as Distinguished from Inference and Implication By the term "argument," I understand an intellectual product, essentially public and social in character, that seeks to persuade rationally. By "inference," I understand a movement (of the mind) from one item (usually a thought) to another, where the former serves as the basis for and leads to the latter. An inference may become the conclusion of an argument, but it need not be. (The term "inference" is ambiguous: It refers both to the mental

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activity and the result of that activity. Here I am most concerned with the latter.) By "implication," I understand a logicolinguistic relationship between two linguistic items (probably best thought of as propositions), such that one of them follows from the other(s). An implication may well be nested in any argument, but need not be. If I am right, an argument cannot be reduced to a concatenation of implicatures nor inferences. Argument, inference, and implication are all types of reasoningand their full and proper definition and differentiation is the subject of what I call the theory of reasoning. For too long, the intellectual culture of the 20th century (under the influence of the positivist ideal) more or less merged the identity of these three. If this book is successful in its argument, then one effect will be to reconceptualize argument in such a way that its difference from these other related cognitive activities becomes clear. That, in turn, will become an entry point to the theory of reasoning. For the moment, all I hope to achieve is some basis for distinguishing argument from implication and inference. All three are important but they have different conditions and confer different benefits and play important, different and, indeed, complementary roles in the intellectual life of both the individual and the culture. Argumentation Distinguished from Conflict ManagementNegotiation, on the One Hand and Quarreling and Bickering, on the Other Hand For many, the term "argument" connotes a quarrel or verbal fight with one party throwing abuse at the other and the other responding in kind. That is not the sense of argument being discussed here. On the other hand, there are these more polished strategies, like mediation conflict management and negotiation, that aim at producing some form of agreement among parties engaged in conflicta conflict that is often nothing more than quarreling and bickering. The chief differentiating factor is that in the practice of argumentation, truth is a fundamental consideration, whereas in conflict management mediation and negotiation, it plays a background role. In other words, if, in attempting to resolve a conflict, we happen to agree on something that later turns out not to have been true, that need not upset our resolution. However, if you and I are arguing and we both take something to be true and it later turns out to be false, well, that discovery will have a retroactive effect on our argumentation. Argumentation Distinguished from Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, and Other Forms of Reasoning To some degree, to draw these distinctions would require that I have at least a partial solution to The Network Problem and that these distinctions take me in the direction of the theory of reasoning. The focus of problem

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solving is, obviously, a problem that requires solving. This activity may or may not be abetted by argumentation. Critical thinking, as I understand it, is the ability to evaluate an intellectual product in terms of its strengths and weaknesses.6 Although much of critical thinking focuses on argument and, hence, requires skills of argumentation, critical thinking has a wider focus. To think critically, one must be able not only to argue but also to make good inferences, to clarify meaning, to look for evidence, and so forth. Once again, these issues are the proper subject of the theory of reasoning. Argumentation as Discussed Here Contrasted with Legal Argumentation The model of legal argumentation has had an important influence on the development of the theory of argument. Yet, argumentation as a practice that stresses personal responsibility contrasts with the legal situation, where the point is to make the best possible case for one's client (regardless of truth value). More important, much of legal argumentation is founded on an adversarial approach that says the best interest of society is served if each side makes the strongest possible case so that the judge or jury has the benefit of both in making the final determination. However, argumentation as discussed here is not adversarial. In fact it can be and has been argued that the adversarial approach is inimical to argumentation. The Benefits of Argumentation Having thus distinguished, in a preliminary way, argumentation from other forms of reasoning, I want to list some of the benefits that participation in the practice of argumentation may confer. To the degree that one has been initiated into and is a participant in the practice of argumentation, the following benefits may be expected: An increase in rationality: As a result of participation in the practice, the participants become more rational than before. Argumentative space is rational space par excellence. This point will become clearer in chapter 6. Respect for evidence: To argue, one must gather the evidence that one believes supports one's conclusion; one must learn to put that evidence together so that it leads to the conclusion and is seen to do so, also. Respect for different, even opposing, points of view: Opposition and difference are presuppositions of the practice and, hence, built into it.7 Argu6 There are many definitions of critical thinking. I discuss several of them and propose my own, just quoted, in Johnson (1992). 7 For a strong expression of this claim, see Govier (1995).

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mentation is about learning how to manage these differences rationally and, in some cases, actually resolving them. But none of this can happen unless each participant has at least the ability to hear the argument offered by the other and at some level has some respect for that point of view. A conclusion that seems, at first blush, to be outrageous can, when viewed in light of the argument for it, come to be seen as rational. An appreciation of the value of criticism: I argue that criticism (by which I do not necessarily mean adverse commentary) is internal to the practice of argumentation. It is one of the internal goods of the practice (to use MacIntyre's terminology). I do not claim that argumentation alone bestows these benefits, for it is clear that most of them can come about through other means. For example, openmindedness can be encouraged by the sharing of alternative views and learning to appreciate other ways of looking at the world. Travel in a foreign land has been known to confer this benefit. Respect for evidence and opposing viewpoints can also be learned in the practice of scientific theorizing. And so on. These benefitsmuch needed in our current climatewill be available to those who engage in argumentation on a regular basis. Conclusion One conclusion these reflections have suggested to me is the need for a more adequate theoretical approach to the practice of argumentation, particularly in the normative dimensions. As I have argued, logicians in the 20th century (following Russell and Whitehead) largely abandoned argumentation as a practice. To make matters worse, I find the practice has been besieged in the broader intellectual (and commercial) culture. In no small part, the motivation for this work is to rescue the practice and restore it to a place of centrality. In working toward this end, however, I do not suppose that there was a Golden Age in the past when argumentation reigned supreme. Nor do I need to downgrade what were the central developments in logic (theory of entailment and proof theory) and in culture (the shift from text to image) in order to do this. Still, it is true that in order to see argumentation properly, I shall have to fight my way through some of the misconceptions that occurred with what I call the mathematization of logic (a phrase I explain in chapter 4) and the consequent impoverishment of the conception of argumentation. In the next chapter, I take a closer look at the current state of the study of argumentation.

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Chapter 2 Context: The Study of Argumentation The Re-Emergence of Argumentation Theory Argumentation theory and the theory of argument have (re-)emerged as important focal points of interdisciplinary research. Not just philosophers and logicians but also linguists, speech communication theorists, rhetoricians, and psychologists, among others, have written extensively about it. The reader should consult the Proceedings of the Second ISSA Conference on Argumentation (1991a, 1991b) and the Third ISSA Conference on Argumentation (1995a, 1995b, 1995c, 1995d). They consist of papers from scholars all over the world and from a great variety of disciplinesall in one fashion or another addressing issues having to do with argumentation. I give here a brief survey of recent activity in this area to indicate the scope of that interest within the Academy. Within Logic and Philosophy There have been important changes in the past 25 years. What is known in some circles as the Informal Logic Movement has been partly responsible for bringing the theory of argumentation back into the logico-philosophical limelight. The change in philosophy took place gradually through the 1930s and 1940s as the prevailing program (positivism) gradually unraveled. It was not that positivists did not value argumentation, but two aspects of their program had the result of diminishing the practice. First, their emphasis on

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making logic scientific in the mode of mathematics resulted in the virtual disappearance of argumentation from logic's orbit of concern. As logic increasingly took on the identity of mathematical logic, its focus shifted away from argumentation in natural language and from developing the normative theory necessary to the development of logistic systems as vehicles for the study of formalized languages.1 The second effect was to severely limit the realm of meaningful discourse. According to Ayer (1936), for example, there are the conceptual issues of logic and philosophy and there are the empirical issues of science. The latter are addressed by scientific theorizing, the former by analysis. But substantive disputesethics, art, and religious mattersare declared noncognitive and, hence, there is no point in arguing about them. They are not amenable to rational resolution. The role of argument is thus severely limited. The first clear signal that something new was afoot can be seen in the appearance of Toulmin (1958), which selfconsciously set about the task of revitalizing our understanding of argumentation. Toulmin's strategy for doing that was to reconceptualize the notion of argument by changing the model. Toulmin argued that the geometrical model has dominated logical thinking and that it must give way to a jurisprudential one. Both in The Uses of Argument and later in his text Reasoning (1979), Toulmin devised just such a model, including a new way of conceptualizing the elements of argumentdata, warrant, backing, and so forth. More about this approach later in this chapter. In an interestingly similar vein, although approaching his subject through rhetoric rather than through logic, Perelman (1958) argued that the old rhetoric, driven as it was by Cartesian and Platonic ideals, must yield to a new rhetoric. Perelman, too, looked to jurisprudential practices for enlightenment. Looking back to the sources of the reemergence of this interest in argumentation among philosophers and logicians, one would also have to mention Hamblin (1970), which was the first monograph devoted to the study of fallacies and which in fact goes well beyond the topic of fallacy to deal with the conception of argument and to introduce the notion of formal dialectic. Other Disciplines In the fields of rhetoric and speech communication, the study of argumentation has long been a focus of continuing study and research. In 1979, the Speech Communication Association organized a conference on argumenta1 See Church (1956). In Quine's Mathematical Logic, there is exactly one reference to the term ''argument," and that use is the mathematical one.

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tion that has been held every second summer since then in Utah, the proceedings of which are published. The connection between rhetoric and argumentation is too well known to require commentary here. In linguistics, the work of Grize (1982) and Anscombre and Ducrot (1983) is an indication of the influence of linguistics on argumentation theory. Worth mentioning here also is that the Pragma-dialectical approach of van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1984, 1992; to be discussed in chapter 11) was strongly influenced by Speech Act theory. Until recently in psychology, there has been very little work by cognitive psychologists that focuses specifically on argumentation. Once again, the truth of this claim will appear dubious to those who operate with the current conception of argument as inference or implication. There have been significant research undertakings in the study of both implication (deductive) and inference (inductive). For the former, one must mention Johnson-Laird (1983) and Wason (1972); Johnson and Wason-Laird (1972); for the latter, Nisbett and Ross (1980). Kuhn (1991) marks the emergence of a new and welcome strand of psychological research into argument. Additional evidence of change in the direction of greater interest in argumentation by psychologists can be seen in a recent issue of the journal Argumentation devoted to Argumentation and Psycholinguistics: Developmental Studies. In law and jurisprudence, there is a long tradition in which legal argumentation is the focal point. In education, there has been ongoing interest in matters related to argumentation theorywitness McPeck (1981) and Siegel (1988). All of this activity indicates that within the academy, there exists a renewed interest in the subject and the practice of argumentation.2 Argumentation Theory versus the Theory of Argument Thus far, I have been speaking as if argumentation theory and the theory of argument were the same thing. But there is a point here to distinguishing between the study of the practice of argumentationwhat I call argumentation theory or the theory of argumentationand the study of the product (argument) of that practice, which is what I call the theory of argument. Indeed, something like this distinction is crucial for the argument of this book. The point I am making is that many recent theories of argumentation have been focused more on the process of arguing. As healthy as this focus 2 The reader interested in history should consult, inter alia, Barth and Martens (1982), Cox and Willard (1982), Johnson and Blair (1994), van Eemeren, Grootendorst, and Snoeck Henkemans (1996).

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is, it needs to be balanced by proper work in the theory of argument, which is what I hope to provide. As I have described it here, the theory of argumentation is that inquiry that studies the practice of argumentation. This study has normative, empirical, and conceptual dimensions. The theory of argument is a component of the theory of argumentation, in much the same way that argument is a component of the practice of argumentation. A theory of argumentation will necessarily have to address the issues raised in the theory of argument; whether it does so by name or not does not matter. In addition to considering the product, a theory of argumentation will also have to take into account the process of arguing and the arguer. A theory of argumentation will, it seems to me, have, in addition to the conceptual and normative dimensions mentioned already, a strong, empirical element. What I am describing here as the theory of argumentation, others would call argumentation theory, meaning to refer to a multidisciplinary investigation whose focal point is argumentation. Argumentation theory refers to a theory involving logic, rhetoric, speech communication, composition, psychology, and so on. Thus, argumentation theory is the wider descriptor. The theory of argument refers to that aspect of argumentation theory devoted to the study of the product of the practice: the argument itself. Informal Logic refers to a specific initiative within the theory of argument whose conceptual and normative basis is logical in character. The revisionary move made by informal logic within the discipline of logic lies at the core of the argument of this book and is discussed in detail in chapter 5. Informal logic may be seen as a response to formal logic, specifically as an attempt to redress imbalances that occurred when formal deductive logic was put forward as a theory of argument. Having described the overall terrain and discussed terminological matters, I want now to zero in on the theory of argument. Informal Logic as a Theory of Argument Govier (1987) argued, persuasively, that better theories of argument are needed. She reviewed the current theories of argument, found them wanting, and concluded, "These theories are not satisfactory; we await a better one" (p. 34). The theories she referred to here are deductivism and positivism. I have more to say about these theories and her critique of them in chapter 3. The position I take now is that informal logic, not as presently understood or constituted but developed in ways indicated in this book, can meet the needs identified by Govier and provide a better theory of argument. But it can do this only if it significantly revises our conception of argument, which has been corrupted by FDL (an abbreviation for Formal, Deductive Logic),

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which itself was overly influenced by mathematical logic. For this to occur, the theory of argument must situate itself within the context of a theory of argumentation. My claim is that informal logic is ideally positioned to assist in these undertakings. In the final analysis, the problems confronting any theory of argument and theory of argumentation point beyond themselves to the need for a theory of reasoning. As the argument of this book develops, it becomes clear that solutions to the questions that confront the theory of argument involve questions that take us beyond that theory. In the remainder of this chapter, I set the stage for that discussion by first of all presenting two specimens of argument and raising the fundamental question, "How is one to appraise these specimens?" Presumably, that is what a theory of argument will aid us in doing. I begin with Govier's understanding of the theory of argument as a field of investigation. After that, I present and then revise a set of useful distinctions credited to Govier, following which I review three attempts to formulate a theory of argument: those of Toulmin, Perelman, and Hamblin. All of this should provide a clearer picture of just what a theory of argument involves. Last, I turn to the question, "What are the adequacy conditions a successful theory of argument must satisfy?" Usage Note. Although what Govier calls the theory of argument might more appropriately be termed the theory of argumentation, for sake of uniformity of reference and intelligibility, I continue to use the phrase "theory of argument." I use the phrase "the theory of argument" to refer to the theory type and ''a theory of argument" to refer to tokens or instances. For instance, I argue that Govier's contribution is to, first of all, make everyone aware of an important inquiry called "the theory of argument" and that in addition, she proposed her own theory of argument, which will be examined in a later section.3 Setting the Stage One important purpose of a theory of argument is to provide guidance in the tasks of evaluating and criticizing argument. I begin with a couple of examples. 3 This "athe" ambiguity is familiar in philosophy at least: The theory of knowledge refers to an important subdiscipline within philosophy. When a philosopher works his reflections into such theoretical shape as to address the important questions, he may be said to have formulated a theory of knowledge. The aim of everyone who proposes such a theory of knowledge is that it will become the theory of knowledge.

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Senator Paul Martin was well known for extolling the virtues of his hometown of Windsor, Ontario. On this particular occasion, Senator Martin rose to defend Windsor against a slur contained in Hailey's novel about the U.S. auto industry, Wheels. Hailey wrote of "grimy Windsor" across the border from Detroit, "matching in ugliness the worst of its U.S. senior partner." According to press reports, Martin responded: When I read this I was incensed . . . Those of us who live there know that [Windsor] is not a grimy city. It is a city that has one of the best flower parks in Canada. It is a city of fine schools, hard working and tolerant people. This argument seems to me a common, garden-variety typesomeone addressing an issue and attempting its resolution using an argument. Not all examples are this straightforward. For a slightly more complicated example, consider this argument. Prof. J. Philippe Rushton became a controversial figure in Canada and the United States when he went public with his views about the racial basis of intelligence. In the argument that follows, John Starkey, who was President of the Ontario College of University Faculty Associations when this column was published in 1989, offered a kind of argument in defense of Rushton's right to hold his views: 1. Since Prof. J. Philippe Rushton presented his paper "Evolutionary Biology and Heritable Traits with Reference to OrientalWhiteBlack Differences" at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on January 19 in San Francisco he has been at the centre of continuing controversy and escalating media coverage including a recently televised debate with Dr. David Suzuki and a planned appearance on a U.S. television talk show. The controversy is a very emotional one in which academic freedom has been widely discussed by academics and non-academics alike. However, in many instances the concept of academic freedom has been confused with the substance of Prof. Rushton's research. Academic freedom is so central to academia that is worth trying to extricate this from the general debate. 2. I do not know Prof. Rushton, and I do not share his views but I believe that all academics have an interest in preserving his right to present his opinions. 3. The defence of academic freedom is not a defence of "the freedom within the law for academic staff to question and test perceived wisdom and to put forward new and controversial or unpopular opinions without placing individuals in jeopardy or losing their jobs" (this definition was used by the Committee of ViceChancellors and Principals of the universities in the U.K., 1987). As the Vice-Chancellors made clear, academic freedom is not an absolute freedom, it does not take precedence over any existing provincial or federal laws.

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4. In the present controversy it has been claimed that what Prof. Rushton has published is "bad science." However, one cannot require that only "good science" be published. Similarly one cannot require that only "correct research" be published. In an attempt to ensure that these criteria are met academic publications are subject to peer evaluation. Advances in knowledge often occur because wrong research results are published which generate questions in the minds of others. 5. Professor Rushton's peers have already made judgments about his research describing it as "shoddily presented," "rife with errors," and containing far too many "sweeping and unsupportable conclusions." Indeed some have argued that his work is unworthy of any consideration whatsoever. 6. Some seem to be arguing that because the research of Prof. Rushton has social implications the considerations mentioned above do not apply and he has stepped beyond the bounds of academic freedom. In the television debate Dr. Suzuki made passing reference to Galileo. The parallel between Galileo and Rushton is not a good one but the same principle applies to both. It was wrong for the Roman Inquisition to curtail Galileo's academic freedom. It would be wrong for our society to fire Rushton. 7. Society has benefited greatly from academic freedom. Throughout history it has been essential to the production of new ideas. To be sure, there have been times and there will continue to be occasions when the free search for new knowledge will create difficulties. Academic freedom can be problematic. But as Thomas Walkom points out elsewhere in this issue, "it is better than the alternative." 8. University of Western Ontario President George Pedersen was correct in refusing to fire Professor Rushton. To have done so, would have deprived us all of the right to espouse and advocate unpopular views. President Pedersen was also correct in deploring in strong terms bigotry, intolerance and racism in any form. 9. The fight against racism is something we must all be alert to. The Premier of the province contributes little to this fight with his outburst: "If I had the power to fire him [Rushton] I would." 10. To denounce the ideas advanced by an individual is one thing and perfectly appropriate. To call for that person's dismissal is quite another. The speed with which Premier Peterson was prepared to dispense with academic freedom and have Rushton fired was positively frightening. This argument, it is evident, has a much more complicated structure, not just because it is longer but because it is more complex internally. That may have something to do with the topicthe subject of academic freedom is more complicated than the issue of whether Windsor is a grimy city. But that is not the main factor. It is just that this arguer has gone more deeply into the issue addressed. Not only did Starkey lay out the reasons that supported his own position, he also defended his position against possible

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objections, as when he said, "In the present controversy it has been claimed that what Prof. Rushton has published is 'bad science.' However, one cannot require that only 'good science' be published. . . ." The move Starkey made here is typical in argumentation: He listed an objection to his argument and then responded to it. The objection here would presumably be, "Bad science does not deserve the protection of academic freedom, and Rushton's science is bad science." To which Starkey responded, "One cannot require that only 'good science' be published. . . ." (p. 2) In addition to such arguments as my two examples, even more complicated arguments are also possible. Thus, the argument in a judicial opinion may run to 40 to 50 pages and indeed an entire book may be said to constitute an argument. The Critique of Pure Reason is a sustained argument to show that reason as a faculty is limited and cannot furnish proof of metaphysical theses. Not only length but also dialectical complexity become factors in the different types of argument. Here I need to consider two objections. The first objection is: By giving those specimens as samples, you have wed the theory of argument to the task of appraising to rather than constructing arguments. This is an important limitation to recognize. It is possible that if one approached the theory of argument with a different orientationthat of constructing argumentsthe theory might develop in very different ways. In defense of the orientation adopted in this book, I say here that it has been the standard orientation (not that that makes it right), and it has been thought that if one knows how to criticize an argument, one is aware of what one needs to know in order to construct an argument. The second objection is: Your sample is not representative. You have omitted forms of discourse that could be called arguments. For example, you seem to omit argument as interplay between two speakers. This is a second limitation of the theory I develop. My theory is focused on argumentative text rather than argumentative speech. In chapter 6, I further defend this focus and in chapter 10, I examine a prominent theory that is based on spoken rather than written arguments. In the final analysis, although recognizing the importance of spoken argumentation and its difference, I believe that the best foundation for the theory of argument is text or written discourse.4 Let us then suppose that someone is interested in the issue that the argument put forward by the arguer concerns. Suppose further that the 4 In her Preface to Johnson (1996), Govier rightly identified and discussed the importance of this orientation.

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other is rational and wishes to behave rationally. If all this is true, the Other's best course of action will be to engage in the practice of argumentation in the appropriate way by taking on the role of critic. How will the critic go about this task? What is involved? It seems clear that he or she will have to accomplish the following tasks.5 Task 1 Interpretation and Reconstruction of the Argument First, the critic will have to arrive at a fairly clear understanding of the structure of the argument. Although relatively easily accomplished with arguments like the first one given earlier in this chapter, this is not so easy when it comes to examples like the second given earlier, and is still more difficult when it comes to The Critique of Pure Reason. By interpretation, I mean that the critic will ask questions like, "Is Pn supposed to support P1 or some other premise? What does the internal argument here look like? What kind of arguments are P5 through P7?" By reconstruction, I mean setting forth the structure of the argument in such fashion as to ready it for criticism. In addition to the interpretive tasks previously mentioned, this task may include providing any so-called missing premises. It seems clear that the theory of argument should provide the necessary theoretical guidance for the critic to accomplish these tasks. In short, the theory of argument should provide necessary principles of interpretation along with guidance about how to lay out the structure of an argument in a clear way, including how to provide the missing ingredients. Let us assume, then, that our theory has provided such guidance and that the interpreted and reconstructed argument is before us. What comes next? Task 2 Identification of Potential Problems Next, the critic must probe the reconstructed argument for potential problems. What are these problems? What flaws or shortcomings or weaknesses should be looked for? Some theory of evaluation will guide the critic in this task. But it will differ in character from the theory previously mentioned. It will be a theory of appraisal rather than a theory of analysis. The theory will have to specify some standards (or criteria) of evaluation. But if one aims to be a good critic, it is not enough just to evaluate the argument. The critic is under some obligation to do more than just produce a litany of complaints. The critic is under some obligation to make judgments of im5 The reader may wish to compare this list with Govier's (1987) list on p. 141.

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portance about the problems discovered (with the aid of the theory of evaluation). That leads to a third task. Task 3 Prioritization of the Problems Suppose, then, as is likely in the case of more complicated arguments like my second example, there are several problems. If the critic's purpose here is to produce useful criticism (this assumption is crucial and comes to the fore in chap. 8), the critic will have to decide which of the many problems is most serious. The theory of argument must provide support in this task of prioritizing the problems. Task 4 Critique of the Argument Finally, the critic will need to produce a critique of the argument. What are the qualities of a good critique? The theory of argument must answer this question by guiding the critic in the construction of the critique. There are certain principles that must be understood as guiding the practice of the critic. My position is that none of the extant theories of argument do a satisfactory job of guiding the critic in the handling of these basic tasks. It is best to begin by clarifying in some detail exactly what is involved in a theory of argument. The Nature of Theory of Argument In order to understand the theory of argument as an inquiry, we cannot do better than follow the path laid down by Govier (1987) in Problems in Argument Analysis and Evaluation, where she gave this question and related ones the benefit of sustained consideration. First of all, let me say a few words about this important work. The book consists of 13 chapters, most of which were previously published at different times in various forums on a variety of topics: the theory of argument, informal logic, fallacies, and critical thinking. The book has many important contributions to make to these topics, chief of which is to make the case that the theory of argument is a serious area of research. If these chapters have a recurrent theme, it might be said that it is the limits of deductivism and positivism as theories of argument, along with the consequent suggestion that we need better theories of argument. (Govier herself seemed to favour a pluralist approach to argumentationwhich I shall shortly explain.)

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A second great strength of Govier's book lies in the connections she drew between the theory of argument and informal logic and other areas of philosophy. For example, Govier relied heavily on the writings on moral philosophers like Thompson, Baier, and Wellman. One major weakness of her book is that it lacks a sustained focus. In many of the chapters, the focus is on some aspect of the study of argument. Yet it could not be said that there exists a pattern of development that the reader can readily follow.6 Govier on the Theory of Argument What then did Govier take the theory of argument to be? She wrote: Except in limited circles, there is no recognized subject called "the theory of argument." Yet there are clearly a number of questions about arguing and argument not answered by formal logic and of considerable interest. A theory of argument would discuss the nature and purpose of argument and specify and defend standards for the appraisal of arguments. It would specify how many different types of argument there are and what standards are appropriate to assess each type. It would explain when and why it is reasonable to read into discourse statements which are not explicitly stated, and whether and how the personalities and the beliefs of the arguers and audiences logically affect the merits of argumentation. Ideally, a theory of argument would apply to all natural arguments. But is there, or could there be, any such thing as a theory of argument? (p. 13) Govier approached the theory of argument by seeing it as an inquiry whose purpose is to answer a series of questions. Let me itemize those questions. 1. What is the nature and purpose of argument? 2. What are the standards for the appraisal of arguments? 3. What are the different types of argument? 4. What standards are appropriate to assess each type? 5. How are we justified in reconstructing argument so as to include elements not explicitly asserted by the arguer? 6. How do the personalities and beliefs of the arguer and the audience affect the merits of an argument? Later, Govier added other questions for the theory to deal with: 6 For a critique of Govier's book, see Allen (1990). In chapter 3, I have a close look at Groarke's (1992) response to Govier's critique of deductivism.

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7. When and why should we regard an argument as having missing or unstated premises? (p. 13) 8. Is the truth of the premises too strong a condition to demand for soundness of argument? (p. 13, 33) There is some redundancy in this list, so let me prune it. Both questions 2 and 4 are not needed so I will discard 4 and keep 2 because the latter seems more open-ended. Question 4 seems to assume that there are various types of argument. Because question 7 seems to be covered by question 5, I will keep 5; it is the more general of the two. I then come up with the following revised set of questions for our theory of argument to answer: 1. What is the nature and purpose of argument? 2. What are the standards for the appraisal of arguments? 3. What are the different types of argument? 4. How are we justified in reconstructing argument so as to include elements not explicitly asserted by the arguer? 5. How do the personalities and beliefs of the arguer and the audience affect the merits of an argument? 6. Is the truth of the premise too strong a condition to demand soundness of argument? Let me assume that listing the questions that must be addressed is a viable way to specify a theory of this sort. If I want a better understanding of exactly what a theory of argument comprises, I have to ask two questions (metaquestions) about this list: Metaquestion 1. Is this list of questions complete? If not, what needs to be added? Metaquestion 2. Is there a discernible pattern in this list that might be the basis of a more general description of the theory of argument? The answer to Metaquestion 1 is extremely complicated, and it may even turn out that the question is ill-formulated. I limit myself here to observing that there are other questions that belong on the list. At least the following strike me as important additions to the list: 7. How is argument to be understood or defined? 8. What is the relationship between argument and inference?

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9. Is there an important difference between evaluating an argument and criticizing it? I am sure that there are others that I have overlooked. But for the moment, let me assume that I have identified most of the important questions clearly. Let me look at Metaquestion 2: Is there a pattern in this series of questions? There appear to be two quite different types of question. First, there are the questions that are conceptual in character, such as what is the real nature of argument. These are questions that will be involved in carrying out Task 1 discussed earlier. The other kind of basic question is normative in character. The basic questions that must be confronted are: 10. What constitutes logical virtue in an argument? What are the qualities that make an argument a good argument? 11. What constitutes profitable criticism of an argument? These are the questions that are involved in carrying out Tasks 2 through 4. The Theory of Argument Subdivided My proposal then, drawing on Govier's work but adding my own overlay, is that two basic subdivisions within the theory of argument are needed, as Fig. 2.1 indicates. The theory of analysis has the task of dealing with the questions concerning the nature, structure, and typology of argument. In terms of my list of questions, the ones that belong to the theory of analysis are questions 1, 3, 4, 7, and 8. Although all of these questions would, in principle, fall to the theory of analysis, there are problems with respect to some of these items. For instance, it is far from clear to me why I should need a policy for the identification of arguments. Are arguments so difficult to detect that a policy or set of procedures is needed? Do I have a similar need when it comes to explanations or scientific theories? The answer is No. Then why here in connection with arguments? This is a question I propose to answer in chapter 6. One further point: Govier assumed that the elements of arguments will turn out to be premises and conclusion, in spite of the fact that one of the most important theorists, Toulmin, specifically avoided this terminology because of its association with the old model. THEORY OF ARGUMENT THEORY OF ANALYSIS

THEORY OF APPRAISAL

Fig. 2.1 Subdividing the theory of argument.

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The theory of appraisal has the task of coming up with the standards and criteria and types of evaluation andor criticism. (I use the term "appraisal" so as to avoid using evaluation and criticism, which will be assigned other duties.) In terms of the list of questions, those belonging to the theory of appraisal are questions 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11. Govier described the other component of the theory of argument as: The other has to do with the pragmatics and dialectics of argument: whether premises in a good argument need to be true or only acceptable; whether personal attributes of the arguer having to do with authority or credibility ever have a legitimate bearing on their appraisal of the argument; how rebuttals, pros and cons, and counter-arguments are to fit our structural model and many related factors. (p. 34) With the exception of the last mentioned item, all of these questions belong to what I call the theory of appraisal. It seems useful to make the kind of cut suggested, because there might be areas where two theorists agreefor example, on issues of what an argument is and how many typesand yet disagree about what theory of appraisal to adopt. One theorist may wish to argue for fallacy theory as a theory of appraisal; another theorist may wish to develop some alternative theory of criticism. Yet, they may well agree on how the structure of arguments is to be understood. There is a further reason for distinguishing these two aspects of our theory of argument. It seems likely that one's theory of appraisal should be based on the theory of analysis. Before one can properly answer the questions, "How should an argument be evaluated? What are the appropriate standards?" one must first of all have a clear and adequate conception of argument. It turns out that an important reason for the failure of formal deductive logic to provide an adequate theory of argument is that its conception of argument is deficient. In any event, one's theory of appraisal must grow out of one's theory of analysisnot necessarily that it will be derivable (in the strict sense of entailment) from it, but at least it will be based on and emerge from it.7 Thus, the inquiry known as the theory of argument may initially be defined by a series of questions (like those previously posed) along with the proposed subdivision into the theory of analysis and the theory of appraisal. Now that we have a somewhat better grasp of the theory of argument as an area of inquiry, I want to look at Govier's classification of theories of argument. 7 Historically, this has not always been the case, as my discussion of Hamblin's theory in chapter 6 shows.

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Govier's Typology Govier's work on the theory of argument is wide-ranging. First, Govier discussed the theory of argument abstractly considered, as I just explained. Second, she reviewed and criticized specific theories of argument: deductivism and positivism. Third, she hinted at a new theory of argument. The second and third items are taken up in the next chapter. What I want to track here is Govier's classification of theories of argument. In the course of the discussion that takes place largely in chapters 1 through 4, Govier introduced the elements of a vocabulary for describing the various possibilities within the theory of analysis. Monistic versus Pluralistic Theories Govier distinguished between monolithic theories and pluralistic ones, a distinction she drew while she discussed spectrum theory (about which, more in a moment): It is not surprising that teachers and students of natural argumentation should find a spectrum theory initially attractive. It strikes a convenient balance between monolithic and pluralistic theories. Like monolithic theories it avoids the need to classify arguments. . . . Like pluralistic theories, the spectrum theory is able to avoid the need to impose one model of good reasoning on all natural argument. (p. 30) From this passage, I might infer that a monolithic, or as I shall say from now on for reasons that become clear shortly, a monistic theory holds that there is but one type of argument. Thus monism is a position in the theory of analysis. The classic example of this position is Deductivismall arguments are deductive in character. Deductivism first appears as a theory about types of argument. It is part of the theory of analysis. The pluralist, on the other hand, does not impose one model of good reasoning. Pluralism holds that goodness in argument is not to be exhausted by any one criteria or set of criteria, for example, soundness. Thus, I see what Govier called a pluralistic theory as taking a position on issues that belong to the theory of appraisal. The pluralistic approach is perhaps best represented by someone like Thomas (1973) or Finocchiaro (1981), both of whom Govier took to be representative of what she called spectrum theory. We can see now why there is something inappropriate in Govier's having chosen the term ''monolithic" to contrast with pluralistic. But there is also something amiss in her contrast here. She used "pluralistic" to refer to what is in fact a theory of appraisal. If we follow her in this, we will not be able to use the natural contrast of monism versus pluralism because monism is a theory of analysis,

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whereas pluralism is a theory of appraisal. They belong to different areas of the theory of argument and, hence, are not competitors in the way Govier's description suggests. What to do? To avoid confusion, I suggest two different types of labels are needed: one type to be used to label theories of analysis, the other to label theories of appraisal. Let me use "pluralism" to describe a theory of analysis and "monism" as the term referring to its competitor. (That explains why I have chosen to use the term ''monistic" rather than "monolithic" to refer to a specific theory of analysis.) Spectrum Theories What then is spectrum theory? Here is how Govier introduced it: According to the spectrum theory, the strength of the connection between the premises and the conclusion of an argument is susceptible to degrees. There are tighter and looser connectionsdegrees of strength. The deductive connection is the tightest, but it is not the only kind. Arguments may work with looser connections; the various possibilities fall on a kind of spectrum . . . (p. 28) At one end of the spectrum we have no support at all; at the other end, we have deductive entailment. (p. 29) There is an ambiguity built into this formulation that makes it unclear whether spectrum theory properly belongs to the theory of analysis as a theory about the types of argument or to the theory of appraisal as a theory of evaluation. In fact, I think spectrum theory is really best thought of as a theory of argument committed to a pluralistic theory of analysis. I can test this supposition by considering the positions of Thomas and Finocchiaro, both of whom Govier regarded as spectrum theorists. In the formulation just described, it would seem that spectrum theory is a theory of appraisal, for one end of the spectrum is the worst possible case: no support at all. To say that the premises provide no support at all is to make an evaluation or judgment on the argument. At the other end of the spectrum is the best possible case: deductive entailment. This understanding of what constitutes spectrum theory squares with Govier's notion that this is Thomas' (1973) position. Thomas took validity to be a matter of degreea position Govier took issue with. Govier also represented Finocchiaro as a spectrum theorist because his theory of argument allows for different types of argument. Finocchiaro appeared to be describing three types of argument when he discussed three different kinds of fallacy: (a) arguments that claim to be deductively valid but that are actually invalid, (b) arguments that claim to be inductively

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strong but that are actually inductively weak, and (c) arguments that claim to have some inductive strength but have none. This theory seems to be mixed in that the very typology used by Finocchiaro mixes the classificatory issues of the theory of analysis with the evaluative issues that fall to the theory of appraisal. Look at his first category. It consists of "arguments that claim to be deductively valid"presumably this categorization would belong to a theory of analysis, as classifying of a type of argument. The other part, "but that are actually invalid"is a category that clearly belongs to the theory of appraisal. Thus, Finocchiaro's classification is mixed, involving descriptions that belong both to the theory of analysis and those that belong to the theory of appraisal. It seems that there is a kind of ambiguity built into these descriptors. Govier confirmed this when she wrote: The problem is that we are given no explanation what the degree of support are degrees of support of. They cannot be degrees of deductive validity, because that notion makes no sense . . . A closely related point is that the nature of the 'spectrum' on which the various degrees of support are located is yet to be explained. (p. 31) It seems to me most natural to take spectrum theory in the first instance to be a theory of argument that holds that there are different standards for the different types of argument. For spectrum theory, there is a strong connection between the theory of analysis and the theory of appraisal. Now, I would expect that theories of appraisal would show the same polarity as theories of analysis, so I need a dual set of designators. Overall, then, I require at least these two different types of descriptors: one to classify theories in terms of their typology, the other to classify theories according to their standards of evaluation. Although one might expect isomorphism between any typology of arguments and standards of appraisal (one standard per type), it seems unwise to define the situation in such a way as to rule out the possibility of there being several types of argument yet one standard that suffices for them all. That is, there may be a theory that opts for a manyone relationship between types and standards. To avoid foreclosing options at the level of theory, then, I need one descriptor to classify theories as to their position on what types of argument there are. I need another to sort them out according to their position on standards of evaluation. Accordingly, I adopt the following terminology. As to Types of Argument, There are Two Basic Possibilities A monistic theory holds that there is but one type of argument. Either it recognizes no other types or it holds that any other apparent type is reducible to it. Thus, deductivism is a monistic theory because it holds that all

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arguments are deductive. Arguments that appear to belong to other types are either not arguments (so called inductive arguments) or are reducible to it (so-called conductive arguments). A pluralistic theory holds that there are a number of types of argument and not all of them are reducible to any one specified type. Within pluralism, there may well arise the issue of whether one type is better than another. This is partly an issue for the theory of analysis and partly for the theory of appraisal. The theory that Govier described as positivism is a dualist theory, a type of pluralism. These terms, then, describe the possibilities for a theory of analysis. I also need descriptors for the theory of appraisal. A Second Type of a Descriptor Will Be Needed to Cover the Evaluative Standards of the Theory A univalent theory holds that there is but one standard for the appraisal of all arguments. It is natural to expect that monistic theories will be univalent. A multivalent theory holds that there is a range of standards. It is natural to expect that pluralistic theories will be spectrum theories. With these distinctions in hand, we can see that what Govier called spectrum theory can best be described as theory of argument comprised of a pluralistic theory of analysis and a multivalent theory of appraisal. To be sure, other possibilities exist and must be acknowledged as theoretically possible. As previously mentioned, one might be both a pluralist in typology and yet hold to a univalent theory of appraisal. (Thomas, e.g., seems to hold such a position.) See Fig. 2.2 for a typology for the theory of argument.

Fig. 2.2 Typology for the theory of argument.

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Theory of Analysis Theory of Appraisal

Univalent

Multivalent

Monistic

Pluralistic

Formal Deductive Logic (FDL)

Thomas

Field Theories Toulmin

Spectrum Theory Positivism Conductivism

Fig. 2.3 Possible configurations in a theory of argument. Now that we have a fairly adequate grasp of the theory of argument and its various types, we are in a position to contrast it with some instances. There are four possible configurations for a theory of argument as laid out in Fig. 2.3. The theory that I advocate in this book falls in the lower left panel. It is monistic in that I reject the deductiveinductiveconductive distinction as a valid way to distinguish types of argument. It is multivalent in that I acknowledge a variety of normative standards. But it differs in important respects from field theories. Previous Theories of Argument Over the centuries, there have been many theories of argument, and it would be impossible to discuss them all. Here I discuss briefly three contemporary theorists whose work has been seminal: Toulmin, Perelman, and Hamblin. Toulmin's Theory of Argument In the beginning, one might say, there was Toulmin. The Uses of Argument (1958) marks a crucial moment in the development of theory of argument. In that work, Toulmin argued that the Aristotelian ideal of logic as episteméformal scienceis what allowed the mathematicization of logic to occur.8 His desire was to break its hegemony by developing an alternative model of argumentation that takes jurisprudential reasoning as its model. Toulmin offered an entirely different way of conceiving the structure of argument. As opposed to the traditional logical conception of premises that are supposed to lead necessarily to a conclusion, Toulmin offered the now-famous 8 This phrase is not found in Toulmin's work but I believe it fits with the spirit behind it. The closest he came is where he wrote: I suggested that one motive for attempting to cast the principles of logic into the form of a mathematical system was the hope that by doing so one could bring into play in the logical field more potent varieties of necessity and possibility (p. 207). I have more to say about this development in chapter 4.

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Fig. 2.4 Toulmin's approach to the layout of argument structure. model of grounds data leading to the claim mediated by the warrant (which may in turn require a backup) and modified by model qualifiers and tempered by possible rebuttals. Construing an argument along the lines of a case in court, Toulmin then followed up this theory of analysis by: introducing the idea of a field of argument raising the question of whether the standards are field dependent or field invariant. Not only has Toulmin presented a novel theory of analysis, but he is thought as well by many to be the chief proponent of the claim that most, if not all, important standards of appraisal are discipline specific. Toulmin's work has been immensely influential, although less in philosophy and logic than in the rhetoric, forensic, and speech communication communities (Johnson & Blair, 1980). This brief overview is not intended to do justice to Toulmin's theory. The upshot was not immediate, but Toulmin's work did raise interest in questions such as, "What is argument? What is logic? If logic is not formal science, then what is it?" If one looks at the theory of argument as an emergent area of logico-philosophical inquiry, then Toulmin must be seen as one of its founding fathers. I have argued elsewhere that there are problems with the details of Toulmin's approachat least as it was presented in the 1980 text based on his theory.9 I want to now discuss some broader or deeper difficulties. In 9 For a detailed critique of Toulmin's approach to arguments, see Johnson (1981b). See also the insightful chapter "Toulmin's Model of Argumentation" in van Eemeren et al. (1996), in which the authors raise important problems with Toulmin's model. For some indication of how his work was received by philosophers and logicians, see Blair and Johnson (1980).

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particular, I want to discuss three crucial assumptions that Toulmin made, each of which is debatable. Toulmin Assumed That if the Geometric Model Does Not Work, Then a Better Model Must Be Found Elsewhere. Toulmin wrote, "to break the power of old models and analogies, we can provide ourselves with a new one" (p. 7). Toulmin seemed to assume that if the geometrical model is rejected for logic, then it must be replaced with a model from some other area of inquiry. His proposal was that it be replaced with a jurisprudential model. My question is this: Why should it be assumed that argumentation must be modeled after something outside itself? This move may have been necessary when the practice of argumentation was in its infancy, when it was theoretically undernourished. There has been sufficient experience in the last 2,000 years to think that if we need a new model, it can be generated from within the practice itself. (I make this a conditional proposition, for perhaps in any interesting sense of the term "model," it will turn out that there is no model.) Toulmin Assumed That the Jurisprudential Model Is an Appropriate One for ArgumentationPerhaps Even the Best One. Toulmin wrote, "So let us forget about psychology, sociology, technology and mathematics, ignore the echoes of structural engineering and collage in the words 'grounds' and 'backing', and take as our model the discipline of jurisprudence" (p. 7). Somewhat later, he wrote: This inquiry has, I hope, illustrated one thing: namely, the virtues of the parallel between procedures of rational assessment and legal procedureswhat I called earlier the jurisprudential analogy. (p. 42) The analogy between rational assessment and judicial practice presents us with a rival model for thinking about the idea of logic form. (p. 43) In a few fields, where logical self-consciousness can be of practical value, the study of applied logic has already gone a good waythough sometimes under other names. Jurisprudence is one subject which has always embraced a part of logic within its scope and what we call to begin with "the jurisprudential analogy" can be seen in retrospect to amount to something more than an analogy. If the same as has long been done for legal arguments were done for arguments of other types, logic would make great strides forward. (p. 255) Notice first that Toulmin vacillated in his characterization of the model he wished to recommend. It is variously described as "jurisprudential," as "judicial practice," or as "legal procedures'' or process. These are quite different designators. Jurisprudence is a narrower term, referring to the more philosophical foundations of the study of law. Jurisprudence, one

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might say, is a department within the Faculty of Law and as such will have the same sort of structure as one might find in any academic discipline. The term "legal practice" is perhaps closer to what Toulmin intended. The idea of a model based on legal practice is that of a more wide-ranging modelone that would be more practical or real in character. It is one thing to suggest that the model for argumentation be taken as the process of arguing that occurs within jurisprudence; it is quite another to take as the model what happens before the local magistrate in civil matters, which is different from what happens in criminal matters, which in turn is different from the process at the appellate level. Forensic debate is quite different from the kind of argumentation that takes place among the jurors, the kind of argumentation a judge employs in writing up his judgment, and the kind two lawyers employ when they discuss tactics. The terms "legal process" and "legal practice" may be said to refer to all of these. Without further specification, the suggestion of a model based on legal process is too wide-ranging to be illuminating. However, this objection is not fatal because it seems clear from Toulmin's treatment that what he meant to serve as the model is the legal process of making a case. He meant the sort of process that an advocate uses to prosecute or defend. My position is that such a model, however it is characterized, is not a good model for argumentation because of its fundamentally adversarial character. The basic assumption of legal practice is that if the prosecution makes the strongest case it can, and if the defending attorney rebuts with his strongest case, then in the long run and on balance, the best possible outcome will be achieved. The hope is that more often than not, the guilty will have been found guilty and the innocent will have been exonerated. The primary concern of this sort of argumentation is not to get at the truth of the matter (as I argue is the case with ordinary argumentation) but rather to dispense justice and to be seen to be doing so. The legal process permits the advocate to do things in his argument that would not be allowed in the practice of argumentation. The advocate may know of evidence that has a negative bearing on her client's case but may choose not to introduce that evidence or refer to it in her presentation. It is the other attorney's job to do that. The advocate may attempt to steer the direction of the proceedings away from certain questions. The advocate may believe that the client is guilty and yet argue for innocence. The advocate may attack the witness' character, not just the witness' testimony. Witnesses may not say what they know or believe to be the case; they may only answer questions. All of these point to important differences between the legal argumentation and ordinary argumentation.

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Toulmin Assumed an Idealized Form of the Legal Process. Toulmin wrote: There must be an initial stage at which the charge or claim is clearly stated, a subsequent phase in which the evidence is set out or testimony given in support of the charge or claim, leading on to the final stage at which a verdict is given, and the sentence or other judicial act issuing from the verdict is pronounced. There may be variations of detail within this general pattern, but the outline will be the same in most types of cases. (p. 16) Toulmin qualified his claim by allowing for variations of detail. This description can be charged with being unempirical and misleading in terms of its portrait of rationality. Where, for example, is the recognition of plea bargaining, a perfectly valid stage within the legal process by which a great many actions are decidedand that has no counterpart within the process of argumentation? Moreover, if the case goes to trial, the issue is this: To what degree can the forces that shape the verdict be accurately described as rational or logical in character? This will, to some degree, depend on the kind of court and case, but there is evidence that rationality is not the main determinant of the outcome.10 Legal lore has it that in many trials, the selection of the jury determines the outcome. This process depends almost entirely on psychological strategy, not argumentation. When the decision rests with the judge, one must hope that the judge is in a good frame of mind, did not get out of bed on the wrong side, and so on. In other words, in the legal process as it actually occurs, a number of factors, including economy and psychology, play a significant role in determining the outcome. In the case of argumentation, it must be the force of the better reasoning alone that determines the outcome. Thus, it seems clear that there are serious problems with Toulmin's proposal of the jurisprudential model. More about this in chapter 11. Perelman's Theory of Argument11 The same year that witnessed the publication of Toulmin's The Uses of Argument also saw the publication of Perelman's and Olbrechts-Tyteca's magnum opusThe New Rhetoric (1958/1969). This work's influence on the theory of argument has been felt more in its legitimizing its project and certain general features than in the impact of its details. The first chapter in particular, with its relegation of the domain of formal logic to demonstration in contrast to argumentation, its emphasis on the importance of argu10 The notorious O.J. Simpson trial in 1995 may be taken as evidence of this point. 11 My brief treatment of Perelman here parallels the discussion in van Eemeren et al. (1996).

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mentation of the speaker and the audience, the distinction of truth-oriented discussion from victory-oriented debate, the idea that individual deliberative reflection can be argumentative in characterthese and other general ideas have had an important impact on the theory of argument. In contrast, the lists of patterns of argument and their classifications, which form the bulk of this big book, have received less attention and had less influence on the theory of argument. It is noteworthy also that Perelman found himself drawn to a jurisprudential model like the one that attracted Toulminand to the degree that this informs his theory, it will be subject to the same criticisms. For a detailed examination of Perelman's theory, see Fundamentals of Argumentation Theory (1996). Hamblin's Theory of Argument No account of the history of the theory of argument would be complete without reference to the work of Hamblin whose main work, Fallacies (1970), provides an important source of theoretical inspiration. In that work, Hamblin ranged back and forth between historical exposition, critical commentary, and, in the latter stages of the book, the development of his own theory. The first six chapters deal with the topic of fallacy. In chapter 1, Hamblin introduced the idea that there is something called The Standard Treatment found in logic textbooks. Chapter 2 is Hamblin's discussion of Aristotle's list of the fallacies, followed in chapter 3 by the way in which this list was added to in the Aristotelian tradition. Chapter 4 is a discussion of the ad fallaciesad hominem, for examplestemming from Locke. Chapter 5 deals with the Indian tradition and chapter 6 with formal fallacies. Chapter 7 is a discussion of the nature of argument and the criteria of good argument. Chapter 8 is about formal dialecticHamblin's extension of formal logic. Chapter 9 treats equivocation. The many achievements of Fallacies include the following: 1. Hamblin was the first to take a close look at textbook accounts of fallacy and to criticize somewhat systematically the presentations of fallacy found there. 2. Hamblin gave us a history of fallacy that has, in large measure, been purchased by those doing research on fallacies. 3. Hamblin is chiefly responsible for articulating the current conception of fallacy (discussed later this chapter). 4. Hamblin convinced many that "we have no theory of fallacy." 5. Hamblin argued that criteria for a good argument must be dialectical rather than alethic or epistemicthereby persuading many informal logicians to drop truth as a requirement of a good argument.

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6. Hamblin introduced the idea of formal dialectic as a supplement to formal logic and was partly responsible for the emergence of dialogue logics. In addition to its many strengths, Hamblin's theoretical views also have some important shortcomings. I have more to say about Hamblin's theory in chapters 4 and 6. Adequacy Conditions for a Theory of Argument It is now time to raise the question Govier only implicitly addressed: "What are the adequacy conditions that a theory of argument must meet?" Let us begin by reflecting for a moment about what kind of question this is. This question is of a different order than the questions we have been considering thus far. It is metatheoretical. But what metatheory is it housed in? My answer is that the metatheory in question here is the theory of reasoning. I have more to say about this topic in chapter 4. Ideally, a theory of argument will address the variety of issues, chiefly normative and conceptual, that we have seen emerge. (There are also empirical issues.) Still, a theory can make a contribution without doing both. Thus, Toulmin's theory of argument is, as I have argued, largely a theory of analysis. Fallacy theory, on the other hand, has, in its history, been largely a theory of appraisal; committed, it seems, to no particular theory of analysis. From what was said earlier in this chapter, it appears that a complete theory of argument would consist of a theory of analysis, a theory of appraisal, and a bridge between the two theoriesshowing how the theory of analysis leads into or supports the theory of appraisal. Ideally, a theory of argument would guide theorists through the tasks specified earlier in this chapter. Recall that they were: Task 1: Reconstruction and interpretation. Task 2: Identification of and location of the potential problems. Task 3: Prioritization of the problems. Task 4: Critique of the argument. With these leads, we can proceed to work out a set of adequacy conditions. Any theory of argument that seeks to apply to argumentative discourse and to play an instrumental role in addressing the tasks that arise in the

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practice of rationally conducted argumentation must accommodate the following adequacy conditions. Adequacy Condition 1 The theory must contain a definition of argument and the elements that constitute an argument. Justification. It stands to reason that a theory of argument must begin with and operate from a self-consciously developed understanding of just what argument is and what the elements or components of an argument are. The term "argument" has been used in a wide variety of senses and it is worth attempting to get a clear definition of it. This work falls to the theory of analysis. I deal with this question thematically in chapter 6. Adequacy Condition 2 The theory must contain an account of how to understand the structure of arguments and how that structure may be displayed in a clear and precise manner. Justification. Because it is evident that one cannot adequately evaluate, appraise, or criticize an argument unless one understands its structure, the theory of argument must provide guidance on these matters. If there are various types of argument, this typology must be developed and justified. The theory of analysis must likewise give guidance on how to represent the structure of an argument. Adequacy Condition 3 The theory must contain a theory of appraisal that recognizes that there can be good arguments for a given position as well as good arguments against it. Justification. I credit Hamblin (1970) with having made this point. He stated, "There are often good arguments for a given conclusion and also good arguments against it" (p. 232). I take Hamblin's point to be evident from the history of thought, most particularly the history of philosophy. There are good arguments for idealism (Plato) and against it (Aristotle); for phenomenalism (Berkeley, Ayer) and against it (Hume, Wittgenstein); for skepticism (Descartes, Montaigne) and against it (Moore, Wittgenstein). Nor is Hamblin alone on this score. Johnstone (1978) made a similar point with special reference to philosophical argumentation:

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Assume that there are valid philosophical arguments, understanding "valid" in any way you choose. Suppose a position P is supported by such arguments. Then, as the most cursory reading of the history of philosophy shows, there must also be arguments against P answering to the same criteria of validity . . . No position in the history of philosophy is so strong that we should want to say that only the arguments favoring it are valid; and none so weak that we should want to say that only the arguments opposing it are valid. (p. 79) Although Johnstone used this reasoning in a reductio to support the view that validity is a problematic notion with respect to philosophical argumentation, the point he made supports the adequacy condition under consideration here. For a commonplace mention of this point, see Himmelfarb (1995) who wrote that, "for every Beatrice Webb . . . opposing the suffrage, there was a . . . Josephine Butler (the social reformer) . . . favoring it. And for all the arguments against it, there were as plentiful and cogent arguments for it" (p. 103). Finally, consider the Supreme Court of the United States. The jurists are practiced in both constructing and appraising arguments, the arguments are made by highly competent lawyers, the judges are impartial, they have as much time as they need, they have unlimited research resources available. Yet they very often come with split verdicts, which indicates that in that forum, there are strong arguments on opposite sides. As obvious as this adequacy condition may be, its implications are disastrous for deductivism as a theory of argument. Adequacy Condition 4 The theory must contain a theory of appraisal such that arguments exist in a continuum from strong to weak, with various points in between. To put it slightly differently, there are degrees of logical virtue in arguments and the theory must reflect this. Justification. This adequacy condition seems reasonable enough. Arguments are, after all, a human product and so may be expected to run the same range as other constructs. If we look at arguments in natural language, arguments of all types drawn from different areasphilosophy, ordinary affairs, politics, moralitywe may expect that they will fall into a spectrum from strong to weak. And we want our theory of appraisal to guide us in the first instance in locating the argument at some point on that spectrum, assigning it some appropriate degree of logical virtue and then justifying that verdict. This means then that a theory of appraisal, if it is to accommodate this adequacy condition, must have more possibilities than just good and not

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good. There must be a continuum of worthiness with points along the way. Arguments can be very strong, strong, moderately strong, weak, or poor. Our theory of appraisal must reflect this continuum; it must not preclude or forbid it. The next adequacy condition has to do with the applicability of the standards. Adequacy Condition 5 The criteria for the appraisal of argument should be such that, in principle, the ordinary reasoner can decide whether or not these are satisfied in a given instance. In short, the criteria should be user-friendly. Justification. If the theory of appraisal that we wish to apply to the argumentation does not satisfy this adequacy condition, the reasoner will be effectively distanced from the realm of discourse that it is proposed he or she evaluate. Now, it is quite possible that a human activity like argumentation should develop standards the appreciation and understanding of which places them beyond the grasp of the ordinary reasoner. Such seems to be the case with certain portions of statistics and probability theory. However the idea that argumentationa fundamental human social practiceshould be evaluated according to standards beyond the capacity of the ordinary reasoner to understand and deploy seems unattractive and counterintuitive. The next adequacy condition has to do with the effects of the application. Adequacy Condition 6 The theory of appraisal must be such as to allow for fruitful criticism. Justification. I take it that in appraising an argument, we want to provide the arguer with good criticism so that he or she can make changes to the argument. I cannot fully justify this criterion until chapter 6. The final adequacy condition has to do with the legitimization of the component theories. Adequacy Condition 7 The criteria that belong to the theory of appraisal should be justified as to their appropriateness for the tasks assigned and in relation to the theory of analysis. Justification. All too frequently, the criteria for the evaluation of argumentation are presented without sufficient justification; they appear to emerge full-blown, like Minerva from the head of Zeus. As we see in chapter 6, Hamblin's exposition of the concept of argument demonstrates this point.

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As reasonable as these seven adequacy conditions seem to be, my claim is that no extant theory of argument accommodates them all. But if you ask how I know that these are the appropriate adequacy conditions for a theory of argument, or whether these form a complete set, then I will admit that I am without a satisfying answer to such important questions and point yet again to the importance of developing a theory of reasoning in which such questions can be properly addressed. Conclusion Having discussed the nature of the theory of argument and developed a rudimentary typology and its adequacy conditions, I am ready to next consider the status of what is arguably the most powerful and attractive theory of argument ever developed: that provided by FDL.

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Chapter 3 Paradigm Abandoned: Critique of Deductivism None of the theories of argument emanating from classical logic is adequate. We need better theories. That pair of statements might be said to summarize Govier's position. The most developed theory of argument is the one that emanates from FDL. It provides both a theory of analysis built around the notions of deductive argument and logical form and a theory of appraisal built around the notions of validity and soundness. Even though FDL is grievously flawed as a theory of argument and even though very few pure deductivists remain, FDL continues to exercise a hold on logicians and some philosophers and makes its presence felt as well when people work out issues in the theory of argument. (Note: I use the term "FDL," whereas Govier used "deductivism." We are referring to the same program, although for the most part Govier abstracted from the theory of appraisal and appeared to be more focused on the theory of analysis.) After her critique of deductivism, Govier next investigated positivism, a somewhat broader theory that allows for inductive as well as deductive arguments. But it too, Govier argued, has serious shortcomings. Having shown that both deductivism and positivism have serious shortcomings as theories of argument, Govier suggested a third possibility. She did not name this approach but I call this position "conductivism." Although it is a promising lead, it is underdeveloped. The conclusion must be that at this time, logic cannot provide us with a viable theory of argument.

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FDL: A Monistic Theory ''FDL" does not refer to one theory but, rather, a collection of theories whose common denominator is their reliance on validity (as technically defined) as the normative standard for the evaluation of arguments. Because of its close connection to the positivist research program, FDL achieved the status of a paradigm (in Kuhn's sense), and that is likely what Govier referred to when she wrote, "In logic, a paradigm is at work. But it blinds us. I recommend revolution" (p. 10). FDL's theory of argument is composed of a theory of analysis and a theory of appraisal. FDL's theory of analysis can be simply stated. An argument is understood as a set of propositions (or statements) so related that one (the conclusion) is supposed to follow logically from the others (the premises). The crucial notion in FDL's theory of analysis is that every argument has a logical form associated with it. What must be grasped in order to appraise the argument is its logical form. The theory of appraisal of FDL is also relatively simple to state: An argument is a good one if it is sound. An argument is sound if it satisfies two requirements: All of the premises are true and the argument is valid.1 The truth requirement is as old as Plato and the practice of dialectic. The requirement that arguments be valid can be traced back to Aristotle's syllogistic, although the term "valid" does not enter the vocabulary of logicians until much later. The conception of soundness (as a valid argument with true premises) does not enter the lexicon until much later still. The notion of validity employed in FDL is a technical one. It means that the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises. Sometimes it is put this way: An argument is valid if it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false. Most of the apparatus developed in modern logicand it is supported by an impressive array of solid theoretical workhas been devoted to the attempt to capture formally the notion of validity. Thus, the development of modal logics (Lewis & Langford, 1932) and of relevance logics (Anderson & Belnap, 1975) can be attributed, in some measure, to the desire to improve on the truthfunctional notion of validity operative in classical propositional logic. Crucial to FDL is the view that there is a unique way to specify the so-called logical form of the propositions that together constitute the argument and that once that form is known, we can decide whether the argument is valid. (See Massey, 1981, for a discussion of some of the difficulties connected with this position.) The idea of logical form can be traced as far back as Aristotelian syllogistic, but its modern development, as an instru1 For a textbook exposition of FDL, see Lambert and Ulrich (1980).

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ment of deductive logic, can be traced to the work of Russell and Whitehead (1962), who in turn are building on work done by Frege (1960). What about FDL's theory of appraisal? The great power and advantage of this theory are its universality (it applies to any argument in any field) and its decidability. In many cases, it is possible to specify by means of a decision procedure whether an argument is valid or not. However, neither the validity requirement nor the truth requirement is without problems. Of the two, the validity requirement appears to pose the greater and more intractable problems for deductivism as an adequate theory of argument. Let me turn to Govier's discussion of deductivism to see what some of them are. (I do not discuss problems with the truth requirement here, preferring to take those up in chap. 7.) FDL Criticized Deductivism The theory of argument that I call FDL is closely related to what Govier called deductivism. Deductivism has a long history, going back to Plato's view that deduction is the essence of reasoning. Aristotle differed with Plato in this respect because Aristotle's theory of argument allows for other than deductive arguments to be good arguments. Aristotle was a pluralist in terms of his theory of argument. The term "deductivism" has a shorter history.2 Its home is the philosophy of science and the debate about the nature of scientific explanation. Another expression closely related to it is the term "deductive chauvinism," sometimes used in the same way that Govier used deductivism.3 Deductive chauvinism is encapsulated in the claim that, ''Every inference is either deductive or defective." (This pithy formulation, whose origin I do not know, already raises a crucial problem: the extent to which inference and argument have been identified in this tradition.) Govier offered the following characterization of deductivism: There is fundamentally only one type of (good) argument. A good argument must be deductively valid: the premises must entail the conclusion. In a good argument, it is impossible for the conclusion to be false provided that the premises are true. Furthermore, the premises are true. (p. 22) 2 According to Grunbaum and Salmon (1988), the term itself is due to Cioffa. For a thorough discussion of deductivism, see Grunbaum and Salmon (1988). 3 I first heard the term used by Merilee Salmon in the Conference on Logic and Liberal Learning in Pittsburgh in 1979.

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Two comments are in order. First, it is clear that Govier referred to what I have termed FDL and the ideal of soundness. However, for the most part in her critique, she focused on the problems connected with the validity requirement. The result is that when she discussed deductivism's shortcomings, Govier tended to ignore problems with the truth requirement. This creates some problems for her critique. Second, the deductivist view has to involve more than just the claim that there is one type of argument. For in the face of claims to the contrarythat is, that there are inductive argumentsdeductivism must make some response to such claims, typically by advocating a form of reductionism. Deductivism can be more accurately formulated as, "There is only one type of argumenta deductive argument. All other types of argument are either not really arguments or are reducible to deductive arguments." Govier's Critique of Deductivism Govier's critique of deductivism is spread throughout the first four chapters of her book but of particular interest is the material in chapter 1, in a middle section of chapter 2, and finally in chapter 4. I deal with them in order, and after giving an account of Govier's critique, I present my reflections on her critique. The Critique in Chapter 1 In chapter 1, Govier argued that deductivism purchases its rigor and objectivity at the cost of being applicable to real arguments: Real arguments in natural language are not amenable to fully precise treatment. They deal with topics of controversy, disputed facts, plausible hypotheses, approximately correct analogies. To evaluate them, we must sort out ambiguities, see how diverse factors fit together, weigh pros and cons, consider the credibility of those on whom we may depend for credibility and expertise. Formal logic is, by its very nature, incompetent to address such matters. At best, it will apply to some arguments in natural language, after virtually all interesting questions about the interpretation, content and substantive truth they contain have already been resolved. (p. 5) She illustrated her claims by analyzing an argument taken from MacIntyre, the upshot of which is to show that the problems in the argument are not formal ones. Deductivism is not applicable, or if so then not illuminating, when applied to the area of real argumentation. Part of the applicability problem is that validity is an all-or-nothing affair, whereas in real lifeGovier wanted to saythe value of an argument may

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not be so clear cut and is typically a matter of degree. Often we are inclined to assess an argument (as Govier did to an argument of Galbraith's) as one that goes part of the way toward establishing its conclusion, although not all the way. Govier also hinted here at the inadequacy of the deductiveinductive distinctionan issue she took up more fully in a later chapter and that looms larger in her critique of positivism. In the final part of the chapter, Govier pointed the finger at logicians' desire to imitate mathematicsthe attainment of certainty by means of proof-like chains of deductive reasoning has influenced philosophers (and logicians) since the time of Plato. Govier noted that this ideal has been criticized and she referred to the work of Perelman (1969) and Toulmin (1958) as well as to the revolution in the teaching of logic: It was largely a concession to the sixties' students demands for relevance that philosophy departments started to teach courses in which actual arguments were the primary basis for study, and critical thinking or informal logic courses became the focus of attention. (p. 8) On the whole, I find myself in agreement with these criticisms by Govier, each of which raises an important issue that I would like to mark. Govier was criticizing FDL's theory of analysis for being based on simple, unrealistic specimens of argument. This raises a very important issue for the theory of analysis concerning both the nature and the typology of argument. Exactly what is the realm of discourse to which we want our theory of argument to apply? Natural argumentation? Ordinary arguments? Naturally occurring arguments? How shall we characterize the terrain the typology proposes to map? How many types of argument are there? What precisely do we mean by argument? These questions are important ones for the theory of analysis, and I take them up in detail in chapter 6. Govier implicitly criticized FDL for not meeting Adequacy Condition 4the requirement that the theory allow for degrees of logical virtue. Validity and soundness are both all-or-nothing affairs. But as Govier argued, in the process of evaluating real arguments, we shall find ourselves wanting to deliver mixed verdicts, saying that an argument it is "good up to a point," that "it has these strengths and those weakness," or that "it does a moderately good job.'' FDL as a theory of appraisal does not accommodate these needs. The Critique from Chapter 2 In chapter 2, Govier provided her most thorough critique of deductivism. She began by noting that there are two forms of deductivism. Literal deductivism (LD) holds that an argument is a good argument only if, as naturally

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expressed, it is valid. (Here Govier looked at just part of the picture.) The problem with this view is that it means that almost all ordinary arguments4 are invalid and therefore not good. Govier stated: "Few wish to draw the conclusion that most naturally occurring arguments are poor ones" (p. 22). Hence, most logicians opt for the other versionreconstructive deductivism (RD)the view that an argument is a good argument only when reconstructed (i.e., when missing elements, such as missing premises are added). All arguments as reconstructed must satisfy the validity requirement. Govier further distinguished between two versions of RDformal and the nonformal. She said, "Formal deductivism would have it that all good arguments are deductively valid in virtue of their form; nonformal deductivism would have it that all good arguments are deductively valid in virtue either of meaning or form" (p. 23). Because her critical points apply to both versions, she made no further reference to the distinction. It is here that she noted that she would also abstract from the requirement that the premises be true. She further noted that RD is not limited to formal logicians like Lambert and Ulrich, but can be found as well in the work of an informal logician like Nosich.5 First Line of Criticism: Stove's 1970 Article Govier's first line of criticism built on points made by Stove (1970) in which he claimed that very little defense had been offered for this position, "Stove reported in 1970 that he could discover no published arguments whatever for deductivism, and it still seems to be true that many people assume some version of the theory unreflectively" (p. 27). This criticism is easily met, either by pointing to defenses that did exist or that have been offered since. I return to this matter shortly. Stove's next criticism of deductivism was to show that deductivism has unacceptable consequences. Stove distinguished two senses of conclusiveness for arguments. Arguments are positively conclusive if they would give a completely rational being some positive degree of belief in the conclusion and they are absolutely conclusive if they would give as great a degree of belief in the conclusion as in the premises. An argument is absolutely irrational if the premises add no support to the conclusion. This distinction enabled Stove to characterize deductivism as the thesis that "all invalid arguments are absolutely irrational." Stove conceded he might be attacking 4 There is some difficulty in precisely identifying the domain of argumentation that Govier was interested in that she referred to it sometimes as "naturally occurring arguments." 5 There is something strange and potentially misleading about this classification of Nosich as an informal logician. If we make the abandonment of validity a necessary condition for the goodness of arguments a necessary condition for being an informal logician, then Nosich (1982) does not qualify. More on what makes for an informal logician in chapter 5.

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a straw person but pointed out that "the rather common philosophical practice of showing an argument invalid (we assume that this is a reconstructed argument) and then inferring immediately that no further criticism of it is needed" presupposes the truth of deductivism in just this extreme form. Govier appeared to be satisfied with Stove's critique, but I can see two problems here. First, what Stove said about the lack of defense may have been true in 1970, although there are classic expressions of deductivism in the writings of philosophers like Russell and Popper. There, deductivism is nested in a theory of science rather than a theory of argument. Stove's claim has lost its force in the interval because, as Govier realized, there are been more recent articulations of deductivism as a theory of argument.6 (My guess is that the relative paucity of defenses for deductivism prior to 1970 merely reflect its strong hold on the thinking of logicians.) Second, Stove's critique involves a number of questionable moves. Grant that many philosophers may engage in the practice described by Stove. They show that an argument is invalid and then dismiss it, a move that may perhaps be thought to imply that no further criticism of it is needed. But such a dismissal hardly can be taken to presuppose an endorsement of the thesis that the argument is absolutely irrational. They may simply believe that the argument is a bad one because it does not satisfy one of the two conditions for being a good argument. That is hardly tantamount to viewing the argument as irrational. Moreover, one wonders what it is for an argument to be irrational in the first place. According to Stove, an argument is "absolutely irrational if the premises provide no support for the conclusion." But the situation described herepremises furnish no support for the conclusioncould just as well be described as a bad argumentand certainly one would think that an argument can be a bad one without being termed irrational. So not only is it not clear what it is for an argument to be irrational, it is not clear that Stove's attribution is at all warranted. Finally, the notions of positively and absolutely conclusive depend on the idea of a completely rational beinga fiction to which a realistic theory of argument cannot assign a working role. The very idea of an absolutely conclusive argument turns out to be a nonstarter in any theory of argument that allows for there to be good arguments for opposing points of view. (I discuss this issue in detail in chapter 8.) I conclude that Stove's arguments against deductivism are weak because they are dated and they depend on questionable assumptions and views in 6 For a fairly recent and wide-ranging discussion of logic as presenting a humanist ideal, see the chapters on "Formal Logic and the Liberal Arts," in Teaching Philosophy (1981). Particularly reflective of deductivist points of view are the papers by Covey, Massey, and Belnap.

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the theory of argument that seem dubious. Fortunately, Govier's critique of deductivism does not depend heavily on Stove. Govier's Second Line: The Costs (Consequences) of Deductivism are Unacceptably High In nuce, Govier's second line of criticism against deductivism takes the form of showing that its consequences are unacceptable. Either it leads to radical skepticism or too high a price for RD is paid, and it is at odds with two important traditions: the tradition that holds that there are reasonable nonconclusive arguments and the tradition that holds that there are fallacies. Govier conceded that there are great advantages to deductivism. Foremost among them is its simplicity. As a form of monistic theory, deductivism holds that there is but one type of argumenta deductive argument. Disputes about the type of argument do not arise on this theory. Hence, there is no need for a cumbersome typology. Further, there is but one standard of argument and either an argument satisfies it or else it does not. There are clearly articulated (and theoretically well-developed) procedures for determining deductive validity in some systems of modern logic. Therefore, if deductivism is correct, we have a simple theory of analysis and the assurance of the relevance of an established and recognized body of precise knowledge. However, Govier argued, too great a price is paid for this simplicity. Either deductivism must embrace the view that all invalid arguments are equally flawed or else some invalid arguments are redeemed though the route of reconstruction. The former position might be termed Pure Deductivism (PD). Govier claimed that PD leaves the deductivist in a radically skeptical position. This claim is difficult to credit unless Govier believed that all knowledge claims are based on arguments and argumentation. But that cannot be true, given that we will likely assign a place to observation statements. Thus, it is not clear that PD must lead to skepticism. However, because RD is the more likely version of deductivism, I turn my attention to how Govier dealt with it. In RD, the standard of validity is applied only to the reconstructed argument. But, Govier argued, the costs associated with RD are also too great. What are these consequences? First, Govier repeated a point made earlier: "The pro-and-con situation in which we find ourselves with many issues does not naturally fit a deductivist account which makes the merit of an argument an all-or-nothing affair" (p. 25). This amounts to the claim that this form of deductivism cannot satisfy Adequacy Condition 4the requirement that the theory allows that there are degrees of logical virtue.

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I find this line of argument generally persuasive. But we must recognize an important complexity here. Govier's argument to some degree profits from an ambiguity previously noted in her treatment of deductivism. If attention is restricted to the standard of validity as this is usually understood, validity is an all-or-nothing affair. There are no degrees of validity.7 The conclusion necessarily follows from the premises or it does not. But we must not forget that FDL also has the truth requirement, so that a deductivist might seek to accommodate Adequacy Condition 4 by taking the position that there are degrees of truth. A further problem is that someone sympathetic to FDL might argue that even if we cannot distinguish degrees of validity, we can distinguish types of invalidity and, in that way, attempt to accommodate the Adequacy Condition 4 requirement.8 I am not sanguine about these proposals, but at least it must be admitted that such possibilities would have to be dismissed before this line of criticism could be effective. (This point comes up again later this chapter when I review FDL in terms of the adequacy criteria.) The deductivist has three options for a theory of appraisal. The first option says that the deductivist can maintain that both truth and validity are all-or-nothing concepts. In this case, the theory cannot satisfy Adequacy Condition 4. The second option says that the deductivist can make truth a matter of degree and can retain validity as an all-or-nothing affair. This alternative raises interesting theoretical issues that must be answered before it is clear whether such a theory can satisfy Adequacy Condition 4. What happens, I want to know, when the theory mixes together two different types of criteria? Do I get a spectrum? Until such questions are answered, it is not clear that this option can satisfy Adequacy Condition 4. The third and final option states that the deductivist can attempt to distinguish types of invalidity and have truth as a matter of degree. The option calls for a drastic revision of deductivism, the result of which can satisfy Adequacy Condition 4. But then the question becomes whether it is close enough to the core intuition to warrant the label "deductivism." Another consequence of deductivism is that most arguments will have to be reconstructed. This is labor-intensive work and, in the case of longer arguments in natural language, to say the least, daunting. Imagine the work that would have to go to the reconstruction of the Starkey argument, quoted at the beginning of chapter 2. But that is not the problem Govier wished to call attention to here. RD fails because there is always a reconstruction of an argument that will render that argument valid. If all else fails, one just plugs in the associ7 In the very next section, Govier took up (and argued against) a suggestion from Thomas that looked very like it. 8 Hansen made just such a proposal in private correspondence.

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ated conditionalthe conditional proposition whose antecedent is the conjunction of the premises and whose consequent is the conclusion. When added to the original argument, this premise will make that argument valid. So any argument, no matter how outrageous in its natural expression, will be valid (under reconstruction). Here is Govier's example: Roses are red, violets are blue; therefore Ed loves Sue. It is hard to take this seriously as a naturally occurring argument, for its artificiality is apparent. But let that pass. Govier's point was that, as expressed, the argument is clearly invalidand we would want our theory of appraisal to so instruct us. In line with the policy of RD, we reconstruct the argument by plugging in the associated conditional: If roses are red and violets are blue, then Ed loves Sue. The argument as reconstructed is now valid. The consequence is that any argument can be made valid and, although Govier did not explicitly say this, deductivism loses its capacity to make the very discriminations it was supposed to make. This is one of those points where Govier appeared to be profiting from her failure to take into account the whole theory of appraisal of FDL, which could provide this ready rejoinder for RD: Of course, you can transform the argument from an invalid argument to a valid one by inserting the associated conditional. But in the case of an "invalid-before-reconstruction" argument, that associated conditional will be false, and in some cases obviously so. Consider the present case where the AC is: "If roses are red and violets are blue, Ed loves Sue." Certainly the claim will be that this AC is false. Hence the argument fails to be a good argument under a full-blown policy of RD. This is a fair rejoinder, and it shows that Govier's argument fails against a properly decked-out version of deductivism. However, the interesting point is that the reasoning for the claim that the reconstructed argument is unsound will be identical to the reasoning for the claim that the argument (prior to reconstruction) is invalid. In each case, the reasoning is that it is possible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false. Hence, there really is no gain in reconstruction. Moreover, it does not follow that FDL loses its capacity to discriminate because in whatever form it chooses to appraise this particular argument, the argument comes up short, either because it is invalid as it stands (PD) or because it is unsound as reconstructed (RD). It can therefore be argued that FDL can make the type of

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discrimination needed by a theory of appraisal. I am thus inclined to think that this line of argument against RD is not effective. However, our discussion has been worthwhile because it drives into the open an important metatheoretical issue. The differences between PD and RD may in fact be illusory. Suppose that some unreconstructed argument (A*) is invalid. And suppose that R* is the reasoning that demonstrates that this is so. Now consider the reconstructed version of that argument (A**). There is at least one form of this that will be valid but that will have a false missing premise. Hence, (A**) is unsound. Let R** be the line of reasoning used to establish that MP is false. My claim is that R* = R**. (Allen, 1990, made a similar point.) The very same reasoning that exposes the unsoundness of the unreconstructed argument also exposes the unsoundness of the reconstructed argument! This reasoning suggests that there is little difference between PD and RD. Problems for RD go further still. Not only is there always a way to reconstruct the argument as valid, there is typically more than one way to do so. Any premise that entails the associated conditional will do the job. Here we encounter the obverse side of the paradox. PD entailed that almost all arguments in empirical science, scholarly endeavors, and ordinary discourse are worthless because, as they stand, they are invalid. RD, unless very elaborately qualified, entails that they are all absolutely worthy because as reconstructed, they are one and all valid. However, this argument goes no further than its predecessor did to dismantle deductivism because validity is only part of what is required for a good argument. Govier argued that RD has other costs as well, in that it runs counter to two strong traditions in logic. The first is that there are nonconclusive but reasonable arguments, especially in the empirical sciences. RD appears not to provide for this. This is not an entirely new point. If by nonconclusive arguments Govier meant arguments whose conclusion is not necessitated by the premises and that such arguments may be said to have some degree of logical virtue, then this point has been made before using terms like "naturally occurring arguments," "real arguments," and so forth. It is curious that here Govier appealed to the empirical sciences to make her point. When I think of physics as a domain of inquiry and knowledge, I think of it as populated by theories rather than by arguments. The methodology of physics is the so-called scientific method, not the practice of argumentation as it is being discussed here. (I am leery of the move that says, "Oh, but surely a theory is a form of argumentation.") However, this is a problem for the theory of reasoning, in my view, rather than for the theory of argument. Accordingly, I propose to take note of it and move on. The second is that there are fallacies, both formal and informal, and the RD is going to have a difficult time accommodating this tradition. This criticism depends on two assumptions. First, it assumes that the fallacy

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tradition is theoretically defensible and desirable to retain. Second, it assumes that deductivism cannot provide for it. Neither of these assumptions is argued for here, although Govier presented her arguments for the fallacy tradition in chapter 9. Groarke argued that the second assumption is not true, but I postpone discussion of this point until later. On the whole, then, except where it repeats the earlier claim about the failure of deductivism to satisfy Adequacy Condition 4, this consequentialist line of criticism does not seem terribly damaging although it does raise some interesting issues. Govier's Third Line: Deductivism Is a Distorting Lens Govier's (1987) third line of argument revolves around the claim that deductivism is a distorting lens through which to examine the phenomena of natural arguments. For RD, all errors in reasoning turn out to occur in the premises rather than in the inference from the premises to the conclusion. Moreover, reconstructing arguments in this way "is ad hoc and too frequently re-iterative . . . " (p. 27). RD allows and requires us to do too much to the data. It is cumbersome and appears to misrepresent the original argument. If we look at people's arguments through deductivist spectacles, all arguments will appear as complete, incomplete, or failed deductions. "But little that is real is seen" (p. 27). We need some good reason as to why this is the right way to look at arguments, said Govier, reiterating Stove's 1970 critique. Apart from its apparent simplicity, all that RD appears to have going for it is the claim that in a good argument, the premises must suffice to prove the conclusion; that is, it must be deductively valid. But in this context, said Govier, such a claim is question-begging. Govier concluded that, "it still seems to be true that many people assume some version of the theory unreflectively" (p. 27). The claim that deductivism distorts in the way that purple-colored glasses distort strikes me as at once misguided and revelatory. For one thing, there is a way that objects look to normal vision. Against that background, a purple-colored lens distorts because it makes objects appear purple when in fact they are not. No parallel situation exists in the case of argument. There is no way that arguments appear prior to the imposition of the spectacles of deductivism. Or if there is, Govier did not specify what it is. Therefore, this analogy is not persuasive. Govier's point is that RD causes us to do things to arguments that may well result in their being distorted, and I have more than a little sympathy for this view. What is revelatory here is that the analogy suggests that there is nothing wrong with deductivism per se, only with its use as a filter through which to view arguments. There is nothing wrong with putting on purple-colored lenses, provided this fits with the purpose at hand. Suppose that a purple-colored

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lens is good at filtering out a certain sort of ray that is bad for your eyes. In a somewhat similar fashion, there is nothing wrong with deductivism, when applied appropriately or focused on the right object: implication. I postpone making that argument until chapter 4. The Critique from Govier's Fourth Chapter Govier added a new dimension to her earlier argument against deductivism in her fourth chapter. Instead of alluding to a class, kind, or type of argument to which deductivism can only be applied either with great difficulty or by distortion, Govier presented examples of such arguments. She focused on two new species of argument: Wisdom's idea of a caseby-case argument and Wellman's notion of a conductive argument. (These are new in the sense that they have not worked their way into the mainstream.) Her position is that neither of these types of argument can be rendered deductively. Deductive reconstruction here fundamentally distorts the argument type, each of which must be recognized as a legitimate type of argument. Hence, deductivism fails as a theory of argument. If Govier was correct on this score, deductivism appears to be doomed. I think this is a good, if somewhat elliptical, argument. What I mean is that the argument must be made a great deal more complex than I have intimated, if these two species of reasoning and argument are supposed to function as elements of an alternative theory to both deductivism and positivism. I propose to defer further examination of this aspect of her case until I take up conductivism later this chapter. Summary As it unfolds over the course of her three chapters, Govier's critique of deductivism seemed to have five separate strands. In chapter 1, Govier argued that deductivism fails to satisfy the adequacy criterion that allows degrees of logical virtue. In chapter 2, we saw three different lines. The first is that Stove's criticism remains valid (i.e., deductivists do not appear to have good reasons for their position). The second is that the consequences are enormous and too costly. The third is that deductivism inherently distorts its objects. Finally, Govier argued that there are other types of argument that are not reducible to deductivism. Govier's arguments may not be enough to dispose of deductivism entirely, but they seem sufficient to cast doubts on its viability. In my view, the strongest criticisms are that deductivism does not satisfy the adequacy condition and that there are other species of argument; it turns out that these are related criticisms. The argument that there is another species of argument, call it conductive, and that this is not reducible (which argument

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we need to look at) is perhaps the most telling blow against deductivism. Less telling are the criticisms from Govier's second chapter. The Stove criticism is easily dispatched and has been remedied in the literature by those who have provided arguments for deductivism. The claim that the consequences of deductivism are too costly is marred by poor arguments. As we have seen, the discussion of Govier's arguments has raised a number of important issues both for the theory of argument and the theory of reasoning. Hence, even if one is not completely persuaded that deductivism is wrong on the basis of Govier's arguments, one must acknowledge the importance and fertility of her critique. I now turn to Groarke's defense of deductivism. Groarke's Defense of Deductivism Introduction Groarke (1992) sought to defend deductivism against Govier's criticisms. Groarke was not out to promote deductivism as a self-sufficient theory and said, "My suggestion is the more modest claim that we need a synthesis of formal and informal notions and must not unthinkingly reject every aspect of the formal approach" (p. 120). I do not see the point of this remark. In this context, it would suggest that Govier's critique of deductivism argued for wholesale repudiation of the formal approach. That is not how I read Govier. In any event, one can repudiate deductivism as a theory of argument while yet conceding a role for formal methods. Groarke (1992) portrayed his own central argument as: (P1) Deductivism can account for inconclusive arguments. (P2) Deductivism can account for standard fallacies. (P3) Deductivism does not entail an untenable policy of reconstructing implicit premises in ordinary argument. Therefore (C) The standard criticisms of deductivism (a la Govier) are misguided. (p. 119) One important dialectical consideration is that Groarke's argument does not cover all of Govier's case. Groarke made no reference to Govier's use of Stove's argument and did not directly address what may well be Govier's strongest argument; that is, the counterexamples taken from Wisdom's idea of case-by-case reasoning and Wellman's idea of conductive argument. (I can be fairly certain what strategy Groarke would usea reductivist one.) But certainly (P1) and (P3) constitute major prongs in Govier's case, so let me now turn to Groarke's arguments for deductivism.

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Deductivism Can Account for Inconclusive Arguments Groarke argued that deductivism can accommodate inconclusive arguments by making an adjustment to what is allowed in the premise set. It can thus account for arguments with probabilistic conclusions by building a modal qualifier into the premisesconclusion. Here are his examples. First, the argument as originally expressed: 1*. Lithuania will eventually leave the Soviet Union, so probably its economy will decline. (p. 115) The argument as reconstructed deductively would be expressed as: 1. If Lithuania ever leaves the Soviet Union, its economy will probably decline; Lithuania will eventually leave the Soviet Union; therefore its economy will probably decline. A second example: 2*. The examination of a random sample of Brand X computers in 1989 shows that 95% of them are defective. Hence it is probable that there is something wrong with the one you bought. (p. 115) And its reconstruction: 2. The examination of a random sample of brand X computers manufactured in 1989 shows that 95% of them are defective, therefore it is probable that there is something wrong with the one you bought. Groarke claimed that 1 and 2 are accurate renderings of 1* and 2* and that each is a valid argument with an inconclusive conclusion. Hence, deductivism can handle probabilistic arguments. Groarke claimed that a similar strategy will suffice for other kinds of argument: ''Once again it follows that deductivism can distinguish different degrees of logical support, and more or less conclusive reasoning" (p. 116). Groarke suggested that deductivism can handle pro and con reasoning, and "balance of considerations" type of argument. This is as close as Groarke comes to illustrating the reduction: If one unreliable witness says the butler committed the murder and five reliable ones say that it was the chauffeur then, assuming we have no other evidence to go on, the claim that "On balance it appears that the chauffeur is the murderer" follows deductively (for we cannot escape the conclusion that there are more reasons for this conclusion than the alternative). (p. 116)

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Groarke's argument faces three problems. The first is that he may be guilty of the modal fallacy of quantifying across contexts. Thus Groarke suggested that the following inference: (1) If P, then probably-Q; P; therefore probably-Q. There is little doubt that 1* is a deductively valid argument. But are 1 and 1* equivalent? I believe they are not. A fuller treatment of this issue would require a detour into inductive logic and probability theory that I cannot undertake here. If the kind of move that Groakre has suggested here were to be generally and effectively deployed, it would seem to follow that deductive logic is capable of handling inductive arguments. Inductive logic becomes futile, a conclusion that seems highly implausible. Hence, I am suspicious of Groarke's proposed method of recasting probable arguments. Second, deductivism as modified by Groarke still does not accommodate Adequacy Condition 4 (about degrees of logical virtue) because validity remains an all-or-nothing affair. Either an argument is valid or it is not. There is no intermediate position; there are no degrees of necessary consequence. The same would seem to be true of soundness, unless Groarke could show how it could be otherwise. Third, Groarke's proposal for reconstructing balance of considerations arguments as deductive ones is problematic in several ways. In the first place, his case would be much stronger had he shown us how to accomplish the reduction with one or more of the many examples that Govier provided. Second, Govier explicitly addressed the question of reduction, whereas Groarke omitted any response to that discussion, which must be reckoned to be, at the very least, a dialectical weakness in his case. Deductivism Can Handle Fallacies Groarke argued that Govier's position was compromised by too narrow a conception of fallacy. He referred to her characterization of fallacy as a mistake or error in reasoning and responded by saying that, "it makes more sense to construe 'reasoning' and 'fallacy' in a broader way that encompasses questions and problems about the status of premises in arguments" (p. 117). And, in fact, Groarke proposed that a deductivist account of fallacies is possible by "treating fallacies as problems with the premises of arguments" (p. 117). Both Govier's criticism and Groarke's rejoinder (which has the status of a promissory note: I would have to see the details before I could judge the viability of the program of analysis marked here) presuppose that there is an important distinction between the premises of the argument and the inference from the premises to the conclusion. There is a longstanding tradition that regards this distinction and its approach to the structure of

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arguments as sacrosanct. However, I believe that there are good reasons for challenging this view of the structure of argument. (This approach may be appropriate for representing the structure of inference, provided a distinction is drawn between interference and argument. But that is another matter entirely.) What reasons are there for challenging the well ensconced traditional view? The so-called inference from the premises to the conclusion can itself always be embodied in the argument as a missing premise. Thus, the argument (A1) P1, P2infaC can be represented as (A2) P1, P2, MPinfbC where the MP is a premise version of the inference (infa) in (A1)or what we have now come to call the associated conditional. And it would seem that (A1) is a good argument if and only if (A2) is a good argument, even though they are not the same argument. The problem here is not identical to the one that Lewis Carroll (1967) originally posed but close enough to warrant discussion. A brief description of the problem follows. The Tortoise taunts Achilles (who has won the race) with a problem that "really consists of an infinite number of distances, each of which is no longer than the previous one" (p. 431)? Using a set of propositions from Euclid, the Tortoise inquires whether having accepted propositions A and B as true, is one obligated to accept Z? The Tortoise can be forced to accept Z only if he is first required to accept C, which is what we are calling the associated conditional. But now the Tortoise focuses attention on the new argument, consisting of A, B, C, and Z. The Tortoise now argues that he must accept this conclusion on the basis of these premises only if he accepts its associated conditional, consisting of the A, B, C, D, and Z. And so on. It seems clear why Carroll named this puzzle as he has. The names Achilles and the Tortoise are intended to evoke for his readers the paradoxes of Zeno. The clue from the title would seem to be this: The puzzle is meant to show that something that we know to be possible (in the original version, a faster runner overtaking a slower one; in the current version, forcing someone to accept a conclusion) is not possible. In the original, the absurdity is that Achilles cannot pass the Tortoise. But we know he can, so there is something wrong with the reasoningbut what? Similarly, this new paradox argues that we can never force our interlocutor to accept an argument as valid because the interlocutor can always successfully resist

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the forcing move by appealing to his prior need to accept a missing premise of a specifiable type. That is, Achilles attempts to get the Tortoise to understand that he is forced to accept the conclusion Z on the basis of A and B, both which Tortoise accepts. But the Tortoise avoids this by claiming that for this to be true he has also to accept Cthe associated conditional. So add that to the argument. Now must he must accept Z? No, because there is yet another conditional associated with this revised argument that he must also accept. That is plugged in. Now must he accept the conclusion? No, because . . . and so on. Implied here is that there is something wrong with this reasoning because we know that we can force people to accept such a conclusion without getting stuck in this infinite regress. So what has gone wrong in the reasoning here? Commentators do not agree, and I make no attempt to solve this matter here.9 But I want to note that one way of blocking the reasoning would be to refuse to accept (A2) as a rewrite of (A1) and instead portray it as: (A3) P1, P2, MPC where "" is meant to indicate that there is no inference here at all. Once the associated conditional has been written in, the inference has disappeared and what remains is a structure in which reasons (P1, P2, and MP) are given for a conclusion. The question then becomes whether these reasons are good reasons to accept the conclusion. This question is not to be treated as a two part request: (a) Are the premises true? And (b) is the inference from the premises to the conclusion warranted? There is just one question: Are the reasons given good reasons? Thus, if we adopt the traditional way of analyzing the structure of argument, that an argument is composed of premises plus an inference (often 9 There is some controversy over exactly what the argument is designed to show. Toulmin and Ryle gave one interpretation: The argument is designed to illustrate the mistake of confusing two different roles played in the argument. The principle of inference cannot be one of the premises or part of a premise. It is a mistake to represent a rule of inference as a premise. Toulmin (1958) endorsed Ryle's notion of the difference and of an inference license and said it shows to "what impossible conclusions one is led to if one treats the Principle of the Syllogism as a super-major premise instead of an inference license." Bartley (1977) disputed this interpretation, claiming that it is not at all clear what the moral of this story is. He took it to be that, "given a challenge to the validity of an argument, we give no defense by simply adding in, as another premise, a version of the logical rule in accordance with which the argument proceeds" (p. 468) and Govier said, "the dialogue shows that inference is impossible unless the mind is willing to move from some claims to others according to a rule which is not 'written in''' (p. 96). I have yet another comment: The argument raises the question whether we should conceive of argument as an inference from a set of premises to a conclusion. In other words, I believe Carroll's argument may be interpreted as a challenge to the (P + I) conception of argument. For an explanation of "the (P + I) conception," see page 75.

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metaphorically represented as a bridge or link) from the premises to the conclusion, and if we admit the possibility of missing premises (Govier is one of few theorists to have questioned this idea10), then are we not in effect, admitting that we can always embody the inference into an MP? This admission will lead us down the road that Achilles is led down by the Tortoise. I have suggested that one implication of this apparent paradox (although it is not, I think, the one that Carroll intended) is that we should reject the traditional conception of the structure of argument as consisting of premises plus an inference from the premises to the conclusion. I refer to this conception of argument as the (P + I) conception. But if an argument is not to be viewed as a set of premises and an inference from them to the conclusion, then what view should be adopted of the structure of an argument? This issue is taken up in chapter 6. Let me now return to Groarke. The whole issue of whether deductivism can handle the tradition of fallacies is embroiled in a context defined by a set of questions that includes not only those posed previously (theory of analysis) but also the theory of appraisal (whether or not there are fallacies and how these are to be understood). Neither Govier's claim that RD cannot handle fallacies nor Groarke's claim that it can appear justified at this point. Consequences of RD not Untenable Finally, Groarke argued that the costs of RD are not unacceptably high. Govier had argued that RD runs afoul because its reconstructive policy is untenable. Groarke claimed: "It must . . . be said that the recognition of implicit premises in arguments is not required only by deductivism, and that any plausible theory of argument must make some room for implicit premises" (p. 117). But is this true? On the face of it, although this has been an operative assumption for many theoreticians, it seems far from an obvious truth. It is not clear to me that, for example, a conductivist must view a conductive argument as an incomplete argument that must be completed by the addition of missing premises. In any event, this discussion raises the question, Is the idea of a missing premise inherently linked to deductivism? Groarke admitted there are problems with implicit premises but claimed that this does not favor the nondeductivist account. The crux of that argument is the claim that the nondeductivist account is simpler, but: Any such impression is an illusion, however, for rather than eliminate the complexities associated with such arguments, the non-deductivist exchanges one kind of complexity for another, eliminating the complexities of implicit premises, replacing them with the complexities required by an account of the 10 Her thoroughgoing discussion of the topic is found in her chapter 5.

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relationship between premises and conclusion that must distinguish different kinds of inferences. (p. 118) Finally Groarke took up Govier's reconstruction of the "Roses are red . . . " argument: If someone really does forward such an argument, however, and if one really wants to understand it, such an approach [deductive reconstruction] is preferable to a simple dismissal of the argument on the grounds that the premises are obviously irrelevant to the conclusion (what Govier seems to favour). (p. 119) It is not clear to me on what basis Groarke attributed this view to Govier, although I must say that I find it an attractive one, when suitably presented. In the present case, if I were to take this seriously as an argument,11 my instinct would be to claim that the premises are irrelevant to the conclusion. Such a claim would itself have be supported and so is never tantamount to a simple dismissal. Groarke did not show to my satisfaction why his approach (deductive reconstruction) is preferable to the one Govier and I would take. Groarke continued: In contrast, the deductivist approach suggests that we should ask why this particular reasoner believes that this conclusion follows (deductively) from their premises, trying to answer this with implicit premises that explain their reasoning. If we find that the arguer believes (i) that a material implication theory of inference is correct and (ii) that it is true that "Ed loves Sue," then their argument is not ridiculous, but deductively valid (but not sound). (p. 119) Here one wants to say, "Just what in the deductivist policy requires us to undertake an investigation of the arguer's theory of implication?" That is far from clear. In order to pursue a deductivist policy (a la Groarke), one must first of all investigate the arguer's beliefs about the theory of implication. This is likely to make the task of evaluating an argument almost impossible. The task of argument analysis is difficult enough without adding to the critic's burden the task of deciphering the arguer's theory of argument. 11 Govier called it a ridiculous argument; Groarke suggested that no one would really put this forward as an argument. My question here would be: Why treat this specimen as an argument at all? The answer, it seems to me, is just that it appears to have the structure of what people call an argument. But as I explain in Part II, the best way to handle such case is with a fortified conception of argument rather than a deductivist policy of appraisal.

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There are, of course, a variety of possibilities and one cannot choose between them without reference to the particular context in which the argument arises. For our purposes, the important point is that the investigation of these possibilitiesnot the curt dismissal of the argumentis the best way to understand the argument. (p. 119) This last statement houses a straw person, as if the contrast were either curt dismissal of such arguments (nondeductivist) or investigation of possibilities (deductivist). There is in fact a third way as I mentioned: one argues that the premises cited are not relevant to the conclusion. Groarke concluded that his defense of deductivism was incomplete, but he did provide an outline of how that more complete defense would look: The argument I would propose as a more definitive defense of deductivism would include the additional premise that deductivism (a) provides, in comparison with non-deductivism, a simpler and more straightforward account of argument; and (b) better furthers the dialectic process which should be the ultimate goal of particular arguments, requiring us to ask the kinds of questions that can further this dialectic in the most useful way. (p. 120) Groarke's defense of deductivism takes us right into one of the central issues in the theory of argument: What is the goal of argument? Is it, as Groarke claimed here, to further the dialectic? Or is that perhaps the aim of the practice of argumentation, as opposed to the goal of the product of the practicethe argument, is to get at the truth? These are issues that must be taken up, and I do so in chapter 6. Groarke's defense also takes us to issues in the theory of appraisal: What are the right questions to ask in the evaluation of an argument? Groarke argued that deductivism is better because it provides a simpler and more straightforward account of argument. But how is it simpler? And at what cost do we purchase this simplicity? These questions are left hanging by Groarke. Conclusion There are problems both with Govier's critique and Groarke's defense of deductivism. Even if Govier had a case for the existence of conductive arguments, it is not clear that they are nonreducible. Her strongest point seems to me to be that deductivism is unable to satisfy the all-important Adequacy Condition 4, a point that we have seen remains in force even if Groarke put his finger on weaknesses in Govier's arguments. Groarke's defense of deductivism is also problematic in important ways. Not only does it fail to meet the challenge posed by Govier's counterexam-

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ples head on, but it makes certain assumptions about deductivism, which he himself admitted requires elaboration in a fuller treatment.12 In my view, the strongest argument against FDLdeductivism as a theory of argument emerges when I view it through the perspective of the adequacy requirements. Govier's critique contains a strong start and furnishes important leads. In turning now to those conditions and how well deductivismFDL meets them, I rely on some of her points, seeking now to imbed them in a more systematic critique. FDL Rejected The argument for abandoning FDL as a theory of argument takes the following shape. (Deductivists will appreciate this form of argumentation.) Any adequate theory of argument must satisfy Adequacy Conditions 1 through 7. But FDL does not satisfy all of these conditions. Hence, FDL cannot serve as an adequate theory of argument. To complete this argument, we must go through the adequacy requirements in turn to show that the second premise is true. (The argument is clearly deductively valid.) Adequacy Condition 1 The theory must contain an account of argument and the elements that constitute an argument. Verdict. FDL satisfies this requirement. Justification. FDL has a clear (although too permissive) conception of argument as a collection of statements in which some (the premises) are adduced as support for the other (the conclusion). The elements that constitute the argument are premises and conclusion. Toulmin's theory of argument is different partly in that it proposes a different way of understanding the elements of the argument. Hamblin, as well, offered us a different theory of analysis. Adequacy Condition 2 The theory must contain an account of how to understand the structure of arguments and how that structure may be displayed in a clear and precise manner. 12 I regret that I have not been able to take into account Groarke's (1995) later elaboration of his defense of deductivism.

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Verdict. FDL satisfies this requirement. Justification. The major work in FDL is done by the notion of logical form. The structure of argument is its logical form. The story is important for the theory of appraisal because the correct appraisal depends on identifying the logical form. (One way of telling the story is that an argument is valid if it is an instance of a valid logical form. One might well argue that one of the great strengths of deductivism and FDL lies in its doctrine of form and validity.) Adequacy Condition 3 The theory must contain a theory of appraisal that recognizes that there can be good arguments for a given position as well as good arguments against it. Verdict. FDL does not satisfy this requirement. Justification. Even though it can be the case that there is a valid argument for P and a valid argument for not-P, it cannot be the case that there is a sound argument for P and a sound argument for not-P. Hence, the goodness referred to in Adequacy Condition 3 cannot be equated with soundness. If this adequacy condition is to be captured by FDL, either the truth requirement or the validity requirement must be changed; perhaps both. Adequacy Condition 4 The theory must contain a theory of appraisal such that arguments exist in a continuum from strong to weak, with various points in between. Verdict. FDL does not satisfy this requirement. Justification. As was said earlier, validity is an all-or-nothing affair; arguments are either valid or not valid. Depending on how one unpacks it, there may be some flex in the truth requirement, although it is not typically understood that way. Because validity is an all-or-nothing requirement and is necessary for soundness, in the end, arguments will be evaluated as either sound or not sound. There are, for FDL, no degrees of soundness; hence, no degrees of logical virtue are possible (on the standard interpretation). Govier also made this point.

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Adequacy Condition 5 The standards for the appraisal of argument should be such that, in principle, the ordinary reasoner can decide whether or not these are satisfied in a given instance. In short, the criteria should be user-friendly. Verdict. FDL does not satisfy this requirement. Justification. There is a problem with validity, understood in the technical sense: The conclusion follows necessarily from the premises. There have been various attempts to make this standard readily available to the ordinary reasoner: for example, truth trees, possible world scenarios, and so forth. I am not convinced that any of them succeed. Thus, in my view, the theory of argument posed by FDL does not satisfy this requirement. Adequacy Condition 6 The theory of appraisal must be such as to allow for fruitful criticism. Verdict. FDL does not satisfy this requirement. Justification. This is largely because FDL's theory of appraisal is so limited (soundunsound). It seems that evaluation rather than criticism has been the goal of the theory of appraisal associated with FDL. (Here I anticipate a distinction from chapter 4.) Adequacy Condition 7 The criteria that belong to the theory of appraisal should be justified as to their appropriateness for the tasks assigned and in relation to the theory of analysis. Verdict. In principle, FDL can satisfy this requirement. Justification. In practice, it is often the case that, for example, the criteria for appraisal are simply dogmatically put forth rather than justified by reference to its understanding of the nature of argument. Conclusion. FDL satisfies Adequacy Conditions 1, 2, and 7, but fails to satisfy Adequacy Conditions 3, 4, 5, and 6. On the whole, then, the verdict must be that FDL is not a viable theory of argument. It does not accommodate the adequacy conditions because it fails to make room for arguments that our pretheoretic intuitions judge to be arguments and, at times, perfectly good ones: Those that are nonconclusive.

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My conclusion is not that FDL is not a viable theory but that it is a viable theory of something other than argument. And it does not follow that FDL may not have contributions to make to the theory of argument. Having thus set aside FDL (deductivism) as a theory of argument, let me look at one possible alternative, the theory that Govier called positivism. Positivism: A Dualist Theory of Argument Positivism Explicated Govier discussed an alternative theory of argument that she dubbed positivism. According to this theory of argument, all arguments are either inductive or deductive. If the argument is deductive, then the appropriate standard to employ is validity; if the argument is inductive, then the appropriate standard to employ is probability. In terms of the alternative Govier discussed, this theory is a degenerate form of pluralism (as to analysis) and a spectrum theory (as to appraisal). In fact, it is a dualist theory. The reason Govier called it positivist is that its typology runs parallel to the distinction made by positivists between different kinds of knowledge: knowledge furnished by analysis (deduction) and knowledge furnished by sensation (induction). Govier's Critique of Positivism The chief problem for this theory, said Govier, is that it is founded on the distinction between inductive and deductive, a distinction that is notoriously difficult to draw. As Govier noted, there has been an ongoing dispute about this distinction in informal logic going right back to the early 1980s. There still is not a clear consensus about how to distinguish the two, whether they are distinguishable and indeed whether the distinction is exhaustive. According to Govier (1987), perhaps the best known expression of positivism is found in Copi: It is Copi's version which is the most commonly accepted. This is due no doubt partly to the influence of his texts over several decades. Many of those now teaching formal and informal logic began their studies with these texts. It is also because this view and it alone allows you to apply the inductive deductive distinction to all arguments and to have good and bad arguments within each category. Salmon, Neidorf, and Kyburg give a version of the distinction applicable only to good arguments. Black and Rescher state one which allows inductive arguments to be either good or poor, but leaves all deductive

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ones as valid. Fohr transfers the distinction to intentions, with the result that it cannot be exhaustive after all. (p. 44) A serious problem for Copi was that his way of drawing the distinction involved an essential reference to what the arguer intends or claims to be the force of the argument. Sometimes there will be conflicting signals. Often, no claim at all is made about how tightly the conclusion is claimed to be related to the premises, as Govier illustrated using an argument from Mill. Govier stated that it is not easy to sort actual arguments into the two positivist categories, although she admitted that application problems do not necessarily signal defeat. There will be application problems for any pluralistic theory, so that "any theory of argument allowing for several distinct categories will have to make some allowance for flexibility in interpretation" (p. 49). The key issue, then, for a positivist theory is the nature of the basic dualism it prescribes, the great divide between the truths of mathematics and logic (where deduction reigns supreme), and the truth of the empirical sciences (where induction is appropriate): The key common idea [to all forms of positivism] is that there is a kind of connection between premises and conclusion which is deductive, and there is just one other kind of connection. Only one. One side of the dichotomy is relatively unproblematic. To be satisfied with the positivist theory, however, we have to be satisfied with both sides. Moreover we have to convince ourselves that this dichotomy is exhaustive. The key issue for any version of the positivist theory is whether there is just one kind of nondeductive connection. (p. 49) Govier proceeded to discuss a number of types of nondeductive argument: arguments from analogy, conductive arguments (Wellman), good reasons arguments (Baier), convergent arguments (Thomas), and nonconclusive philosophical arguments (Johnstone). Further reflection on the other side (inductive) suggests that this category is much too cumbersome and all-embracing if understood broadly enough to make the dichotomy workable. And if understood more narrowly, the exhaustiveness of the distinction becomes problematic. Thus, if we understand a probabilistic connection to be any form of nondeductive connection (the broad sense), then the term "inductive" can be used to cover all of these types but it really asserts nothing, for it reveals nothing about what these various types have in common. The narrower sense of a probabilistic connection would be used in connection with empirical statements, such that these are based on evidence that makes them more probable than they were in the absence of such evidence. It is doubtful

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that this sense of probable applies to the types of argument listed previously. After discussing the reasons that philosophers have favored this theory of argument, Govier concluded her treatment of positivism by saying: The great divide between deductive and inductive arguments is spurious and theoretically dangerous, because it makes it too easy to ignore the many nondeductive arguments which are not classically inductive. It thus leads to false simplicity in our classificatory categories and falsely founded problems of justification in philosophy and elsewhere. Acknowledging the existence and epistemic legitimacy of other types of argument would alter our approaches to such problems as the justification of normative and interpretative statements while at the same time enhancing our understand of natural argumentation. (p. 53) Critique of Govier's Critique Essentially, Govier's critique revolves around three points. On the issue of drawing the distinction between induction and deduction, Govier made some good points. However, the positivist may well respond that this distinction is one of those fundamental distinctions that can never be perfectly articulated but continues to be usefulin somewhat the way that the terms "analytic" and "synthetic" continue to be useful, even though Quine argued that they are not, in principle, distinguishable. The second point is that there exist types of argument that do not fit into either category. The strength of Govier's argument here depends entirely on her ability to persuade us of the existence of this third type. A third and equally telling point against positivism is that the category of inductive, as used in this theory, is much too problematic to be useful. If understood narrowly, it excludes a highly visible type of argumentthe one in which the arguer believes that the argument provides good but not conclusive reasons for the conclusion and where that goodness is not quantifiable in the way required by probability theory. If inductive is understood broadly, then the notion of probability will have been stretched beyond the breaking point. Conclusion Positivism does not fare much better than deductivism in Govier's eyes, and I think she was right in claiming that positivism, although better than deductivism, is not yet pluralistic enough. Thus, Govier's main argument against both deductivism and positivism was based on the position that there is more than one; indeed, more than two; types of argument. Because

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this claim is the focal point of an entire chapter, it is time to look more carefully at that chapter. Conductivism: A Pluralistic Theory of Argument Conductivism Proposed Govier presented the case for a pluralistic theory of argument. She did not give it a name. To preserve the parallel, I call it Conductivism. It is clearly a form of spectrum theory. Govier said: The prevailing theories of argument among philosophers seem to be deductivism and positivism. Of course there have been dissenters from these views. Some dissenters, such as Wittgenstein, Toulmin, and Perelman were people of considerable professional prominence. Despite this, their views on the theory of argument have not greatly influenced thinking on formal logic, nor, until quite recently, even in informal logic. Among dissenting views on reasoning and argument, two are of particular interest (p. 55). She mentioned Wisdom's idea of case-by-case arguments, and Wellman's idea of a conductive argument: Although case-by case-reasoning and conductive reasoning are not just the same, they fit into a similar gap in the theory of argument and may have been ignored by philosophers for similar reasons. Both fail to supply deductive support to conclusions and yet are frequently used in a priori contexts to resolve issues that are conceptual, philosophical, normative or in some other important sense nonempirical. In addition both seem recalcitrant to treatment by general rules. (p. 56) This latter claim can best be understood as a reference to the strategies available to both the deductivist and to the positivist. In any event, Govier thought these two types of reasoningargument go some distance toward filling an important gap in the theory of argument. I interpret this as, in effect, an option for a new theory of argument. Conductivism, as a theory of argument, might be construed as holding that there are three types of argument: deductive, inductive, and conductive;

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the latter being illustrated by the two types of arguments Govier discussed.13 Conductive argument is described as, ''[it is] that sort of reasoning in which (1) a conclusion about some individual case (2) is drawn nonconclusively (3) from one or more premises about the same case (4) without any appeal to other cases" (p. 66). For the sake of simplicity, I assume that case-by-case reasoning can be subsumed under conduction. Govier offered her own gloss on Wellman's definition: A conductive argument, then, depends crucially upon the concept of relevance. It differs from a deductive argument because the factors cited do not entail, and are not put forward as being sufficient for, the conclusion stated. It differs from an inductive argument in that it is not a case of confirming or disconfirming hypotheses by instances and in that (typically) separately relevant reasons are cited in support of a normative, conceptual or philosophical conclusion. The issue is frequently not empirical. (p. 66) Having presented in outline form a theory of argument that might be called conductivism, the next and most important question is, "What standards will be used to evaluate a conductive argument?" In a conductive argument no one premise deductively entails the conclusion, nor do the premises entail the conclusion when considered together. The premises count for the conclusion by being relevant to it, in a sense of "relevant" less than sufficiency. The method by which we assess a conductive argument is not to test for deductive validity, but rather to ask ourselves whether the premises are relevant, how much support they give to the conclusion, and whether unmentioned factors that are relevant to the conclusion would "outweigh" the premises. We may also consider further cases to test the claims of relevance . . . Whether X is relevant to Y in these contexts is a conceptual, normative, or 'criterial' issue. (p. 70) What Govier did here was to spell out a standard that might be used to appraise so-called conductive inference. Whether this proposed standard can pass muster is something to be discussed later. Conductivism Criticized Conductivism certainly holds some promise as a theory of argument. But it, too, faces problems both in its theory of analysis and its theory of appraisal. 13 Conductive inference bears interesting similarities to what Scriven (1987) called probative inference.

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Problems for Conductivism's Theory of Analysis In the first place, Govier's case for conductivism is not fully developed. Yet there is sufficient material for us to flesh out the shape of the more complete argument. I believe it would look as follows: Step 1. It must be shown that conductive inference is not the same as deductive inference. (1987, p. 66) Step 2. It must be shown that conductive inference is not the same as inductive inference. (1987, p. 66) Step 3. Hence, conductive inference is different from both inductive and deductive inference. (Inference from 1 & 2.) Now a second phase of argument must be developed: Step 4. Conductive inference is not reducible to inductive inference. Step 5. Conductive inference is not reducible to deductive inference. (1987, p. 73) Step 6. Conductive inference is not reducible to a system of deductive and inductive inference. (From 4 & 5.) Step 7. Hence, conductive inference is different from and not reducible to either inductive or deductive inference, nor a combination of the two. In other words, conductive inference represents an independent type of inference. (From 3 & 6.) Step 8. Deductivism is an inadequate theory of argument. (1987) Step 9. Positivism is an inadequate theory of argument. (1987) Conclusion. Some form of conductivisim is the appropriate theory of argument. (From 7, 8, & 9.) Now, there is much to say about this argument. Let us assume for the moment that there will not be a problem with Steps 1 and 2. Step 3 is a conclusion from them. Govier (1987) explicitly argued for Step 5 and I want to look at that argument shortly. But notice that there is no argument given or suggested for Step 4, which is crucial in deriving Step 7. So there is a sense in which Govier's argument is importantly incomplete. How did Govier argue for Step 5? She acknowledged that the deductivist will attempt a reduction. Her argument against it was essentially that the key stroke here

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is the insertion of the requisite MP, which will transform the conductive argument into a deductive one. (We know this move is possible.) When the MP has been inserted, Govier argued, following Wellman, the argument is now a different argument. Our reconstruction has distorted the original conductive argument with which we began. She illustrates this in connection with the following example: ARG You should return the book because you promised to do so. (To turn this into) a deductively valid argument, we will need an additional premise. Possible additional premises are either false, unverifiable independently of judgement about the individual case, or impossible to formulate in advance. That you should always keep promises is false; that you should always keep promises other things being equal is unverifiable independently of a judgement about the case at issue; that you should always keep promises in circumstances of type (abc) is impossible to formulate in advance. The enthymeme approach, here as so often, makes an inference watertight at the cost of introducing an unknowable premise. (p. 73) And, said Govier, the problems will mount in severity as we consider more complex conductive arguments. There is something not quite right about Govier's reasoning here. She was committed to the unstated and (I believe) debatable position that one may not add as a missing premise any candidate that is false, unverifiable independently of the judgment about the individual case or impossible to formulate in advance. This position dovetails with positions having to do both with her Principle of Charity and her doctrine of missing premises. I cannot pursue those matters here. Before leaving Govier's argument against deductive reconstruction of conductive arguments, I wish to note a consequence that seems both shocking yet potentially profitable. It seems to follow from what she said in formulating her resistance to enthymeme approach that Govier would not want to adopt the standard position that the argument is incomplete because of a missing premise. But that leaves only two possibilities. Either we continue to approach arguments as consisting of premises and inferences from the premise to the conclusion and we define a new species of inferenceconductive inferenceor we abandon the notion that an argument consists of premises and an inference from the premises to the conclusion. I believe Govier intended the former and shortly argue against that alternative. I address the (P + I) conception that came up earlier in chapter 6. Problems for Conductivism's Theory of Appraisal The theory of appraisal for conductivism outlined by Govier stresses two questions: How much support do the premises provide? Are there relevant

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counterconsiderations? Presumably, ways of dealing with these questions would be answered by a theory of conductive inference, but there is no such theory at the moment. Govier stated: If P fails to entail Q, but seems nevertheless to offer some reason for Q (as in "the car has a good repair record in Consumer Reports, so you will not have much problem with repairs if you buy it"), we may say P does support Q, even though it does not entail Q. But support in this case is not a thinner version of deductive support. It is not a "degree" of deductive support, but rather something else. (p. 31) The problem is that we have no theory to illuminate these matters. Govier stated: The problem is that spectrum theory tells us nothing about these degrees. It does not indicate what kind of support premises might offer, or whether and why (for example) A might be a stronger argument than B. [A, B, and C refer to specific arguments found on pp. 3132.] It is not even clear that it makes sense to think of C as having more or less than the same kind of connection which either holds or fails to hold in C. The spectrum theory is only a metaphor until it can tell us more about what degrees of support (or connection between premises and conclusion) are degrees of and what constitutes a great or lesser degree. (p. 32) So the basic problem with conductivism's theory of appraisal is its underdeveloped state. The whole notion of a conductive inference, that is, of a link between premises and conclusion that is weaker than deductive implication and weaker than inductive inference, is far from clear. At this stage, although conductivism may appear to be the best candidate for a theory of argument, there are serious problems with both its theory of analysis and its theory of appraisal. Conclusion Govier did an excellent job of exposing significant problems with the two extant theories of argument: deductivism and positivism. Groarke's defense of deductivism, although not without its own interest, comes up short. There appear to be insuperable problems with FDL, principally in connection with its theory of appraisal (Adequacy Conditions 36). The traditional ideal of soundness captures perhaps some aspects of logical virtue in argumentation but it is not universal; it cannot be the whole story. Although deductivism is not viable as a theory of argument, my suggestion is that it was never really intended to fit that role and that it fell into

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it by default, as the result of developments in logic I discuss in the next chapter. It is perhaps no surprise that given the limitations of deductivism, attempts to modify it (positivism and conductivism) fare no better. Still, our discussion of these theories has been profitable for it has brought to the surface four important issues: How shall we demarcate the realm of discourse to which we want our theory of argument to apply? Natural argumentation? Ordinary arguments? Naturally occurring arguments? How shall we characterize the terrain our typology proposes to map? How many types of argument are there? What precisely do we mean by argument? These are questions for the theory of analysis. Can deductivism (FDL) be modified to meet the adequacy requirements? Is there in fact a difference between pure deductivism and reconstructive deductivism? Is the issue of missing premises linked with deductivism? If the argument of this chapter has been successful, it means that FDL is not a viable candidate for a theory of argument. But that leaves us with two questions: (a) What role should we assign to FDL? (b) Where do we turn for a viable theory of argument? As to (a): What becomes of FDL? Although FDL undeniably presents us with a powerful theory, I believe that FDL is best viewed not as a theory of argument but rather as a theory of implication. This claim depends on my being able to clarify the distinction between implication and argumentand that is part of the work of the next chapter. Here I pause to take account of one possible objection: Suppose you are right. It's hard to see what is gained by interpreting FDL to a theory of implication. Don't the exact same problems come back to haunt us here? Won't FDL fail as a theory of implication for just the same reasons that it fails as a theory of argument? I think a satisfactory answer to this challenge must await the broader picture of the differences between implication and argument. Presumably, the demands on a theory of implication will be different than the demands on a theory of argument, so there is no reason to think that FDL cannot function adequately there. Moreover, because of its close association with mathematics and the foundation of mathematics, FDL appears to be more naturally tied to the entailment relationship (which is crucial in mathematics) than it is to argument (where it is less clearly at home) As to (b): it seems that something like a pluralistic theory that allows for degrees of logical virtue is what we are looking for. Hence, we need some form of pluralistic theory maybe spectrum theory, as providing a possible

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lead. I argue that the approach to argument evaluation taken by informal logicians can meet this need. That we do not, at this point, 2,000 plus years into our theorizing about argument, have a viable theory of argument is an astounding fact and points in two directions: backward, for it seems important to understand, to at least to attempt to, why this is so; and forward, to the development of an adequate theory. In chapter 4, I look backward to search for some explanation. Beginning in chapter 5, (Part II), I attempt to develop just such a theory.

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Chapter 4 Lessons from the Past I argued in chapter 3 that FDLthe oldest, most powerful, and most attractive theory of argument we possessis not an adequate theory. The alternatives discussed by Govier (positivism and conductivism) fare no better. Thus, it appears that the inquiry we know as logic has not provided us with an adequate theory of argument. When we stop to think that logic goes back as far as Aristotle, this realization is likely to cause some bewilderment. "How can this be?" we want to ask. In this chapter, I want to inquire into some of the reasons for this situation. My explanation will, of necessity, be sketchy. A complete explanation would take a great deal of space, requiring thorough discussion of what happened in logic from ancient through medieval, into the early and late modern periods. Instead I look only at the period from the mid-19th century on, when logicso it is widely believedemerged from the Dark Ages into the light. The explanation I propose is not original. Its antecedents can be found in Toulmin's (1958) view that the problem lies in the "geometric model" that the logicians of this century adopted for their inquiry. Although I do not follow Toulmin in his prescription for the new model (recall the discussion in chapter 2), I largely agree with his diagnosis of the problem, which he set forth as, "The ambition to cast logic into a mathematical form is as old as the subject itself. . . . Since the seventeenth century the subject has, if anything, tended to become more mathematical rather than less. . . ." (p. 177). The phrase I use to characterize this path of development is: Logic became mathematicized.1 1 See Toulmin's (1958) critique of logic (pp. 177 ff).

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I believe that there are three factors in this development. The first part of the explanation is conceptual in nature: The lines of demarcation between inference, implication, and argument were blurred. In saying this, I do not mean to presuppose some hallowed past in which the distinction was clear cut and rigorously observed. But as logic became more and more mathematical, the focus shifted increasingly from argument to implication. The second factor is related to the first: The result of the switch in focus is that the developing tradition in logic was able to coast along with a truncated, anemic conception of argument as a set of propositions, one of which follows from the others. The final factor is the failure in the theory of appraisal to distinguish between criticism and evaluation. As long as argument and implication are thought of as one and the same and because implication largely demands evaluation, the task of criticism got lost in the shuffle. But I am getting ahead of myself here. I want to begin by picking up the thread from the end of the last chapter, where we saw that conductivism had something going for it as a theory of argument. Let me begin by asking what that "something" was. The Truth Behind Conductivism Of all the theories of argument considered in chapter 3, conductivism is the one that appears to have the greatest promise. For one thing, it can accommodate the important adequacy condition that FDL cannot: It can allow for degrees of logical virtue. The main problem we found with conductivism was its underdeveloped state: The idea of a conductive inference is just not clear. What, then, is the truth behind conductivism? I would say that both its theory of argument and appraisal (underdeveloped although these are) are properly focused on the realm of argument that we most need to interact with. How to characterize this realm is a difficult matter. As we saw, Govier (1987) used various phrases to refer to it: "naturally occurring arguments," "natural argumentation," "real arguments." Others have used phrases such as "mundane argument" or ''everyday argument." Whatever it is called, the sorts of argument with which we began chapter 2 are the very sort we want our theory of argument to recognize and address as arguments, and that we want our theory of appraisal to help us to evaluate. But neither of them is easily identified as an argument by either FDL or positivism. Neither is clearly a deductive argument and neither seems in any way to be an argument based on probability. Each comes closer to being what Govier identified as a conductive argument. So conductivism appears to embrace in its theory of argument the sort of specimen we want our theory to deal with. The problem lies in the very notion of a conductive inferenceargument. The idea of deductive inferenceimplication is clearthe premises necessi-

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tate the conclusion or it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false. The idea behind inductive inference is clear (although not uncontroversial)the premise(s) render the conclusion probable; that is, it is not impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false, although it is (depending on the case) improbable.2 What would be the corresponding idea behind conductive inference? On analogy, it would seem to be that the premises provide good reasons for thinking the conclusion to be true. Or, in a balance-of-considerations argument, it is acknowledged that there are offsetting considerations but that, on the whole, the positive considerations outweigh them so that the conclusion in some sense follows. At the end of chapter 3, Govier was quoted to the effect that the notion of support used in the explanation of conductive argumentinference is none too clear. If we think of the connection between premises and conclusion as deductive, we seem to have the tightest possible connection. In a good inductive argument, so the thinking goes, this connection is still quite strong, but not as strong. And, by parity, we would say that in a conductive argument, the connection is a weaker connection than either of the other two. The difficulty will be to give this notion coherent and manageable content, for at this point, we may wonder if the notion of an inference link has not become so attenuated as to be of questionable merit. Accordingly, I want to suggest another way of looking at the situation. The conclusion to be drawn is not that we need a pluralistic theory of argument that recognizes the legitimacy of inductive and conductive inferences no less than deductive inference but rather that we need to question whether the term "conductive" properly characterizes a mode of inference or a type of argument at all. (Of course, how one understands inference is the crucial issuea matter I take up in chapter 6.) What I am suggesting is that deductivism and positivism are not really theories of argument at all. I will be asked, "Then what are they? For surely they are theories of some sort or other!" My response is: "Yes, of course." Formal deductive logic is really a theory of implication. Inductive logic is a theory of inference. What is called conductive inference is better called argument, for that is what it really isor so says the position I am defending here. To sum up, I hold that there are differences and similarities among the terms "implication," "inference," and "argument.'' Each has its own logic, as it were, as Fig. 4.1 indicates. Implication is to be distinguished from inference, which in turn must be distinguished from argument. The drawing of such distinctions is not the 2 I bracket the debate about whether there is such a logic as inductive logic and, indeed, whether there is any such thing as induction. There is no doubt that the ordinary reasoner does make generalizations, causal inferences, and so on. For a fascinating account of what psychologists have discovered about this kind of reasoning, see Nisbett and Ross (1980).

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NAME

TYPE OF REASONING

LOGIC

deduction

Implication

formal deductive logic

induction

inference

inductive logic

conduction

argument

informal logic

Fig. 4.1 Types of reasoning and their logics. proper work of the theory of argument, but rather of the theory of reasoning. Indeed, if this book is successful in making its case for informal logic as the nucleus of a theory of argument, then the ways in which argument and inference are different will become clearer. However, it remains to the theory of reasoning to explicate these distinctions fully. Let me provide without discussion the following or provisional definitions of these terms: ImplicationA logical relationship between statements or propositions, in which one follows necessarily from the others. Paradigm case: If, if P then Q, and if Q then R, then if P then R. InferenceThe transition of the mind from one proposition to another in accordance with some principle; at its best, guided by the theory of probability. Paradigm case: We always have snow in Windsor in January, so we will have snow in Windsor this January. ArgumentAn argument is discourse aimed at rational persuasion; that is, the arguer puts forth a proposition (the conclusion) on the basis of grounds or evidence. Paradigm cases: The two main examples in chapter 2. Even if I can make clear in theory the differences between these types of reasoning, it does not follow (and I do not hold) that there is a rigid demarcation between them. An argument may well contain or be structured along the lines of an implication. Here's an example: Look, if it is true that if we want Hansen to come then we will have to get Powers; and if we have to get Powers we will first have to persuade Pinto; so if we want Hansen to come, we will first have to persuade Pinto. This is an argument that has the form of the implication just stated. An inference may give rise to an argument or be contained within one. We can imagine the inference just cited sparking an argument about whether there ever had been a January without snow or, more likely, an argument about why winters are milder now than they were in the first half of the century.

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I want to suggest that the truth behind the reasoning that led Govier to conductivism is this: We should abandon the idea that an argument consists of a set of premises plus a connection, an inference, from those premises to the conclusion. In other words, the truth behind conductivism is that arguments ought not to be represented as inferences. Arguments (at least the central instances of them) and inferences (at least the central instances of them) are entirely distinct, although related, species of reasoning. Two comments seem appropriate here. First, I realize that the notion of inference is just a problematic as the notion of argument and although a preliminary attempt was made in chapter 1 to distinguish the two, that attempt was rudimentary. That leads to the second point. What is needed here is a fully developed theory of reasoning. The confusion that has developed around these three types of reasoning makes this an opportune moment to say something more about what I mean by "the theory of reasoning." Excursus: The Theory of Reasoning In my view, the task of thinking through such matters as the difference between implication and argument belongs to the inquiry I call, following Finocchiaro (1984), the theory of reasoning. Because part of the argument of this book is that the theory of argumentation requires supplementation and completion by the theory of reasoning, this is as good a time as any for a slight detour to discuss that theory. I begin with Finocchiaro's (1984) description of the theory of reasoningso far as I know the first one. He described the theory of reasoning this way: By theory of reasoning I mean the attempt to formulate, to test, to clarify, and to systematize concepts and principles for the interpretation, the evaluation and the sound practice of reasoning. I claim that the theory of reasoning so defined is a legitimate philosophical enterprise which is both viable and important. (p. 3) If Finocchiaro is right, then an obvious question to be asked is, "Why has not more attention been given by philosophers [and others] to this enterprise?" If you were to go to any of the standard indices of philosophyThe Philosopher's Index, for exampleand look up "theory of reasoning," and were given a nickel for every reference, you would not have enough to make a local phone call. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy contains no entry for the theory of reasoning. Indeed, although there has been historically a great deal of philosophical interest in the related concept of rationality, only very recently has there been much interest in reasoning. Why is that?

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My answer is that its development has been blocked by deeply rooted and powerful assumptions. In identifying these assumptions I am going to use the term "inference" in a slightly extended sense different than that laid down earlier. I beg the reader's indulgence for this lapse. First, I lay out the assumptions and then show how they worked together to block the theory of reasoning. One assumption is: (A1) Reasoning is inferring. I call this position Inferentialism. It is widespread, being found in the writings of philosophers and logicians and cognitive psychologists. Consider the following chapter titles from Revlin and Mayer's (1978) classic study: 1. "Research on Syllogistic Reasoning" (p. 39) 2. "The Effect of Personal Biases on Syllogistic Reasoning" (p. 51) 3. "The Nature of Denied Propositions in the Conditional Sentence Reasoning Task" (p. 83) 4. "The Acceptance of Generalizations about Persons, Objects, and Events" (p. 101) 5. "The Role of Inference in Memory for Real and Artificial Information" (p. 139) 6. "Drawing Inferences from Set Inclusion Information Given in Text" (p. 163) 7. "Inference and Reading" (p. 185) 8. "Making Inferences about Relevance in Understanding Problems" (p. 195) 9. "Effects of Meaningfulness on the Representation of Knowledge and the Process of Inference for Mathematical Problem Solving" (p. 207) Would it not be fair to conclude that for these authors, reasoning and inferring are pretty much the same thing? I think so. Is there any evidence of a shift on the part of psychologists away from that view in the last 25 years? Very little, as we shall see. A second assumption: (A2) Inferring just is deductive inferring. This position has been called "deductive chauvinism." These assumptions combined with the notion that we have a perfectly adequate theory of inferenceFDLand given that reasoning is inferring, it follows that we have a theory of reasoning. That is how one might arrive at the view that: (A3) Logic (FDL) is the theory of reasoning.

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Because logic is already the theory of reasoning, there is no need to develop such a theory. However, these assumptions can no longer be held dogmatically. The whole question of what constitutes reasoning has opened up, according to Walton (1996)whose views are the subject of attention later. But here is a list of questions that need answers: 1. What is reasoning? Is reasoning either identical to, essentially the same as, or else reducible to, inferenceimplicationentailment? (Once again, I hold there are differences among these three, but they do not matter at the moment.) How does reasoning differ from thinking? 2. To move to a different-level question: What is the relationship between reasoning and rationality? Are they the same concept under different guises? And what about reasoning and intelligence? Reasoning and knowledge? This is the Second Form of The Network Problem, discussed in the Introduction, and the view taken here is that its appropriate forum is the theory of reasoning. 3. At a still different level: Is there a discernible pattern in the historical development of the various exemplifications of reasoning? And what can we learn from various historical theories of reasoning? 4. Again: Are there universal principles of reasoning? Or are substantive principles of reasoning always field dependent, as McPeck (1981) and others held? 5. At another different level, we must face questions such as: What is an appropriate conceptual scheme (or framework) for the theory of reasoning? How can reasoning be most plainly categorized? 6. And at a still different level: What are the criteria of adequacy that a theory of reasoning must satisfy? I am sure that I have missed other questions that naturally fall to this theory. If Finocchiaro's description is combined with this list of questions, a reasonable picture of the theory of reasoning results. In the 20th century, the boundaries have been blurred. The idea that FDL is, in some sense, the normative study of inferences andor arguments promotes this blurring because FDL has nothing to do with either inference or argument directly but instead has to do with the implicative relationship, which may or may not be imbedded in inferences andor arguments. As far as the theory of reasoning is concerned, FDL has mapped only a small portion of the terrain. There is much more work to be done here. No one will deny the importance that such logic played in the research program developed by analytic philosophy in the 20th century. Yet the arguments developed by Woods (1972) and Harman (1986), among others, show that the principles of FDL cannot be normative with respect to inference, if by

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"inference" we mean something like moving from one state of mind (belief) to another (belief) in accordance with some principle. The best that can be claimed is that if you want to know whether one statement, assertion, proposition follows logically from some other(s)that is, whether the one is implied by the othersthen FDL is the theory to consult. (Even this is not entirely true; FDL cannot provide a normative theory powerful enough to deal with all forms of implicature; e.g., what Grice, 1975, called conversational implication.) But FDL will not help you qua inferrer. You may get help from what is called inductive logic. And FDL will not help you qua arguer. Here, you need what I call informal logic. The issue we have brushed up against just nownamely the distinction between implication, inference, and argumentis one that requires for its solution a perspective outside the theory of argument. Once again, we see why a theory of argument ultimately requires completion by a theory of reasoning. In his chapter 7, Hamblin (1970) took direct aim at the concept of argument. It is a provocative chapter in which Hamblin made a great many important points about the limitations of the traditional view (which I have called FDL) while remaining to some degree captive to that tradition. Hamblin on the Concept of Argument Because logicians operating under the FDL program blurred the line between inference and argumentation, it is no surprise that, looking at argument in purely formal or structural terms, the very concept of argument has become attenuated. Hamblin is a pivotal figure here because although his criticisms of FDL reveal some of its important limitations, other weaknesses escape notice. I argue that his strategy for developing a theory of appraisal is importantly flawed. Hamblin's Account of Argument Hamblin took up the question, "What is an argument?" He began with the commonplace idea that "an argument is generally regarded as being whatever it is that is typically expressed by the form of words 'P, therefore Q,' 'P, and so Q'; or, perhaps, 'Q, since P', 'Q because P'" (p. 228). Two things immediately strike me about this passage. First, Hamblin understood that it has become traditional to conceive argument in terms of structure; it is thought of as discourse that assumes a particular form. This structuralist approach runs up against the objection that one just as often explains something using many of these same forms. Hence, either there is no difference between an argument and an explanation (another entry point for our theory

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of reasoning) or else we need more than formalstructural considerations in our conception of argument. Second, although it is clear that Hamblin was not himself sympathetic to this point of view, he did not seem direct enough in his confrontation with it. Hamblin's next series of points was (to anticipate the distinction shortly to be introduced) neither alethic nor epistemic but, rather, dialectical. When he said, for example, that "an argument is more than just a collection of statements" (p. 229), I try to imagine a context that would give this remark its force. But that is difficult because I cannot think of a single person who denies this point. Even formal logicians have a more stringent definition than that. In the next paragraph, we read: Now it is important to notice that when P is adduced in support of Q, it may actually not support Q. This is only to say that an argument may be invalid. However, it is important to emphasize than an argument is not to be identified with an implication. (p. 229) Although the first two sentences seem quite obvious, the third contains what I am convinced is a crucial and not-widelycredited insight. It slips by without notice because Hamblin did not give it the attention it needs. I attempted to do that in chapter 2. And Hamblin further muddied the waters later on when, in the space of some 15 lines, he used the terms "argument," "reasoning," and "inference process'' as though they were interchangeable. Let me look at the passage in question. At this point, Hamblin was discussing the nature of argument. This occurs in a passage where Hamblin was discussing a variant of the liar paradox: Epimenidies was telling the truth when he said "I am lying." Therefore, Epimenides was lying when he said "I am lying." Here is his comment: We can, if we choose, hold firm to the conviction that an argument cannot be valid if the conclusion contradicts a premise; and, if we do, we are forced to find a fault in the reasoning in this example, such as by insisting that "I am lying" is not a genuine statement. In place of this rigid attitude, however, it would seem better to admit that there are circumstances within which accepted inference-processes may lead to unacceptable conclusions and that, if we have to, we can learn to live with this situation. (pp. 230231) What stands out for me is how Hamblin shifted from "argument" to "reasoning" to "inference process" as if these were pretty much the same notion. Hamblin then turned his attention to "the actual logical relation between premises and conclusion" (p. 230) and complications arising from the well-known paradoxes. These paradoxes revolve about the notions of validity

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and deductibility. If we distinguish, as he suggested between inference, implication, and argument, such problems can properly be referred to the theory of deduction, where they belong. So Hamblin was right when he said, "All this sets the theory of arguments apart from Formal Logic and gives it an additional dimension" (p. 231). I believe that Hamblin is on the right track here in separating FDL from the theory of argument. Why not make the break straightaway and pursue the features that give arguments this additional dimension? Why continue to be mesmerized by formal logic and its focus on implication? Hamblin's reflections have reached the fork in the road and he said that instead of asking what an argument is, we should instead "approach it by discussing how arguments are appraised and evaluated" (p. 231). This approach seems to me the reverse of what the process should be. It is as though we could hope to find out what an argument is by finding out how we evaluate it rather than first getting clear on what an argument is and then using that insight to generate the needed criteria.3 What, then, are the criteria by which arguments are to be appraised? Hamblin began his inquiry by invoking the standard FDL view, according to which we must distinguish between the truth or falsity of the premises and conclusion on the one hand and the inference process from premises to conclusion on the other. Hamblin wrote, "A valid argument, it is said, may be built on completely false premises and it may thus have a completely false conclusion. But this is a complete misrepresentation of the nature of argument" (p. 232). I agree, although I am not sure I fully understand how it is a complete misrepresentation. But he was probably correct when he said, "we do not describe an argument as a good one if the premises are false" (p. 232). Still in the process, he slightly misrepresented the tradition. In his treatment, he failed to mark the customary distinction between soundness and validity. What was just said about a valid argument could not have been said about a sound argument. Hamblin could not have written "A sound argument may be built on completely false premises and it may thus have a completely false conclusion." Thus, his critique of the traditional view is off target here. This led Hamblin to the question, "What about the conclusion? Must an argument have a true conclusion to be good?" (p. 232). In answer to this question, Hamblin said that, "there are good arguments that are not deductive"an important observation! He said also that "there are often good arguments for a given conclusion and also good arguments against it" (p. 3 Hamblin's (1970) suggestion is not without precedent in philosophy. Thus, Wittgenstein began the The Blue and Brown Books (1960) by inquiring into what counts as the explanation of the meaning of a word, "for whatever that explains will be the meaning" (p. 1). But it is not clear that the situation Wittgenstein described is similar enough to this one for there to be transfer.

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232). The significance of this claim should not be underestimated for it shows that goodness and soundness are not identical standards of appraisal. To reprise the argument of the last chapter, if we admit that there can be good arguments for both a conclusion and its opposite, we have conceded thereby that the goodness of these arguments cannot be explicated in terms of the ideal of soundness. We have conceded that FDL cannot satisfy the third adequacy condition. That means that the FDL's theory of appraisal cannot be adequate. Although I already have discussed this point, I wanted the record to show both that Hamblin was aware of this but that he did not really develop the insight. Hamblin made another crucial observation: At the very least we should move one step closer to reality. When we put up an example of an argument we should imagine someone actually arguing, not merely imagine someone imagining someone arguing. It is very easy, later, to ascend the theoretical ladder by conditionalizing what is said; but it is not nearly so easy, if we start from the other end, to restore the additional dimensions of reality. (p. 234) Once again, we have an insight with which more could be done. When do real people argue? Why do they do it? Reflection on such questions and on the real practice of argumentation might have led Hamblin to appreciate the significant differences between deduction, implication, and inference on the one hand and argumentation on the other. Strengths and Weaknesses Hamblin's reflections on the concept of argument were uneven in quality. They contain many important insights: Hamblin saw that an argument is "more than just a collection of statements" (p. 229). He resisted any attempt to identify an argument with an implication and was clear that a theory of argument must outrun FDL. He stressed the importance of dealing with real arguments as opposed to imagined or hypothetical or artificially constructed ones, and he explicitly stated what I have called Adequacy Condition 3: There can be good arguments for a given conclusion and good arguments against it. Hamblin understood that arguments serve more than one purpose. Although he did not develop this point in detail, Hamblin criticized the traditional for taking proof to be a model of rational argument. He understood that there are few, if any, conclusive or knock-down arguments. It seems clear that Hamblin's intention is to move the theory of argument away from Formal Logic and toward Formal Dialectic. To that end, Hamblin took a critical stance toward the tradition I call FDL. I find Hamblin's reflections on the concept of argument are uneven in quality. They contain several important insights: That implication and argument are different species and

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that there can be good arguments for as well as against a given conclusion but these do not receive the development they warrant. Hamblin's reflections on argument are marred by three important short-comings: 1. Hamblin did not see the limitations of the formal approaches to argument. Hamblin seemed more or less content with the traditional idea of argument as a certain structure of discourse displaying a certain form. To that degree, his critique remained well within the orbit of traditional logic (with its bias for deductivism), even though his thinking contained hints of a significant break with that tradition. 2. Hamblin was fuzzy on the distinction between argument, inference, and implication. Although Hamblin appears to cleanly distinguish implication from the rest, he seemed to regard the others (inference, argument, and reasoning) as more or less interchangeable. At the very least, clear boundaries have not been put in place. 3. The theory of appraisal is not properly grounded. By this I mean that Hamblin reviewed the traditional notion of an argument and, without ever cleanly resolving that issue, presented a theory of appraisal that has not been derived in any explicit fashion from the conception of argument that he tabled. Indeed, dialectic appears to proceed from a discussion of what constitutes a good argument to the idea of argument (although Hamblin did not actually discuss the endpoint of this suggested process.) In my view, this is the wrong way to approach these matters. It would be better to begin by getting clear on the nature of argument and then using that understanding as the foundation for a derivation of the appropriate criteria. That is, we move from the theory of analysis to the theory of appraisal. That is the strategy I pursue in chapters 5 through 7. I have accused Hamblin and others of not differentiating between argument, inference, and implication. A full account of this difference is beyond the scope of this work and my main interest in this book lies with the concept of argument. So I forge ahead, mindful of the debts that I am accumulating. The Problems with FDL: An Alternative View When it comes to diagnosing the problems with FDL and learning what lessons we can, there are two different (and not incompatible) diagnoses. The first is that the problem lies with the formalist commitments of FDL. This diagnosis is what stands behind the development of informal logic, and I deal with it in chapter 5.

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A second, different, and perhaps equally attractive, diagnosis is that the problem is not the formalist proclivity of FDL but rather its deductivism. This is the diagnosis given by, among others, Barth. I want to take note briefly here of that diagnosis. Barth's Critique of Deductivism According to Barth, the problem with FDL is not the formal part but rather the deductive part. Her phrase for it is the deductive nomological paradigmDNP. According to DNP, reasoning is essentially deduction, and logic as the study of reasoning is itself deductive in character. Barth was opposed to this view. She argued against it in several articles, particularly in 1992, where she argued that the broader deductivist views, when applied to logic, are such that the justification for them is circular and completely unconvincing. She argued: The only way in which I could justify a belief that logic is and should remain (deductive) science is by claiming first, that mathematics itself necessarily is a deductive science and, second, that logic is a part of mathematics. The latter is of course nothing but a dogma issued in a certain interest. There is therefore no contradiction in saying: For political purposes (in the widest sense), formal logic is essentially a set or sets of rules for the assignments of rights and duties in discussions that take place under conflicts of opinion, and in no way fundamentally a science of deduction, to say nothing of a deductive science. (p. 667) In Barth's view, then, the problem with FDL is not the formalism but the deductivism, which she identified with the program to reduce logic to mathematics, which itself is construed as essentially deductive in character. Moreover, she identified DNP with "an objectivist epistemology of anonymous rationality or else with a subjectivist epistemology of constructivist mentalism" (p. 667). Barth, too, wanted to resist the mathematicization of logic. Her own response to this development was the development of dialogue logic, an initiative that warrants a deeper, more thorough discussion than I can give here. Whichever diagnosis one leans to, it seems clear that in this century, logic was invaded by mathematics.4 It is time to discuss this claim in more detail. 4 Wittgenstein (1964) made a claim very much like this in his Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics, IV, #46: "The curse of the invasion of mathematics by mathematical logic is that now any proposition can be represented in a mathematical symbolism, and this makes us feel obliged to understand it. Although of course this method of writing is nothing but the translation of vague ordinary prose" (p. 155e).

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The Mathematicization of Logic Toulmin presented his view that in the 20th century logic was mathematicized. What does Toulmin understand by this process? Since the very beginning, he said, logicians have harbored the desire to turn logic into a formal system. They have accepted a mathematical ideal for logical theory; this has been progressively the case since the time of Leibniz. He said: "By now, mathematical logic has become a frozen calculus, having no functional connection with the canons for assessing the strength and cogency of argument" (p. 186). What is missing from Toulmin's account (of which I have given just the barest sketch here) is any reference to the way that this new mathematicized logic became part of the philosophical research program explored at the beginning of the century by Russell and Wittgenstein, both of whom were heavily indebted to Frege. Careful study of the origins of this project reveals that the interest behind the project is not the desire to make logic a better instrument for the evaluation of argument, but rather to clarify and settle disputes about the nature and foundation of mathematics.5 Thus, the mathematicization of logic denotes several things. First, it refers to the distance between logical theory and the task of evaluating argument; it acknowledges distance between logic and argumentation. Second, it leads in the direction of an a prioristic perspective (most in evidence in Wittgenstein's [1922] Tractatus) and a complete disdain for the empirical as being psychologism. Third, it connects with the positivist research program according to which there are only two forms of knowledge: the a priori, formal knowledge characteristic of logic and mathematics and the empirical knowledge characteristic of the special sciences. That logic and mathematics became closely identified is a matter of historical record. However, developments since suggest that the time is ripe 5 Frege wrote: The ideal of a strictly scientific method in mathematics, which I have tried to realize here, and which perhaps might be named after Euclid, I should like to describe in the following way. (137) The novelty of this book does not lie in the content of the theorems but in the development of the proofs and the foundations on which they are based. (p. 139) With this book I accomplish an object which I had in view in my Begriffsschrift of 1879 and which I announced in my Grundlagen der Arithmetik. I am here trying to prove the opinion on the concept of number that I expressed in the book last mentioned. (p. 140) It is evident from these passages that Frege was not interested in logic as the inquiry into what makes for a good argument but, rather, insofar as it is implicated in questions of the foundations of mathematics. I would argue that this is no less true of Russell, who may be called the architect of modern symbolic or mathematical logic.

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to rethink this relationship, for whatever its virtues were, it certainly had some vices, one of which has been of concern to us herethe virtual disappearance from the mandate of logic of the focus on real arguments and the need for a theory that would help in their evaluation and criticism. Lessons from the Past Introduction In Barth (1987, p. 7), we read the following words of advice: Do not take leave of established sciences entirely or too soon. If you do, be sure to do it for the right reasons. Beware of creating new isolated playing-grounds with their own esoteric languages. It is bad enough as it is. This advice is excellent, and I hope to follow it. If we abandon FDL as a theory of argument, as I have argued we must, then we must take leave for the right reasons. What are those reasons? Reasons to Abandon FDL as a Theory of Argument In light of the discussion of this and the preceding chapter, what are those reasons? If we reflect on the limitations of FDL as a theory of argument, they will suggest this question. What was FDL intended for in the first place? Is it the case that FDL was devised as a theory of argument? If so, does its failure mean one thing? Or was FDL devised for some other purpose, in which case its failure as a theory of argument would have quite a different meaning. Let me then ask, "What is the origin of FDL? How did it come about?" FDL was never cut out to be the theory of argument it was to become. If we look at the development of what is called modern formal logic, we can see quite clearly that it was never the intent of this logic to help me assess arguments. It was the intent of this logic to provide a proper foundation for mathematics. Certainly, Frege's intent cannot be described as developing a logic that would help with the assessment of arguments. His goal was to clear up certain problems in the foundations of logic and mathematics and the desire to impose greater standards of rigor and clarity on logic. Russell and Whitehead extended Frege's program as part of a broader aim that of showing that mathematics was reducible to logic. One can hunt in vain for any hint that this logic is intended to help the evaluation of

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arguments. This very powerful theory, its central notions and techniques, was developed for a specific purposeto clear up issues in the foundations of mathematics. Consider, for example, the origin of quantification theory. What was Frege up to here? Was he attempting to develop a theory that would help us identify the kinds of mistakes that people make when they argue with quantifiers? Not at all. Frege realized that the validity of some implications depended on more than just the propositional form: (1) All men are mortal, and Jones is a man, to infer Jones is mortal, has a logical form of fundamentally different character than (2) Either the flag is white or black. It is not white, therefore it is black. There was no theory to appeal to here other than the Aristotelian term "theory" (syllogistic), so Frege developed what is now called predicate logic and the rudiments of quantification theory to help show the significant differences in logical form. Someone will remind me that just because that is what logic was invented for does not mean that it cannot have some useful application to other areas. Indeed, one of the great discoveries is that the same formal theory can be given different interpretations. That is not the issue here: It is not the issue of interpreting but of applying some theory to arguments in natural language. Consider the provenance of the notion of validity. Ultimately, that notion traces back to Aristotle in Prior Analytics, where he discussed it as, "certain things being assumed, others things follow of necessity from their being so." I think it is fair to say that in the Analytics, taken in its totality, Aristotle is at least partially aiming at a theory of argument. Prior Analytics studies one kind of argumentsyllogistic argument. Posterior Analytics studies demonstration. Other kinds of argument are studied in, for example, the Topics, where he discussed what he called probable reasoning. For Aristotle, then, deductive argument was, at best, part of the complete study of argument. Hence, validity was one standard but not the only one. Think, as well, about one of the crucial notions for formal, deductive logiclogical form. What is its origin? What was it devised for? Russell (1915) developed the notion of logical form to allow him to solve problems in the philosophy of logic, or, as he called it, philosophical logic. In other words, the notion of logical form does not originate with Russell's desire to understand how to evaluate argumentation. It has a quite different origin and function.

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So the origins of FDL seem clearly to suggest that it was never intended to constitute a theory of argument. However, we have noted that in this tradition, there is a gradual blurring of the lines between implication, inference, and argument. When logicians turned their attention to the task of writing introductory logic texts, it was only to be expected that they would draw on the powerful theory developed in FDL. Given the tendency to construe implication as argument, we can perhaps understand how it was that FDL came to be thought of as a theory of argument. What I am suggesting, then, is one good reason to abandon FDL as a theory of argument is that it was not devised to serve that purpose and, as we saw in the last chapter, does not in fact serve that purpose. An Objection There is an objection that I need to take account of: Is not disjunctive syllogism the form of an argument? I concede that an argument may well have this structure. But I argue later that it cannot have just this structure. Conclusion In chapter 1, I discussed the current state of argumentation in 20th century culture. I argued that it is jeopardized by developments in the broader culture (such as television), as well as by developments within the academy; hence, the increased importance of the theory of argumentation. In chapter 2, I attempted the first systematic account of the theory of argument. Leaning heavily on the work of Govier and other theorists, I first discussed the tasks that a theory of argument must accomplish and then I surveyed the various possible configurations that such theories might take. I also formulated the adequacy conditions that any theory of argument must satisfy. In chapter 3, I reviewed Govier's critical discussions of the two classical theories of argument, deductivism and positivism, and also discussed Govier's proposed alternativeconductivism. I argued that none of the extant theories is capable of meeting the adequacy conditions set forth in chapter 2. In this chapter, I looked for an explanation of the astonishing fact that 2,000 years into this inquiry, scholars still do not have what could be called an adequate theory of argument. Part of the explanation is the developments that occurred in the field of logic in the 20th century, when, under the influence of Russell and Whitehead, logic became closely identified with problems in the foundations of mathematics. The stage is set now for Part II, in which I argue that informal logic, properly reconfigured, can meet the demands of a theory of argument as they have been outlined in Part I.

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PART II A PRAGMATIC THEORY OF ARGUMENT

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Chapter 5 Informal Logic: An Alternative Theory of Argument In chapter 3, I argued that FDL is inadequate when construed as a theory of argument. In the last chapter, I attempted to derive lessons from reflection on the history of which FDL was an important part. The purpose of Part II is to show that informal logic can provide the foundations for a new theory of argument(ation). To begin Part IIthe theoretical part of this workI review the theory of argument that has emerged under the title of informal logic. Govier (1987) referred to these developments when she wrote: Informal logicians, contesting the drive for complete rigor and purity among formalists, contend that the appraisal of natural arguments requires something other than translation into a technical formal language and application of formal rules to test validity. However, it is only in the stricter sense of ''formal" that informal logicians are committed to the view that a theory of natural argument would not be a formal theory. (p. 14) This passage brings to the fore two important points. First, it raises the issue of what sort of formalism informal logic is to be contrasted withan issue taken up later in this chapter. It should be noted at the outset that informal logicians are generally aware of the alternative logics to FDLthe so-called applied (or deviant) logics, such as many-valued logic, epistemic logic, deontic logic, and the Anderson-Belnap systems of relevance logic.1 The important 1 Modal logic was the first of these breakaway logics. See Lewis and Langford (1932) and, for a good systematic exposition, see Hughes and Cresswell (1968). A good source for epistemic logic is Hintikka (1962). For deontic logic, see von Wright (1968): for the Anderson and Belnap approach, see (1975).

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thing for our purposes here is to note that none of these alternative logics represents itself as a logic of argumentation. Their focus is different from that of informal logic. Second, this passage once again raises the question of the province of informal logic. Here Govier described it as "the appraisal of natural arguments." But what exactly is a natural argument? Does informal have a role to play in other areas, such as argumentation within the disciplines? How can the domain of informal logic be best characterized? A Brief Account of the Rise of Informal Logic In this section, I give a brief historical overview of the emergence of informal logic. From Aristotle to 1970 In logic, as in so many other areas of philosophy, all roads lead back to Aristotle. Prior Analytics is typically identified as the first work of formal logic. It is customary to trace informal logic back to Aristotle's Topics. The fallacy tradition, which is so much a part of informal logic, goes back to his De Sophisticis Elenchis. The Rhetoric likewise is an important sourcebook for informal logic. Thus, Aristotle can be said to have laid down the foundation for both formal and informal logic. Formal deductive logic has received the most sustained attention from logicians. Beginning in the 19th century, more attention has been paid to inductive logic. Although we now know that it is unsatisfactory to state that nothing of importance happened between Aristotle and Frege in formal logic (see Walton & Brinton, 1997), it does seem possible to say that almost nothing of importance happened in informal logic between Aristotle and Toulmin's challenge of 1958. To understand the development of informal logic, it is necessary to understand that the context in which it arose was pedagogical rather than theoretical. And so I focus now on logic textbooks written for undergraduate instruction in North America. To get a sense for the developments leading up to informal logic, it is instructive to compare texts from different periods in the 20th century. Begin with Joseph (1906). This text clearly shows that Aristotelian syllogistic was still the dominant logical theory, as far as textbooks were concerned. The first 14 chapters deal in one way or another with the syllogism. In chapter 15, Joseph turned to hypothetical and disjunctive reasoning. Both of these are treated syllogistically. Chapters 18 through 24 deal with various

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aspects of inductive reasoning, including causal reasoning, explanation, and reasoning by analogy. Chapter 25 deals with mathematical reasoning and chapter 26 covers the methodology of the sciences. There is an appendix on fallacies, which follows the Aristotelian division into fallacies in dictione and those extra dictionem. In the former are equivocation, amphiboly, composition, division, accent, and figure of speech. Treated in the latter list are accident, secundum quid, ignoratio elenchi, petitio principii, non causa pro causa, the consequent, and many questions. (It is interesting to note that although the term "inference" is listed in the index, the term "argument" is not.) I look next at Stebbing (1931) and notice a quite different alignment. Her text has three parts. Although they are not named, Part I deals with deduction, with traditional syllogistic relationships and elements of propositional logic. Part II takes up such topics as induction by enumeration and analogy, causality, and hypothesis and for the most part could be said to deal with induction. Part III deals with definition, abstraction and generalisation, the characteristics of logical thinking, and, finally, the history of logic. Although Stebbing said explicitly that this was to be an introduction to logic, not to symbolic logical or mathematical logic, the text shows the influence of the Principia while it maintains the utility of traditional Aristotelian logic. In other words, the scope of deductive logic has been expanded to include the recent developments in mathematical or symbolic logic. Her text illustrates the shift in this period whereby syllogistic logic is complemented by propositional logic. Next we consider a post World War II text, Black (1946), divided into three sections. Part One is entitled Deductive Logic (and includes a chapter on the syllogism). Part Two is entitled Language and contains chapters on the uses of language, ambiguity, definition, and assorted fallacies. Part Three is titled Induction and Scientific Method. (It is interesting that Black used the title Critical Thinking for what otherwise might be called an introductory logic text.) What the text betokens is that propositional logic has now become the dominant theory of argument. Looking next at Quine (1952), I find a complete turnabout. For Quine, not arguments or inferences but rather statements are the focus of logic. He wrote, "the chief importance of logic lies in implication, which, therefore, will be the main theme of this book" (xvi). The entire text is taken up with the techniques of modern symbolic logic. A reader familiar with Quinean themes will find them reflected in the Introduction: the importance of statements, the nature of logical truth, the under-determination of systems by experience, and so on. The student or teacher who comes to Quine's logic text hoping for enlightenment about how to appraise the editorial in the morning paper is destined to be frustrated. Finally, we come to Copi (1954), which embodies what has elsewhere been referred to as the global approach (Blair & Johnson, 1980). It contains

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three parts: Part One is about language; Part Two is about deduction; Part Three is about induction. (This alignment seems to reflect Black's, 1946.) For whatever reasons, Copi's text caught on and became the standard against which other texts would have to array themselves. In the development of logic textbooks in the 20th century, I can see the increasing influence of FDL as the theory in charge. Inductive logic is second in command. There may be a section or an appendix in which the author deals in passing with the fallacies. So it was for the next 15 yearsthe typical logic text or course in which the student received logic instruction (typically referred to as the baby logic course) was predicated on the assumption that deductive logic was real logic. This did not change until the appearance of Kahane (1971). This text that launched the informal logic movement and represents the first of what is called the New Wave texts. Informal Logic Emerges To understand the emergence of informal logic, one must understand how this text came to be. Kahane's own words, quoted earlier, make it clear that Kahane wanted logic to be useful, to be relevant. To understand this orientation, we must take into account the cultural context in which this text appeared: that is, North American universities in the 1960s. During the 1960s, many students had taken an increasingly political stancenot only toward the university but toward the culture itself. This was the period of the active antiwar protest movement on campuses across the country. In the university, students were demanding that their courses relate to their needs as citizens. This activism, kindled by the Civil Rights movement, and fanned by the anti-Vietnam war movement and the related demand for relevance in education associated with the 1960s, had an impact on student expectations when they entered their classrooms. They expected their introductory logic course to have a bearing on the reasoning and argumentation of current affairs. The texts of the 1950s and 1960s (following Copi) did not satisfy their needs. At the same time, instructors, many of whom wanted logic to be useful, were sympathetic. Such a cultural Geist seems to be the best explanation for what we witnessed in the early 1970sthe emergence, almost at the same time but independently of one another, of texts that replaced the standard introduction to (symbolic) logic courses with a syllabus designed to teach how to assess critically the logic of natural language argumentation in public discourse. Such courses proved to be popular with students. To attract enrollments at a time of increased competition for students within colleges and universities, philosophy departments began to respond to this demand by presenting a logic course with some qualified characteristic of logic like applied or practicalsomething to indicate that its content would both differentiate it from

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symbolic logic and also be useful or practical. Publishers were quick to sense this new wrinkle so that by the early 1980s, a proliferation of textbooks solicited by market-conscious publishers contributed to more new courses. Kahane's text can be seen as one type of pedagogical response to this demand. What he did was to take a traditional subject (logic) and update it. (Others responded to the challenge by changing the curriculum, either by getting rid of certain courses and bringing others in their steadviz., women's studies.) Kahane took as his focal point what had been a marginal player in the traditional introduction to logic coursethe part on fallacies. In making this move, Kahane may be seen as going back to a different part of Aristotle's Organon, to the De Sophisticis Elenchis rather than the Prior Analytics. Although he did not call this approach "informal logic," it is natural enough that others would do so because of the prominent position Kahane gave to the "informal fallacies." Kahane did attempt to breath new life into the fallacy tradition. He purged the hoary examples of amphiboly and replaced them by more up-to-date examples, taken from the politics and social issues of the day. He added fallacies to the traditional list, so that one will find not only ad hominem but also the ad verecundiam, not only "hasty conclusion" but also "suppressed evidence." New fallacies appear, such as "red herring'' and "provincialism." Kahane replaced the traditional chapters on scientific method and probability with chapters on the mass mediaon advertising and on the news mediaand on textbooks, topics much closer to the interests of those who wish to deal with contemporary rhetoric. Kahane's text was an important breakthrough and paved the way for what came to be known as the informal logic movement. Conclusion The Informal Logic Movement began as a revolution in the way logic was taught as an undergraduate subject in North American universities. The background for this revolution was the logic textbooks of the day, for it was there that these innovations tend to occur. Reasons are not hard to fathom. The changes were primarily driven by pedagogical concerns and only secondarily by theoretical problems. At that time, there was no journal dedicated to such theoretical issues. Later, it became clear that informal logic was not simply about changing the way logic was taught, as though one could simply change instruments without at the same time making significant adjustments elsewhere. It gradually became apparent that informal logic is about reforming logic (Johnson & Blair, 1985). In this way, the development of informal logic presents an interesting contrast with that of formal logic, which began as a revolution at the level of theory that later trickled down to texts. The recent development of formal logic is typical of the pattern found in the formal and empirical sciences,

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where textbooks are dependent on the theoretical developments that filter down into the texts over time. This is the orientation Woods (1992) reflected when he wrote, "Get the theory right first, then take care (if you know how) of instructional routines" (p. 44). Massey (1981) made a similar assumption when he said that "textbooks are parasitic upon journals and scholarly tomes, and properly so" (p. 489). But Woods and Massey overlooked the possibility of reversing this direction: First, be clear on what the tool should look like, then design it. Something like that pattern of development is what we see in the emergence of informal logic. Having discussed the historical development of informal logic, I turn next to the thematic question: What is informal logic? What Is Informal Logic? What Informal Logic Is Not Many readers are probably familiar with Ryle's use of the term. Ryle did not offer an explicit definition of informal logic, developing it in contrast with formal logic, which he saw as tied up with the study of certain topic-neutral expressions. Ryle (1962) wrote: There remains a very important way in which the adjective "logical" is properly used to characterise both the inquiries which belong to Formal Logic and the inquiries which belong to [Ed. note: we expect Ryle to say "informal logic" . . . but see what he in fact writes.] philosophy. The Formal Logician really is working out the logic of and, not, all, some, etc., and the philosopher really is exploring the logic of the concepts of pleasure, seeing, chance, etc. even though the work of one is greatly unlike the work of the other in procedure and objectives. (p. 119) Thus, for Ryle, we might say that informal logic is the logic of concepts. It is termed informal because of Ryle's belief that only nonformal procedures will reveal this logic. In other words, whereas formal logic can handle the entailment relationships that surround conjunction and implication, it cannot handle "full-blooded concepts like pleasure or memory."2 In this usage, informal logic becomes roughly equivalent to conceptual analysis, to what Wittgenstein (1951) would call the "depth grammar" of an expression. But this usage is not helpful in understanding what informal logic is. 2 This is the same kind of point Davidson (1967) made when he talked about logical grammar and the difference between the statements "Bardot is good" and "Bardot is a good actress." See Davidson, "Truth and Meaning," in Martinich (1991).

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Usage after Ryle The first occurrence of this term in something like the sense in which I am using it in this book is found in Carney and Scheer (1964), where it appears (without any explanation) as the title of Part One. There are six chapters in Part One. Chapter 1 is Appraising Arguments Logically; chapter 2 is Traditional Informal Fallacies (divided into fallacies of relevance, insufficient evidence, and ambiguity); chapter 3 is devoted to definitions and chapter 4 to uses of language; chapter 5 is about analogy; chapter 6 is about dilemmas and paradoxes. Part Two is Formal Logic. Part Three is called The Logical Structure of Science. Carney and Scheer did not tell us what exactly they understood by the term "informal logic," but here is their description of Part I: Part I, Informal Logic, contains both new and traditional topics and some novel treatment of traditional topics. Informal fallacies, which are useful in motivating students in the study of logic, are treated in the traditional manner. The standard topicsanalogy, dilemmas, uses of language, classifications of methods of defining terms and types of definitionare also discussed in this part. But two topics are introducedparadoxes and nonsensewhich are not found in many introductory logic textbooks. The discussions of nonsense and the uses of language are designed to bring to the attention of the student some of the immediate connections between logic and language and to show the student the significance of logic to philosophy. (vii) There are several interesting points here. The first is that Carney and Scheer believe that there are traditional topics for informal logic, although it is unclear what these traditional topics are. The second point is that their innovations are for the sake of showing the student the significance of logic to philosophy. They seem less interested in helping students to appraise reasoning in ordinary life than in showing them why traditional logic is important for philosophy. Third, on the basis of this description, the best guess at what Carney and Scheer meant by informal logic is that it covers logical matters not taken up by formal logic. The term also appears as a part of the subtitle of Fogelin (1978), where he wrote: For certain purposes, arguments are best studied as abstract patterns . . . The task of logic is to discover the fundamental principles for distinguishing good arguments from bad ones. The study of those general principles that make certain patterns of argument reasonable (or valid) and other patterns of argument unreasonable (or invalid) is called formal logic. A different, but complementary, way of viewing an argument is to treat it as a particular use of language: arguing is one of the things that we do with words. This approach

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places stress upon arguing as a linguistic activity . . . It raises questions of the following kind: What is the place of argument within language as a whole? In a given language . . . what words or phrases are characteristic of argument? What task or tasks are arguments supposed to perform? When an approach to arguments has this form, the study is called informal logic. (p. vvi) It appears, then, that by informal logic Fogelin had in mind the study of the linguistic basis of and aspects of argument.3 Johnson and Blair first used the term "informal logic" as part of the title of the 1978 First International Symposium on Informal Logic. Until that time, the term we used to describe our enterprise was "applied logic." It seemed to us that in virtue of the renewed interest in the informal fallacies (Kahane, Walton & Woods, and Scriven to a lesser degree), the term "informal logic" was a better descriptor. What was the intuition behind this? We were engaged in a teaching students how to evaluate arguments (historically, this task is associated with logic), but the logic we were teaching was not a formal logic. That is, we made no reference to the logical form of arguments in understanding their structure, nor did we make use of the standard of validity as part of our theory of appraisalinstead of using fallacy theory. Because the fallacies in question were the informal fallacies, the term ''informal logic" seemed appropriate. In our first attempt to articulate the meaning, we (Blair and Johnson, 1980) said: The label "informal logic" means different things to different people. To many it refers to the lists of informal fallacies and various descriptions and classifications of the these fallacies . . . To others it designates the subject matter of a certain sort of introductory logic course . . . which employs various non-formal techniques to try to teach elementary reasoning skills. To still others, it has come to mark off a field of logical investigation distinct from formal deductive logic. (p. ix.) Johnson and Blair avoided any direct statement of what informal logic was but noted two tendencies that seemed to be identified with this development. First, we mentioned the turn in the direction of actual arguments as contrasted with the artificial type of argument often found in formal logic textbooks. Second, we noted the growing disenchantment with the capacity of formal logic to provide the standards of good reasoning. We subdivided informal logic into (a) the theory of fallacies and (b) the theory of argument. 3 For Fogelin, the normative issues remain the province of formal logic, although it should be noted that the categoriescriteria of relevance and clarity (neither of which is standard of argument appraisal in typical presentations of formal logic) are introduced in chapter 4. Clarity is introduced with a brief story; relevance is given a Gricean justification.

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What, then, can be said about the emergence of this term? Kahane's text showed one way in which logic, both as a subject matter to be thought about and a subject matter to be taught, could be revitalizedby dipping back into logic, focusing on the informal fallacies, and using them as, in effect, a theory of criticism for logic. Thus the term "informal" logic. Later it came to designate any approach to logic that either avoided or minimized the use of the theory of analysis (the notion of logical form, the definition of arguments as sequences of propositions), and the theory of evaluation of formal logic (the notions of validity and soundness). Finally, then, it is important to make it clear that informal logic does not mean formal logic without the formalities.4 In this regard, one should compare Copi's Introduction to Logic (1982) with his Informal Logic (1986). The main differences appear to be that the 1986 text deals with tree diagramming and contains very little formal logic. On the copyright page, we read the following: "A portion of this book is reprinted from Introduction to Logic, Sixth Edition, copyright (c) 1982, Irving Copi." In fact if you compare the contents of the later text with the earlier, you will find significant overlap. The main difference appears to be that all sections dealing with deduction have been subtracted from Informal Logic. Although some new material has been added (chiefly on fallacy), this appears to be largely an edited version of Introduction to Logic, thereby giving the impression that the way to do informal logic is by deleting the formal parts. The Nature of Informal Logic Having said what informal logic is not, let me attempt to articulate what it is. By informal logic, I mean to designate a branch of logic whose task is to develop nonformal standards, criteria, procedures for the analysis, interpretation, evaluation, criticism, and construction of argumentation in everyday discourse (Johnson & Blair, 1987). An obvious point is that informal takes its meaning in contrast to its counterpartformal. This point manages not to be made for a very long time; hence the nature of informal logic remained opaque, even to those involved in it, for a long period of time. Here is it helpful to have recourse to Barth and Krabbe (1982) where they distinguished three senses of the term "form." By "form1," Barth and Krabbe meant the sense of the term that derives from the Platonic idea of form, where form denotes the ultimate metaphysical unit. Barth and Krabbe claimed that most traditional logic is formal in this sense. That is, syllogistic logic is a logic of terms where the terms could naturally be understood as place holders for Platonic (or Aristotelian) forms. 4 Others have addressed this issue. See Woods (1980) and Govier (1987). Johnson and Blair (1971) discussed seven meanings of formalinformal.

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In this first sense of form, almost all logic is informal (not formal). Certainly, neither predicate logic nor propositional logic can be construed as term logics. However, such an understanding of informal logic would be much too broad to be useful. By "form2," Barth and Krabbe meant the form of sentences and statements as these are seen in modern logic. In this sense, one could say that the syntax of the language to which a statement belongs is very precisely formulated or formalized or that the validity concept is defined in terms of the logical form of the sentences that make up the argument. In this sense of formal, most modern and contemporary logic is formal. That is, such logics are formal in the sense that they canonize the notion of logical form and the notion of validity plays the central role normatively. In this second sense of form, informal logic is not formal because it abandons the notion of logical form as the key to understanding structure and likewise abandons validity as constitutive for the purposes of the evaluation or argument (ation). When Govier (1987) discussed informal logic, it is this second sense of formal that stands in the background. By "form3," Barth and Krabbe meant to refer to "procedures which are somehow regulated or regimented, which take place according to some set of rules." Barth and Krabbe said that ''we do not defend formality3 of all kinds and under all circumstances." Rather, "we defend the thesis that verbal dialectics must have a certain form (i.e., must proceed according to certain rules) in order that one can speak of the discussion as being won or lost" (19). In this third sense of form, informal logic can itself also be formal. There is nothing in the informal logic enterprise that stands opposed to the idea that argumentative discourse should be subject to norms; that is, subject to rules, criteria, standards, or procedures. What is rejected is that the criteria for evaluating arguments are to be obtained by reflection on the logical form. How, then, does informal logic differ from formal logic? Informal logic differs from formal logic not only in its methodology but also by its focal point. That is, the social, communicative practice of argumentation can and should be distinguished from both deductive inference and deductive implication, which are the proper subjects of formal logicas was argued in the last chapter. Informal logic is concerned with the logic of argumentation: the cogency of the support that reasons provide for the conclusions they are supposed to back up. Other Perspectives on Informal Logic The previous account of informal logic is consistent with views of Govier (1987) and Walton (1990b), each of which I now briefly examine. There are other views about the nature of informal logic (that there is no such thing or that it is really epistemology), and I deal with them in chapter 9.

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Govier. For Govier (1987), for example, informal logic denotes the art of argument evaluation, a task that she insists is nonformal in character: Logic is supposed to be both scientific and practical. . . . There is a tension in these views of logic. We cannot have it both waysthat logic is entirely formal and yet apples to real argumentation. Either logic is nonformal or it tells us only a small amount of what we need to know and understand and evaluate arguments (p. 203). Here, informal logic is seen as the logic of real arguments: To speak of informal logic is not to contradict oneself but to acknowledge what should be obvious: that the understanding of natural arguments requires substantive knowledge and insights not captured in the axiomatized rules of formal logic. The informal fallacies, historically a central topic for informal logic, involve mistakes in reasoning which are relatively common, but neither formal nor informally characterizable in any useful way. The fact that an account of informal logic makes it out to be just that does not show that it is imprecise or lacking in rigor. (p. 204) Thus, for Govier, informal logic is the logic that helps evaluate natural argumentsa process requiring substantive knowledge and insights not provided by formal logic. Noteworthy as well is Govier's connection of informal logic with the informal fallacies and her insistence that the qualities of rigor and precision need not be forfeited when one does informal logic. Walton. Walton's (1990b) publication is of interest for many reasons, and I have occasion to refer to it later. Here I am interested both in his conception of informal logic and his characterization of the relationship between formal and informal logic. Walton wrote: Formal logic has to do with the forms of argument (syntax) and truth values (semantics). . . . Informal logic (or more broadly, argumentation, as a field) has to do with the uses of argumentation in a context of dialogue, an essentially pragmatic undertaking. (pp. 418419) Thus, for Walton, informal logic is pragmaticmeaning that it is concerned with the uses of argument. For Walton, this points to the need to situate argument within the context of dialogue. His later work shows how informal logic gives way to dialogical approaches. This becomes clear when I look at the entry on informal logic that he wrote for The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (1995) in which he said, "Informal logic, also called practical logic, the use of logic to identify, analyze and evaluate arguments as they occur in contexts of discourse in everyday conversations" (p. 376). Here Walton

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defined the focus of informal logic in ways reminiscent of Govier. However, there is good reason to resist any conflation of informal logic with practical logic, which has historically been associated with practical reasoningreasoning about what ought to be done. Such a focus is too restrictive for informal logic. (Walton's suggestion that argumentation is a field of inquiry is echoed by Willard's (1989) suggestion that Argumentation should become a discipline. I discuss this proposition in chapter 12.) Discussing the relationship between formal and informal logic, Walton wrote: Hence the strongly opposed current distinction between informal and formal logic is really an illusion, to a great extent. It is better to distinguish between the syntactic/semantic study of reasoning, on the one hand, and the pragmatic study of reasoning in arguments on the other hand. The two studies, if they are to be useful to serve the primary goal of logic, should be regarded as inherently interdependent, and not opposed, as the current conventional wisdom seems to have it. (p. 419) What Walton meant is that when properly understood, these two studies are not in competition but, rather, are complementary.5 (The claim that they are interdependent needs elaboration.) To spell out their complementary nature, Walton relied on the traditional distinction between syntax, semantic and pragmatics, assigning to formal logic the syntactical and semantical aspects of the study of argumentation, and to informal logic the pragmatic aspects. It appears that for Walton, as for Govier, informal logic is to be distinguished from formal logic not only by methodology by also by its focal pointargumentation in ordinary and natural contexts. This same view regarding the focus of informal logic is adopted by Tully in his entry on informal logic in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995): "Informal logic examines the nature and function of arguments, in natural language, stressing the craft rather than the formal theory of reasoning" (p. 500). He concluded that "informal logic lacks the precision and elegance of formal theory . . . but probably comes as close as any enterprise ever will to being a science of argumentation" (p. 500). Thus it appears that there is a developing consensus that informal logic is especially concerned with argument(ation) that can and should be distinguished from inferenceimplicationthe proper concern of formal logic. That was part of the thrust of the last chapter in which a preliminary distinction between argument and inference was drawn. Having discussed what informal logic is, I want now to review developments in the theory of argument emanating from informal logic, beginning with its theory of analy5 Not everyone views them as opposed. See Johnson (1989).

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sis and then moving to its theory of appraisal. After that discussion and after we have reviewed how informal logic and its theory of argument fare with respect to the adequacy conditions set forth in chapter 2, we will then be in a better position to distinguish between formal and informal logic. Informal Logic and the Theory of Analysis In this section, I discuss how informal logicians have addressed the main issues in the theory of analysis; that is, the conceptualization of argument, the question of the interpretation of argumentative texts in general and of particular arguments in such texts, including how exactly to understand and to display the structure of the argument, how to conceive of the tacit elements, and other problems involved in the task of reconstruction. The Definition of Argument Formal logicians have tended to see an argument as a sequence of propositions (or sentences). Here is the definition from a widely used formal logic text (Kalish & Montague, 1964), "An argument, as we shall understand it, consists of two partsfirst, a sequence of sentences called its premises and secondly, an additional sentence called its conclusion" (p. 13). As an example, they gave: Free love is justified only if the sex drive is primary. Freud's theory is correct provided that the sex drive is primary. It is not the case that if psychoanalysis is therapeutic, Freud's theory is correct. Therefore free love is justified. (pp. 2425) It would seem that if informal logic is going to improve on FDL's theory of analysis, a different conception of argument would be needed. But that raises the question: How do informal logicians conceive of or understand argument? Kahane (1971) said, "Let's call uses of language or pictures intended to persuade anyone of anything an argument" (p. 1). This definition is as broad as the formalist definition is narrow. Kahanes's examples include warning, "Don't go near the edge; you might fall" and also an advertisement. I do not deny that these are attempts to persuade, but any definition of argument that broad is unsatisfactory, even if it is far cry from the definition given in standard formal logic texts. Thomas (1973) said, "An argument is a sentence or sequence of sentences containing statements some of which are set forth as supporting, making probable or explaining others (p. 2). The standard idea is discernible here,

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although it has been expanded to allow for inductive arguments as arguments and also for explanations as arguments. Thomas pointed out that in ordinary language, the term usually means a quarrel. Then he said, "we shall use it to refer to a discourse having a certain logical structure" (p. 3). There is something to Thomas's approach, although I am unhappy with the identification of explanation and argument. Further, my preference is to treat inductive reasoning as a type of inference rather than a type of argument. Scriven (1976) did not offer a definition of argument but how he understood it is clear from the following passage: The main point of argument presentation is to show that some kind of inconsistency or implausibility is involved in accepting the premises of the argument and rejecting the conclusion. Arguments are meant to be persuasive; and they succeed in being persuasive if they begin with assertions that the listener or reader is known to accept, and if they continue by showing that acceptance of those assertions (they are called the premises) requires acceptance of the conclusion.6 (p. 32) Scriven avoided the pitfall of either relying on examples from FDL or of presenting a structural account. His conception emphasizes the persuasive function of arguments and offers a narrower conception of persuasion than did Kahane. Johnson and Blair (1977) gave an account in which after citing four examples, they said, "All four examples have one thing in common: they attempt to persuade us of something by citing reasons intended to support that claim and prove its truth" (p. 3). Along with Scriven, Johnson and Blair emphasized the persuasive function of argument and the idea of support. (The reference to proof is unfortunate inasmuch as this mathematical note fits better with the demands of formalism than with informal logic.) Fogelin (1978) did not offer a definition either, but his understanding of argument is apparent when one looks at his discussion of the structure of arguments: Arguments are not statements, yet they are constructed out of statements. Now let's ask a very simple question: What words indicate that an argument is being presented? Suppose we start with a simple list of statements: 6 Note that here Scriven seemed to take acceptance as a criterion. Elsewhere, it appeared that the requirement is truth. Note further that Scriven wanted to distinguish argument from implication (the index refers the reader to pages 4647, although I wasn't able to find the reference) and from inference. For Scriven, inference is the link from the premise to the conclusion.

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Socrates is mortal. All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. This is not an argument, but we can turn it into an argument by using the single word "therefore": Socrates is mortal. All men are mortal. Therefore, Socrates is a man. We now have an argumentin fact, a very bad argument, since the conclusion does not follow from the reasons stated in its behalf, but it is an argument nonetheless. (p. 29) For a so-called informal logic text, there is much here that is problematic. First, the account of argument is structural in nature. It gives no indication of the purpose that an argument may serve. Second, the hoary example drawn from the FDL tradition suggests that as far as argument is concerned, there is no difference between formal and informal logic. In my view, developed in chapter 6, it is questionable whether this specimen is an argument in any but an extended sense of the term. Be that as it may, the most important deficiency here is the suggestion that what makes for an argument is the presence of the word "therefore"; it was alone able to transform the nonargument into an argument. Conclusion. In the first wave of informal logic texts, there is no consensus about how to conceive of argument. In fact, there is a wide range from those like Fogelin, whose understanding of argument comes very close to FDL, to those like Kahane, which are extremely broad. Over time, it seems that informal logicians have moved toward a common view, the nucleus of which I would characterize as follows: "An argument is a collection of statements in which some (the premises) are put forth as support for the other (the conclusion)." The key idea here is that of support and the tacit concession in the definition that there may be other forms of support than deductive implication. It seems to me that this position is still deficient in important respects. However, I postpone a fuller discussion of this matter of defining argument until chapter 6. Interpretation and Analysis As we saw in chapter 2, a second task for the informal logician at the level of the theory of analysis stems from the fact that arguments as expressed in ordinary language generally call for some interpretation. (This is not typically the case with the specimens produced by formal logic.) Recall that

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in chapter 2, we discussed the list of tasks that a theory of argument had to cope with, the first one of which was reconstruction and interpretation. First, the critic will have to get a fairly clear picture of the structure of the argument. Although relatively easily accomplished with arguments like the first given in chapter 2, this is not so easy when it comes to the second, and still more difficult when it comes to the argumentation in The Critique of Pure Reason. With such more complex specimens like the second one given in chapter 2, the critic will have to engage in the tasks of interpretation and reconstruction. Interpretation involves asking questions like: Is this statement meant to support the first premise or some other premise? What does the internal argument here look like? What kind of argument is that second argument? Indeed, a prior question often arises: Is the text in fact an argument at all? If so, what precisely is the conclusion? How is this to be determined? If it is an argument, how do we arrive at its elements? What are its elements: premise and conclusion? Or should we follow Toulmin's advice and abandon the traditional terminology, wed as it is to the geometric model? Govier (1987) said this about this task of interpretation: Interpretation is involved when we extract an argument from discourse in our own language, but in this context we presume a basic understanding of customs, meaning and syntax. . . . We are interpreting a speech or text in order to determine whether it contains an argument, and, if so, what that argument is. . . . There are at least six pertinent stages: 1. We determine whether the speech or passage contains an argument or not. 2. We determine, for argumentative passages, which sentences within them express premises or conclusions. 3. We determine, for terms within those sentences that are ambiguous or indeterminate in reference, what the meaning or referent is likely to be, and whether the words are meant literally or figuratively. 4. We determine whether the stated premises and conclusion constitute the argument or whether there is implicit material that needs to be added. 5. If implicit material is to be added, we decide what that material is and how it should be articulated. 6. We decide what inference standard should be used to appraise the argument. (pp. 141142) The problem with Govier's list (as useful as it is) is that it is theory-laden. For example, Step 2 is formulated in terms of premises and conclusion, which obviates a Toulmin-type theory. Step 6 seems to presuppose a pluralistic theory. If one were a deductivist, there is only one standard and hence no decision is needed; hence no Step 6.

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The important point for my purpose is that for the informal logician, the task of analysis brings out the need for interpretation. Once I recognize the problem of interpretation, I need to make use of the principle of charity. The Principle of Charity The principle of charity is a principle of interpretation, which in its most general formulation could be explained as, "When interpreting a text, make the best possible sense of it." This would mean, for example, that given a choice between two interpretations, the principle of charity advises us to choose the one that puts the text in the best light, given its purposes.7 To cite an example where the principle was apparently not followed, I quote excerpts from a letter by Kerrigan (1994), who in September 1993 took part in a Forum about sex between professors and students that initiated a spate of hostile responses, in reply to which Kerrigan himself wrote: I am said to have defined eighteen-year-old women as cases of unnaturally prolonged virginity. Why not suppose (as was the case) that the women I referred to were much older and few in number? Why not suppose (as was the case) that they were not enrolled in my courses at the time in question? Why not suppose (as was the case) that they themselves defined their virginity as unnaturally prolonged? A will to distort rather than understand made national news of my remarks. (p. xxx) Kerrigan's complaint is in effect that his critics violated the principle of charity. However the principle is to be understood, what we are concerned with here is its role in informal logic, particularly in connection with the theory of analysis. It is instructive to note that no counterpart to this problem seems to have existed for formal deductive logic. The best explanation of this is that formal logic was to the maximum possible degree contextindependent, hence it minimized the need for interpretation, whereas the arguments that informal logic consider are to the maximum possible degree context-dependent. For further references, see Hansen (1990). 7 Govier (1989) traced the principle to Wilson in a 1959 article in which he recommended the following rule for translators: "We select as designatum that individual which will make the largest possible number of statements true" (p. 133). Thus, suppose we are translating "alphamin" and we have two possible designata: D1 would make more statements true than D2. Then we should choose the theory that includes D1. Why? Wilson did not say but Govier ascribed this reason: We assume that others aim to tell the truth. We might also add: We should treat the discourse of others the way we would like ours to be treated.

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In any event, the principle of charity, its proper formulation and justification, continues to be a topic of interest to informal logicians. The Structure of Arguments If one approaches arguments in natural language on their own terms and without the doctrine of logical form as a template, then one faces some formidable challenges. The turn to actual arguments has forced theorists to face up to the ill-organized, incompletely stated, wandering-off-topic arguments often found in written and spoken texts. Informal logicians have begun to address the complex theoretical issues arising from the attempt to explain how we manage to interpret such discourse. They have found themselves relying on the insights of linguists, speech communication theorists, and philosophers of language. The doctrine in textbooks has been ad hoc rather than theoretically motivated. Informal logicians have focused their attention on the issue of how to lay out the assertions playing argumentative roles in such discourse in a perspicuous way for the purpose of evaluating and critiquing the argument. The major contributions of informal logicians to the task of understanding and displaying the structure of arguments are: 1. a challenge to the conventional way of understanding the elements (Toulmin, 1958); 2. the development of tree diagrams as a vehicle to display structure (Beardsley, 1950; Scriven 1976); 3. the convergentdivergent distinction (Beardsley, 1950; Thomas, 1971); 4. the issue of argument typology (Freeman, 1991; Govier, 1987; Thomas, 1971); 5. the notion of argumentation schemes (Freeman, 1991; Snoeck Henkemans, 1992; Walton, 1996). I now discuss the first three of these developments in a bit more detail. On the question of how to understand and display the structure of an argument, a variety of approaches now exists. Toulmin was the first to propose an alternative approach to understanding the structure of argument. It was discussed briefly in the last chapter and I propose to deal with it in greater detail still in chapter 12 when I look at alternative theories. Toulmin's model has not had as much influence on informal logic as it has in other areas, such as the speech communication tradition. Among those who have made use of Toulmin's approach are Freeman (1988) and Weinstein (1990).

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Thomas (1971) basically adopted Beardsley's (1950) approach, adding some refinements of his own. Beardsley introduced a diagrammatic approach to the task of understanding the structure of arguments. His diagrams aim to capture not the propositional structure of the argument but rather the argumentative relationships. Thus, in the case where one premise supports a conclusion, an arrow is drawn from the premise to the conclusion to indicate this. There are different ways in which the premises of an argument may support the conclusion and Beardsley was the first, so far as I am aware, to have developed a terminology to reflect this. He introduced the distinction between convergent, divergent, and serial arguments, which has been quite influential. According to Beardsley's doctrine, an argument is convergent if several independent reasons support the same conclusion. It is divergent if the same reason supports several conclusions. It is serial if it contains a statement that is both a conclusion and a reason for a further conclusion. Later writers have adopted and attempted to refine this distinction, which will, of course, eventually prove problematic. But Beardsley must certainly be credited with having taken a step forward for an informal theory of analysis with this innovative approach. To this doctrine, Thomas added the concept of a linked" argument "when a step of reasoning involves the logical combination of two or more reasons" (p. 58). One problem is that Beardsley and Thomas both required that each premise be written out in full, which makes such diagrams cumbersome methods to use when displaying the structure of longer arguments.8 Scriven (1976) offered further refinements to this method of laying out the structure according to a method he called "a tree diagram" (p. 41). Scriven numbered each sentence playing an argumentative role, and then constructed a diagram of the supporting relationships using just the circled numbers and lines joining them. This approach allows the structure to be represented without having to write out each sentence in the portrait. Scriven also introduced the convention of using a minus sign to symbolize negative support so that he can diagram what came to be called balance of considerations argumentsarguments balancing reasons for and reasons against the conclusion. Scriven's third innovation was to use letters to represent reconstructed missing premises (about which more follows) and putting them in the diagram at the appropriate place to reconstruct the argument so as to show their role in joining with stated premises to strengthen the inference. Johnson and Blair (1977, 1983) developed an adaptation of Scriven's diagramming method for use with longer (extended) arguments, using letters 8 Articles by Yanal (1991), Conway (1991), and Vorobej (1993) discuss the "linkedconvergent" distinction. At this point, it seems that this doctrine seems destined to prove as vexatious for informal logicians as the deductiveinductive distinction was for traditional logicians.

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to represent paragraphs in the text, putting all the letters that represent the paragraphs developing each line of argument inside one circle, and using arrows to show the direction of support. They used dotted lines pointing away from the conclusion to represent objections cited in the argument and solid lines back to the conclusion to represent the fact that a line of argument is an answer to such an objection. Later texts modified and amplified these basic approaches to the task of representing the structure of arguments. A text that shows how many of these initiatives can be integrated is Freeman (1988). Before I leave behind the matter of displaying the structure of argument, I want to discuss the view presented by Fisher (1992), that informal logicians ought not discard the techniques of formal logic: If one asks ''Why is the structure of argumentat(ion) important in the informal logic, Toulmin and argumentation traditions?' the surprising answer appears to be that we need a notion of structure so that we can be as clear as possible what reasons are being offered for and against which claims and so that we can display the reasoning in some perspicuous way (perhaps with the aid of a diagram). (p. 170) Fisher was right on target thus far. He went on to say, "The interest in structure in these traditions appears to have nothing to do with evaluating the argument(ation) beyond recognizing the obvious fact that one cannot evaluate an argument(ation) unless it is clear what the argument(ation) is" (p. 170). The obvious fact is not so obvious. One could evaluate an argument if one knew certain things about its structure. For example, one might not understand all aspects of the argument's structure but know enough to see that the argument hinges on one particular premise. One might therefore evaluate the argument in the sense of judging that it was a bad argument, if one knew that a crucial premise was false or otherwise deficient. Thus, in some cases, the argument can be evaluated without knowledge of the entire structure. It is an entirely different matter whether an argument can be criticized without understanding the structure, which does not seem likely. But that then raises the issue of the difference between evaluation and criticism, a topic taken up in chapter 8. Fisher continued his argument: Now, to take this line is to operate with an impoverished notion of structure, just as the "logical form" tradition operates with an unduly restricted one. The point I want to stress is that the structures exhibited by both the informal logicians, by Toulmin's and by argumentation theorists' diagrams are gross structures, which play only a minimal role in the evaluation of argument(ation). (p. 170)

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This last assertion certainly stands in need of some defense. In Logical Self-Defense, Blair and I (Blair & Johnson, 1993) distinguished between macrostructure and microstructure. If Fisher's thesis is that problems at the level of microstructure tend to be more important for the evaluation of arguments than those at the level of macrostructure, he may be right, although it is not at all obvious. In any event, there most certainly are arguments in which the significant flaw(s) are found at the level of macrostructure (Johnson & Blair, 1993). Also, Fisher assumed that the flaws at the microstructure level are those that formal logic will help us to detect and expose. Fisher came to his main point and said: I want to insist that, in order to evaluate argument(ation), one commonly has to go much more deeply into the "internal" structures of reasons and conclusion, to see how they are related to each other, and that the logician [Which one?] has started us off in the right direction in this respect. It is true that it is very difficult to apply first order predicate calculus to many everyday arguments, but that is not a reason for rejecting the "logical form" tradition to which I am referring; rather it is a reason for accepting that that tradition developed in blinkered ways and may have lost its way in recent times. (p. 170) Here Fisher argued that FDL has a contribution to make to the task of argument analysis. I agree with this. Specifically, he argued that one commonly must go deeply into the internal structure (the structure that is revealed by means of logical form) to see how reasons and conclusions are related. Here I think Fisher and I have differing beliefs about how frequently the refined tools of analysis provided by FDL will actually come into play. I grant that an occasional argument in ordinary discourse, or even stylized discourse, is guilty of a quantifier manipulation error and that such errors will be more readily detected if the evaluator has recourse to first-order predicate logic. But that truth must be played off against the difficulties encountered in deploying the apparatusa difficulty he himself recognized. In any event, the matter of how to understand and represent the structure of arguments without recourse to the idea of logical form (as that has been understood by FDL) has provided informal logicians with a formidable task. Missing Premises Attention to the issue of the structure of actual arguments has invariably been accompanied by the attempt to account for assumptionsmissing, hidden, unexpressed, tacit, or unstated premises. Here is how Scriven (1976) framed the issue:

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I sometimes think that one can best spotlight the gap between formal logic and real reasoning by pointing out that almost every real argument involves assumptions, but that, as far as I know, there has never been an even moderately successful attempt to analyse the concept of an assumption. . . . Without such an analysis, effective criticism of an argument, or an arguer, is hopelessly crippled. (p. xvi) As I explained in chapter 3, there has been considerable discussion in the informal logic literature of such questions surrounding the problem of missing premises. (See Hansen, 1990, for a list of articles.) This issue dovetails with the questions about approaches to reconstruction. Which argument should be reconstructedthe speaker's, the strongest possible (given what is stated), or something else? Should the argument be reconstructed so the premises logically imply the conclusion, so that they provide strong support, merely so that they are relevant, or something else? Should the missing premises supplied be (likely to be) believed by the arguer, known by the arguer, what the arguer (likely) expected the listener to believe, or something else? The issue of missing premises has obvious connections with the principle of charity, which, in turn, takes us to the issue of the purpose(s) for which we engage in argument analysis in the first place. Some take the view that the purpose of analysis is to get at the truth of the matter, so the argument should be reconstructed in a way that maximizes that goal, regardless of whether the argument is the one intended by the arguer. The other view is that the purpose of analyzing the argument is to criticize the argument so that the arguer may improve it. On this view, it is crucial to reconstruct the argument in a way that is consistent with what is known about the arguer. Both views are plausible and it does not seem possible to decide between them or reconcile them without a thorough articulation of the nature of argument(ation) itselfa task deferred to the next chapter. Some believe, Govier among them, that the so-called problem of missing premises is itself problematic. What does that mean? In traditional syllogistic logic, it was recognized that there were enthymemesarguments with premises that have been suppressed. The problem of providing what is missing is manageable for a theory like syllogistic where the notion of structure is tightly circumscribed. For propositional logic, the problem has an obvious extension. It is fairly evident that if an arguer goes from (A v B) to B, the arguer had in some sense dismissed A and so holds -A (as tacit, missing, or suppressed). Once we graduate from basic forms into more complicated propositional structures, the idea of a missing premise becomes much less clear. As Scriven (1976) rightly said, "The enthymeme approach is not even moderately successful as a pragmatic device" (p. xvi). The whole notion of missing premise becomes fuzzier, and the task of providing them more formidable, in informal logic, given the state of inde-

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terminacy that exists with respect to the issue of structure. This sort of realization may have been what Govier was thinking of when, in an earlier publication, she linked the discovery of missing premises to the idea of a "complete argument" that could be universally applied. She came to believe her earlier position required modification and said, "We need a concept of a complete argument that we can properly apply to the case at hand. It need not be applicable to all arguments" (p. 102). Still, it is not at all easy to see how this assuages that earlier concern. In order to satisfy this new requirement, we need a complete typology of argument as well as an idea of completeness that makes sense for each type. This seems no less onerous a requirement than the earlier one. The issues surrounding missing premises are too complex to allow for resolution here. I make just two observations. First, Ennis (1982) has been widely cited. Ennis referred to missing premises as "gap fillers" and there he distinguished between used assumptions and needed assumptions. Roughly, the distinction comes to this: Needed assumptions are those that the argument, position, or explanation needs in order to be at its best. Assumptions that were actually used by the person in reaching the conclusion or offering the explanation are used assumptions. Second, Govier's (1987) chapter "The Problem of Missing Premises" is an excellent source if one wishes a thorough airing of the theoretical issues. Her conclusion said: Are there gaps in arguments? Or are they projected by the critic? They are really there, provided all the critic/s interpretive and theoretical judgements, employed to identify the gaps, are correct. They are not "just-there" in a theory-neutral sense. Dogmatic pronouncements to the effect that arguments surely have this or that missing premise should always be regarded with suspicion . . . Whether a statement is a missing premise in some argument depends on our theory of argument, our purpose in analyzing the argument, and much else. (pp. 102103) Even if we abandon the idea of missing premises as a hangover from deductivist approaches, reasoning and argument (ation) often involve tacit or unarticulated elements, assumptions of which we are not aware. The difficult thing is to develop a way of identifying them. In other words, Scriven's challenge as expressed previously remains unanswered. Conclusion At this point I want to review several questions posed in chapter 2 for a theory of analysis and see where matters stand with regard to the work done by informal logicians.

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1. What is the nature and purpose of argument? A start has been made toward the task of rethinking the idea of argument; rethinking its nature, one might say; and moving away from formal and structural approaches and moving toward context and purpose and other pragmatic aspects. Still the structural approach remains dominanteven among informal logicians. 3. What are the different types of argument? Not much work has been done on this issue. Informal logicians have tended to accept the conventional typology of deductive and inductive: thus Thomas, thus Kahane, thus Fogelin. The one important change that has been made here is Govier's suggestion (following Wellman and Wisdom) of the conductive argumenta suggestion that has been picked up by a number of informal logicians: see Hitchcock (1983) and Freeman (1988). Govier's (1987) suggestion that there are three types of argument (deductive, inductive, and conductive) is based not on the structure so much as it is based on the standard that will be applied to evaluate the argument. In short, it is safe to say that the whole matter of typology of argument deserves much more study than it has so far been given.9 4. How are we justified in reconstructing argument so as to include elements not explicitly asserted by the arguer? There has been a fair amount of treatment of this issue. It takes us into the core issues of why we engage in argument analysis and evaluation in the first place. It seems that different schools of thought have emerged. The basic answers that appear to have emerged thus far revolve around the principle of charity and the application of Grice's (1975) Cooperative Principle. 7. How is argument to be understood or defined? To some degree, of course, this question is very much like question 1. We have not moved far beyond the conventional wisdom here. To the degree that has been achieved toward moving away from a purely structural account, it cannot be said that informal logicians have yet developed an adequate conceptualization of argument. 9 See van Eemeren, Grootendorst, and Kruiger (1987b) and van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1992). See also Kienpointner (1992), Snoeck Henkemens (1992), and Walton (1996).

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8. What is the relationship between argument and inference? Very little progress seems to have been made on this front. The assumption made by many still seems to be that these are one and the sameor at least very closely related. This is really a problem that outruns, to some degree, the theory of argument and points, as I have argued, to the need for a theory of reasoning. To summarize, then, although improvements have been noted, much work remains to be done in the area of the theory of analysis. If I am right, a crucial step in moving forward will be to approach the nature of argument from a different perspectivea claim I endeavour to make good on in chapter 6. Informal Logic and the Theory of Appraisal Introduction A crucial question for any theory of argument, and also for informal logic, is what theory of evaluationcriticism to use. Suppose I laid out the structure of the argument, giving as plausible a reconstruction as I can in accordance with the principle of charity and without recourse to logical form. Now I face the question, "How good is this argument?" Informal logicians must be able to answer this question without relying on the doctrine of soundness. One might expect that something like the same variation I found in theories of analysis is evident also in theories of appraisal. Thus far, the variety of approach has not yet developed nor has the question of evaluation been pursued as vigorously as has the question of analysis. Perhaps this is a hangover from the days when FDL ruled the scene. Perhaps logicians still take the view that nothing much can be said about the evaluation of arguments from within the orbit of logic. In any event, activity in this area has been less extensive and, correspondingly, it can be discussed in shorter space than was the theory of analysis. After reviewing the theories proposed in the First Wave, I then discuss the two dominant theories. Theories of Appraisal in the First Wave As I have shown, Kahane (1971) adopted (then modified) fallacy theory as his theory of appraisal. An argument is to be evaluated by seeing whether it contains any fallacy where fallacy is defined as, "an argument which ought not persuade a rational person of its conclusion" (p. 1). This definition is not a particularly satisfactory one, but I postpone discussion of it until

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chapter 8. Kahane presented an updated and revitalized inventory of the fallacies and plenty of illustrations. Thomas (1973) was more focused on structure than were other First Wave texts. As I showed in chapter 2, Thomas was a spectrum theorist in that he held that various types of links between premises and conclusion are possible. To evaluate the argument, one must first correctly identify the type of linkage between the premises and the conclusion and then decide whether that linkage is in fact achieved. Thomas also included a treatment of "some informal fallacies": the genetic fallacy, the argumentum ad hominem, equivocation, the black or white fallacy, hasty generalization, straw man, begging the question, and the argumentum ad ignorantium. So Thomas' theory of appraisal is a mixture of fallacy theory with a remnant of FDL and some inductive logic. Scriven (1976) had the most developed approach to appraisal of all those who belong to this first wave. Scriven officially eschewed the apparatus of formal logic, whose usefulness he saw as quite restricted, and instead presented his own 7-step method of argument analysis: 1. Clarification of meaning 2. Identification of conclusions 3. Portrayal of Structure 4. Formulation of (Unstated) Assumptions 5. Criticism of: a. The Premises (given and missing) b. The Inferences 6. Introduction of other relevant arguments 7. Overall evaluation of this argument (p. 39) Step 5 is, of course, the crucial step. What theory did Scriven employ here or what approach did he take? He said, "Criticizing a premise requires that, if the argument is going to be any good as a way of marshalling support, the forces it calls upon had better be strong, i.e., the premises must be reliable" (p. 43). But he did not tell his readers what the term "reliable" meant, nor were any criteria of reliability given. Elsewhere, Scriven used both "true" and "acceptable'' to characterize the standard to be applied to the premises. I postpone discussion of the problems this creates until chapter 7. When it comes to criticism of the inferences, one might think that, given his conception of argument as premises forcing the conclusion to be true, Scriven was a deductivist. Not clearly so: Criticizing an inference from statement 1 to statement 2 means criticizing the claim that 1 supports 2. You do not need to know whether 1 is true or not in

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order to consider whether it supports 2. You just have to ask, if 1 were true, wouldn't 2 have to be true, or at least very likely be true. (p. 43) Thus, the architecture of Scriven's theory of appraisal resembles that of FDL. Instead of validity, Scriven broadened the concept of inference connection to allow for weaker than necessary consequence. (Later, Scriven, 1987, called this type of inference "probative inference.") Johnson and Blair (1977), following Kahane, used fallacy theory as their theory of appraisal. An argument is, by implication, a good argument if it does not contain any fallacy, by which they understood a violation of one of the criteria that govern good arguments: relevance, sufficiency, and acceptability (more about this later). Fogelin (1978) resembled Thomas in adopting the most wide-ranging theory of appraisal, for he introduced both inductive and deductive criteria, along with some fallacies. After the First Wave, I continue to find these same options reworked time and again. About all that one can say about the theory of appraisal presented in informal logic texts is that it seems to contain a combination of elements of fallacy theory, deductive logic, and inductive logicwithout much consideration being given to whether and how these can be integrated. Over time, however, a number of informal logicians have adopted some variant of the Johnson and Blair (1977) scheme. According to that theory, the premises of an argument must satisfy three criteria: they must be relevant, sufficient, and acceptable.10 These standards, it turns out, are every bit as difficult to ground theoretically as their formal counterparts. I shall not attempt here a full-scale unpacking, preferring to deal with that question in chapter 7. Historical Note I would like to add here a note on how our theory of appraisal originated. It developed in three steps. When Blair and I were doing our research for the first edition of Logical Self-Defense (1977), we were committed to something like the following proposition: The traditional fallacies could be made to constitute a viable theory of appraisal. Kahane had persuaded us that this was the case. That was our first stepto adopt fallacy theory as a theory of appraisal for arguments. We were aware of problems with Kahane's presentation. First, it was sloppy; the fallacies were not given precise delineation. His description of 10 This account first appears in Johnson and Blair (1977) and later in a revised form in Govier (1985), where she changed sufficiency to adequacy, Damer (1987), Freeman (1988), Little, Groarke, and Tindale (1989), Barry (1992), and Seech (1992).

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begging the question could serve to characterize other fallacies no less than that one. Second, the organization and classification of the fallacies was not satisfactory. Categories like "fallacious even if valid" and "fallacious because invalid" suggested that validity was still in the driver's seat as far as a theory of evaluation. Third, the examples were culturally skewed. As one would expect of an American text, the examples and issues were drawn from U.S. culture. But our students were Canadian and some (not all) resented being asked to analyze an argument that depended on background knowledge of the United States. (This was in the early 1970s; one student said, "Why should I have to analyze an argument about whether Wally Hickel is a good Secretary of the Interior when we don't even have one?") We were aware of the various classificatory schemes to be found in the literature but not satisfied by any of them. Thus, our next step was to review the mainline traditional fallacies and ask ourselves of each in turn, "What criterion was implicit in calling that type of argument a fallacy?" It soon became fairly clear that some fallacies were the result of failure of a relevance criterion (like ad hominem, as we understand it, and straw person). Next, there were fallacies like hasty generalization or hasty conclusion in which the criterion violated was not relevance but rather a sufficiency criterion. The problem with the argument was that the arguer had not provided enough evidence. Finally, it was apparent that a third category was required for fallacies like inconsistency and begging the question. We could have proposed truth as the third criterion, but we at that time had both been influenced by Hamblin's arguments against alethic and epistemic criteria and persuaded by his position on acceptability. (My current problems with this criterion are discussed in chapter 7, in the discussion of acceptability.) Acceptability thus became our third standard. The final step was to sort through a sensible inventory of fallacies to see if each fallacy could be placed in one of the three categories. We found that they could and adopted the approach in the first edition of Logical-Self Defense (1977). Conclusion I review the questions from chapter 2 that bear on the theory of appraisal and determine where matters stand with regard to work done by informal logicians. 2. What are the standards for the appraisal of arguments? Although some informal logicians appear to flirt with maintaining large parts of the theory of appraisal they inherited from FDL (this is true of Scriven 1976, also true of Nosich (1982), if he is to be accounted an informal logician), there is evidence a new approach is emerging. In part, this is the

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result of the more sophisticated approach to the study of fallacies that has emerged in the wake of Hamblin's (1970) challenge, which stimulated the work of the 1980s and 1990s (to be discussed in chapter 9). There does appear to be some degree of convergence around the RSA triad.11 5. How do the personalities and beliefs of the arguer and the audience affect the merits of an argument? This issue has not been addressed in great detail. The standard view still tends to be that found in discussions of the ad hominem argument, which is that the personality and the beliefs of the arguer are generally out of bounds as far as an assessment of the argument is concerned. Walton (1985a) discussed aspects of this issue. 6. Is the truth of the premise too strong a condition to demand soundness of argument? This issue has been debated in some detail. Some (Blair & Johnson, 1987, Govier, 1987) appeared to think that truth is too strong; others (Allen, 1998; Johnson, 1990b) questioned this view. The whole question of the role of truth in a theory of appraisal is still very much a live issue. I set forth my own views on this matter in chapter 7. 9. Is there an important difference between evaluating an argument and criticizing it? The distinction between these two activities does not appear to have gained much recognition at this point. I attempt to clarify the difference. In chapter 7, I deal with the theory of evaluation for arguments. In chapter 8, I deal with the theory of criticism. 10. What constitutes logical virtue in an argument? What are the qualities that make an argument a good argument? The tendency is still to look at this question in light of the premise versus inference distinction; hence to look on the one hand at the issue of what constitutes premise adequacy and on the other hand what constitutes inference adequacy. Other views about virtue can be found in fallacy theorya good argument is one that does not commit any fallacies, but to some this seems like the view that virtue is the absence of vice (Hintikka, 1989). A view 11 See note 10.

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that has broad appeal but is undeveloped is the view that an argument is a good argument if it is able to withstand strong criticism. 11. What constitutes profitable criticism of an argument? As far back as Scriven (1976), one can find articulation of what I later call The Principle of Discrimination, which is that the critic should practice strong criticism. But exactly how does one identify strong criticism? In asking this question, the informal logic enterprise makes a step that has no precedent in formal logic, for which one invalidity is pretty much the same as another. As our review shows, there is still a lot of work that must be done to before it can be said that informal logic possesses a satisfactory theory of appraisal. Who, or What, Then, Is an Informal Logician? Introduction If my claim that informal logic has the potential to develop a theory that satisfies the adequacy conditions is to be validated, then I must be able decide whose or which theories proposed or which modifications of current theories will count as informal logic. So the questions here are, "Who or what counts as an instance of an informal logic approach? On what basis is someone to be considered an informal logician?" I gave a partial answer to that question earlier but in the light of the intervening discussion, a more precise answer is now possible. My answer is that an informal logician is a logician whose theory is informal2 (going back to the BarthKrabbe, 1982, distinction). That means that the theory of argument differs in significant ways from that of formal logic. In terms of the theory of analysis, the informal logician takes a pragmatic andor teleological approach of the nature of argument(ation) rather than a formal or structural approach. The informal logician pays attention to the task of interpreting and reconstructing the argument and the difficulties of doing this. In terms of analyzing the structure, the informal logician understands the logical structure of argumentation using concepts that are not dependent on the notion of logical form as that idea emerged in the logistic tradition of the 20th century. In terms of the theory of appraisal, the informal logician is one who accepts Adequacy Condition 3 as binding; that is, whose theory of appraisal accommodates the fact that there can be good arguments for and good

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arguments against a given thesis. The informal logician also accepts Adequacy Condition 4 that there are degrees of logical virtue, that arguments fall at points along a spectrum from strong to weak. Hence, the informal logician understands logical virtue in terms other than validity and does not have recourse to validity as an essential construct for understanding logical virtue. Many informal logicians have adopted some form of fallacy theory but this is neither necessary (because there are other ways to evaluate) nor sufficient (because some rhetoricians also use fallacy theory). Moreover, an informal logician understands the vital role of criticism in the process of argumentation and provides guidance on how to distinguish strong from weak criticism. Finally, I would take into consideration a writer's own self-description. Someone who refers to himself or herself as an informal logician is likely to be an informal logician. (This consideration is defeasible because of the heterogenous usage of the term "informal logic" in the present climate.) Some Examples Let me cite some clear cases. At the theoretical level, the most important works in the area of informal logic are by Govier (1987) and Walton (1984, 1985b, 1987, 1989). They are particularly important for their contributions to informal logic. Still at the theoretical level, I would include many but not all of the articles that have appeared in Informal Logic and many that have appeared in Argumentation. At the textbook level, I would regard the following as clear examples of informal logic texts: Johnson and Blair (1993), Govier (1996), and Freeman (1992). There are problem cases, however. For example, what does one say about Kahane, who adopts fallacy theory but at the same time retains validity as a normative criterion? What about Thomas, who makes validity a matter of degree? What about Cederblom and Paulsen? Here I get to an issue perhaps best looked at in light of Wittgenstein's (1953) notion of a family resemblance. That, in any event, is how I would propose to think about such matters, which I can only acknowledge without any attempt at a solution here. It is apparent that there are a number of thorny problems for the theory of argument developed within informal logic. In the first place, there is little consensus about how to understand the nature and structure of argument. One might expect that the main differences would show up in the theory of appraisal but that is not the case; it is in the theory of analysis where the greatest differences turn up. This heterogeneity at the level of theory is discomfiting to some, particularly to those who are used to the unanimity thought to be characteristic of formal logicians.

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Second, no solid and dominant theory of appraisal has emergedalthough there does appear to be some degree of convergence around the relevancesufficiencyacceptability triad. There are problems for this approach, however. The first is that the fundamental criteria of relevance, sufficiency, and acceptability do not enjoy anything like the level of theoretical support that FDL can provide for the standard of validity. Our understanding of them cannot compare to the formal logician's control over validity. I say more about these criteria in chapter 7. The next problem concerns the acceptability requirement. There are difficulties both in interpreting what acceptance actually means and also with its viability as a criterion. I discuss these problems in detail in chapter 7. Finally, there is the issue of the exclusion of truth as a criterion for the evaluation of arguments. Because this criterion plays such a prominent role in many useful strategies of argument analysis, such as pressing on the consistency front, counterexampling, and so forth, I need to question whether I can dispense with it altogether. I postpone discussion of this issue until chapter 7. In conclusion, I want to stress that there is (at least in my understanding of these terms) no incompatibility between being a formal logician and an informal logician; there is not even a problem with being both under the same cover. In the final analysis, it is largely a question of the conceptions and analytic tools in which one places one's faith. That seems to me to be a pragmatic issue to be decided by which tools best fit the needs of the situation. My argument here has been to the effect that if one's interest is to evaluate and eventually to criticize arguments in natural language (to use Thomas' characterization), then informal logic has the promise of being able to develop a theory of argument that will enable one to do just that. Conclusion At this point, it seems apparent that neither informal nor formal logic has the right stuff as far as providing an adequate theory of argument. I now want to investigate the idea that, paradoxically, both fail for the same reason. That is, neither begins from an adequate conceptualization of argument, and each has developed its normative theory in a strange waybereft of the guidance that such a conceptualization understanding can provide. (In the final analysis, this is less serious for FDL than for informal logic because the proper object of study of formal logic is not argument but implication.) I suggest further that the possession of an adequate conceptualization is a crucial step toward finding solutions to the problems in the theory of analysis and the theory of appraisal we have been discussing. Thus, the next task must be to develop a proper conceptualization of argument and to that task I turn my attention in chapter 6.

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Chapter 6 Argument as Manifest Rationality: A Pragmatic Conception In chapter 3, I argued that none of the extant theories of argument is viable. In chapter 4, I suggested that one possible explanation for this situation is that none of these theories begins with an adequate conception of argument. If we lack an adequate conception of argument, it will be impossible to answer the basic question, "What makes an argument a good argument?" Or (perhaps better), "What qualities are we looking for in a good argument?" Conversely, when we see clearly what an argument is, we will be in a better position to understand what is necessary for an argument to be a good one. In short, the theory of appraisal should be based on the theory of analysis. One conclusion that emerges from the recent literature on argumentation is that there has been an important shift in the way logicians think about argument. That shift can be described in various ways. One way is to describe it as a shift from seeing argument along the lines of proof to seeing it in terms of dialogue. Such a shift is evident in the last chapter of Hamblin's Fallacies, in which formal logic is replaced by formal dialectic. Others who have adopted such an approach to argument are Barth and Krabbe (1982), van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1987, 1992), Walton (1990b) and, more recently, Walton and Krabbe (1995). Another, not incompatible, initiative has been to view argumentation from a pragmatic point of view. Those who have taken this approach include Govier (1987), Walton (1990), and Barth (1985). That characterization broadly describes the approach that I take here. From this vantage point, one might say that the traditional conception of argument was limited in two important respects. First, it did not situate the argument within the context of argumentation, being content rather to conceive argument in structural terms, the result being an understanding of

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argument at once formal and abstract.1 Second, it failed to see that the development of the argument is just one phase of the entire dialectical process that also includes the response by the critic, the arguer's response to that intervention, modification of the original argument, further criticism, and so on. Even more central to the theory of argument developed in this book is that the traditional view fails to satisfy because it underplays the role of rationality. The central thesis of this book is that to properly understand the practice of argumentation, we must view it as an exercise in manifest rationality. What is distinctive of argumentation is that it is an exercise in manifest rationality, by which I mean not only that a good argument is itself a rational producta product of reasons, reasoning, and reasonersbut that it is part of the nature of the enterprise that this product must appear to be rational as well. I have more to say about the look of rationality later in this chapter. This feature serves to distinguish argument from explanation. An explanation may be perfectly rational but not appear to be so, and its not appearing to be so is no mark against its being a good one. The task of this chapter is to develop a more adequate conception of argument. I continue to use the phrase "argument (ation)" because although my ultimate interest lies with the product (the argument itself), I believe it is crucial to understand that this product emerges from the practice of argumentation and must be understood in that context.2 The plan for this chapter is as follows: I begin with a critique of the prevailing accounts of argument found in the work of informal logicians as these were identified in the last chapter. I then dip back into history in attempt to recover some important elements in our conceptualization that were lost in the twin processes of formalization and mathematicization. After that, I introduce some needed distinctions. Then, I present an improved conceptualization argument(ation). Last, I take account of some objections to my proposed reconceptualization. Critique of Current Definitions of Argument Introduction The question before me is, "What is an argument?" But first is it worth asking, "Why raise this question? What bearing does it have our inquiry?" 1 This distinction between argument and argumentation is getting more attention: see Walton (1990b), who ultimately discarded it, and Fisher (1992), who maintained it. 2 The separation of the product from the practice is what van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1987) complained about when they said, "Probably chiefly due to the influence of a tradition inspired by logicians, argumentation is frequently presented solely as an abstract product separate from language" (p. 8).

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When he was struggling to develop his position on the nature of logic during the period from 1910 to 1914, Wittgenstein found himself repeatedly coming back to the question, "What is a proposition?" He wrote, "All this would get solved of itself if we understood the nature of the proposition." (33e). Somewhat later (1961), he wrote, "My whole task consists in explaining the nature of the proposition" (39e). The question, "What is the nature of a proposition?" was fundamental for him. His hope was that if he got the fundamentals right, the rest would follow. The question, "What is an argument?" occupies a similar position in my investigation. Having just mentioned Wittgenstein with approval, I realize that I open myself to the following line of objectionone that stems from Wittgenstein (1961) himself. The objection goes that we know perfectly well what an argument is. Because we know how to use the word argument, it follows (at least from the Wittgensteinian viewpoint) that we know what an argument is. My response is to concede that in some sense, we know what an argument is. However, there are problems in the way in which traditional theoreticians of argument understand this fundamental concept, and we have seen how an inadequate apprehension takes a toll, both in the theory of analysis and the theory of appraisal. There are serious differences in the way in which the term "argument" is used in the various intellectual communities in which it plays a role. For example, Wreen (1988) took this statement as an argument, "Thief to victim: Your money or your life!" This is the so-called ad baculum that Wreen and others would consider an argument. (For more on this, see also Wreen, 1988b, and Brinton, 1992.) I do not think that such reasoning and discourse should be considered arguments because here the reasoning is being used to threaten someone. That threatening is a violation of the rules that define the practice of argumentation. Further to be noted is that the term "argument" has undergone significant shifts in meaning in its history. (It would be a worthwhile project to trace the development of and changes in the meaning of argument.) In Aristotle, an argument is a premiseconclusion structure. However, in Quine's Mathematical Logic, the term "argument" appears just once and then as a mathematical term.3 This significant shift in the use of the term illustrates, in a striking way, the mathematicization of logic that I discussed in chapter 4. Moreover, I have argued that there are serious shortcomings in the very way in which logicians currently understand the nature of argument. I give 3 See Quine (1940): But there are further relations x which, though not functions in this sense, do fulfil (1) for certain choices of y. Such relations may, by a natural extension, be spoken of as functions in a derivative sense; viz. as functions with respect to this or that appropriate argument y" (p. 222)

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further evidence of this in the next subsection of this chapter. Thus, the task of definition lies ahead. What kind of definition is needed here? Agreeing with Rowland (1987), I would say that the definition will be stipulative. Along with Rowland, as well, I believe that a good definition must stress both the function of argument and its rational nature: ''The rational function of argument makes evaluation a necessary component of any adequate theory of argument" (p. 150).4 But before I move to my own definition, it will be helpful to review some current ones. Review and Critique of Current Definitions As I explained in the last chapter, one view of argument sees it as a set of statements, (propositions, assertions, beliefs, and judgments), one of which, the conclusion, is supported by the othersthe premises. A definition of this sort can be found in every kind of logic text, whether deductive or inductive, formal or informal. On this view, an argument is a text or discourse that has a certain structure: Claim supported by reason(s). Here are a few examples of authors who take this view. In Copi's (1961) Introduction to Logic, the oldest logic textbook in North America, is the following definition, "An argument, in the logician's sense, is any group of propositions of which one is claimed to follow from the others which are regarded as providing evidence for the truth of that one" (p. 7). In later editions, "evidence" is replaced by "support or grounds" (1986, p. 6). A few lines later, Copi added: "An argument is not a mere collection of propositions, but has a structure" (p. 7). In a popular critical thinking text, Barry and Rudinow (1992) wrote, "An argument is a set of assertions one of which is understood or intended to be supported by the other(s)" (p. 95). Cederblom and Paulsen (1996) wrote, "When someone gives reasons to support a point of view, that person is usually offering an argument" (p. 15). The hedge "usually" softens matters here. But the basic idea of argument as reasons offered in support of a view is evident. Hinderer (1991) wrote, "In logic, the term 'argument' means that at least one reason is offered to influence a person's belief about something" (p. 16). Schwarz (1994) wrote: 4 Let me add that I am not as sanguine about Rowland's view of argument as problem solving, although much depends on how the term "problem solving" is itself understoodand here I am again in the grips of The Network Problem.

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A discourse is any sentence or group of sentences. In reasoning we are especially interested in a particular kind of discourse called an argument. An argument is any discourse in which someone attempts to support a claim by giving reasons. The reasons that are given as supporting the claim are the premises of the argument, and the claim that is to be supported is called the conclusion of the argument. (p. 1) In all of these definitions, we can see the influence of the view that an argument is a group of propositions in which some (the premises) support the other (the conclusion). To be sure, the traditional view is not all wrong. It highlights one important aspect of argumentits structure. But this way of understanding argument ultimately must fail because it does not distinguish argument from other forms of reasoning. I may give a reason in support of a claim to influence a person's belief and yet not be making an argument. I offer reasons in support when I explain, "The reason that your car won't start is that you have a dead battery, and also the starter is defective." Here I am supporting one claim (your car won't start) by another (you have a dead battery) and another (your starter is defective), yet this discourse is not argument but, rather, explanation.5 Or, "The reason we are having such a crazy summer is the influence of El Nino." Here I offer a reason (the influence of El Nino, which is not even a statement) that is intended to support some other assertion (we are having such a crazy summer), but the function of this relationship is not to persuade the hearer of the truth of the proposition for which support is given. Supposing that the hearer already grants its truth, the reasoner is offering an explanation why. I offer reasons when I instruct, "If you want to get the best light for this shot, you're going to have to use a XDX1000 filter combined with . . . " Here I offer a reason (you're going to have to use a XDX1000 filter) as support for the claim (If you want to get the best lighting), but the function of the discourse is not to persuade anyone that the claim is true. Presumably, the hearer (here, the apprentice) is prepared to accept the instructor's instruction; they are not going to argue about it. So although that discourse fits the standard definition of argument given previously, it does not seem to have the character of an argument. I offer reasons when I make an excuse, "I can't go to the show tonight because I have to study for my exam tomorrow." Here we have the structure of argument as defined, but that is not sufficient to qualify it as an argument. 5 For a fuller account of the differences between argument and explanation, see Govier (1987). Ultimately, the problem of providing an adequate account of the difference between argument and explanation belongs to the theory of reasoning.

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Generally, then, the mere existence of discoursereasoning in which a claim is in some fashion supported by others is not a sufficient condition, although it is a necessary one, for construing that discourse as an argument. The conception of argument I have been discussing might be called the structural view, and I have produced samples from textbooks to show that it is widespread. But it would be wrong to think that this view is restricted to textbooks. Theorists like Hamblin (1970) also adopted this view: "Argument is generally regarded as being whatever it is that is typically expressed by the form of words 'P, therefore Q,' 'P, and so Q'; or, perhaps, 'Q, since P', 'Q because P'" (p. 228).6 Wreen (1988) also expressed this view: "If we think of offering an argument as simply offering a reason, or reasons, for a conclusion, where such offering is conceptual in nature . . . " (p. 77). Or look at the entry on argument in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (1995), where an argument is "a sequence of statements such that some of them (the premises) purport to give reason to accept another of them the conclusion" (p. 37). The entry for argument in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (Honderich, 1995) is slightly more useful but still reflects this gap: The word has three main senses: 1. A quarrel, as when . . . 2. In the most important sense for philosophy an argument is a complex consisting of a set of propositions (called its premises) and a proposition (called its conclusion). You can use an argument by asserting its premises and drawing or inferring its conclusion. (p. 47) There is some validity to the structural view. We produce arguments for a reason, to serve a purpose. We engage in the practice of argumentation because we wish to persuade someone of something, and to do so rationally. We recognize that if we want to persuade the Other of something rationally, it is incumbent on the arguer to put forth reasons. Hence the view that argument consists of a thesis plus the reasons for it. What this line of reflection shows is that argument has its structure (reasons in support of a thesis, or premises plus conclusion) because of the purpose it servesrational persuasion. A significant limitation of the structural view is that it ignores this important aspectpurpose or function. The moral of the story is that if a satisfactory conceptualization of argument is to be developed, the purpose or the function of the discourse must be referred to, an idea that is alluded to obliquely in this definition from Johnson and Blair (1983), 6 See also Nickerson (1986): "Here the term argument will be given a somewhat broader connotation than its strictly deductive one. It will be used to connote any set of assertions that is intended to support some conclusion or influence a person's belief" (p. 68).

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"By an argument we mean a collection of claims (or statements) whose purpose is to lay out a route which leads from the acceptance of some claims (the premises) to the acceptance of some other target claim (the conclusion)" (p. 3). This articulation is moderately better than the standard structural account, at least in so far as it alludes to function or purpose no less than structure. But better still would be an account that linked the two ideas. This is what a pragmatic approach accomplishes.7 What do I understand by this phrase? A pragmatic approach to argument begins by asking: What purpose(s) does argument serve? What function (or functions) do argument(s) have? The answer is: Many, no doubt. But preeminent among them is the function of persuading someone (I call this person the Other) of the truth of something (I shall call this the Thesis) by reasoning, by producing a set of reasons whose function is to lead that person rationally to accept the claim in question. There are other purposes or functions that argument serves, such as to inquire into some matter or to solidify a point of view. For example, the use of argumentation for inquiry (which may be described as self-persuasion) is dependent on argument as persuasion: We first learn the practice of persuading others then we can use that practice to inquire; that is, to persuade ourselves. Just as one might argue that we first learn to talk to others and then learn to talk to ourselves, I would claim that in the first instance, argumentation serves the purpose of rational persuasion. First we learn how to persuade others and then we learn how to persuade ourselves [argumentation as inquiry]. In other words, the public precedes the private in the practice of argumentation as elsewhere in language, if Wittgenstein's views are right. For the moment, I want to set those other purposes to one side and focus on rational persuasion. 7 The term "pragmatic" calls to mind Peirce and James and their development of a philosophical outlook that came to be known as "pragmatism." Peirce said the term emerged from his reflections on Kant, which he read and reflected on every day for 2 years (so he said). The idea of pragmatisch is the reference to action and activity. With Peirce, it became the signal for a different approach to inquiry and belief, in which belief is viewed not as a matter of something that takes place in the mind (a propositional attitude) but rather as a plan of action or a way of acting. For Peirce, the idea of action became a vital component in his theory of inquiry. It gave him a new way of thinking about the nature of belief and meaning. James broadened this theory of meaning to include a theory of truth, according to which, a belief is true if it works. It is from this location that the term then eventually enters the vocabulary of North American life. The transformation that Peirce went through with the term "pragmatic" is worthy of note. For as he himself told us some years later, the idea that action is the end-all and be-all of human life is a doctrine that recommends itself with more force to a man of 30 than one of 50. As he reflected on the term "pragmatism" and his own philosophical thought, Peirce saw that action is not an end in itself but always refers us back to purpose. And so, for Peirce, the term "pragmatism," while it emphasizes activity, ultimately refers us to human purpose.

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From the pragmatic point of view, then, an argument is discourse directed toward rational persuasion.8 By rational persuasion, I mean that the arguer wishes to persuade the Other to accept the conclusion on the basis of the reasons and considerations cited, and those alone. In entering the realm of argumentation, the arguer agrees to forswear all other methods that might be used to achieve this: force, flattery, trickery, and so forth. I showed previously that form follows function. Given its purpose as rational persuasion, the structure of argument follows. That is, because I wish to persuade the Other by reason, I recognize that the claim I make must be supported by reasons or evidence of some sort. It is standard practice to refer to this material as the argument's premises. Hence, an argument initially appears as a premiseconclusion structure: A set of premises adduced in support of some other proposition that is the conclusion. Willard (1989), for example, referred to this as the "claims-reason-complex." I follow Blair (1995) in this matter and refer to this level as "the illative core." This illative core is what most definitions of argument capture. But when we consider the full implications of the fact that the arguer's purpose is to persuade rationally, it becomes clear that there must be more to an argument than just this illative core. The practice of argumentation itself, as well as any instance of it, takes place against a background of controversy. To argue is, we all realize, to enter into a space shared by many others also interested in the same issue, many of whom take a different position. The illative core is meant to initiate the process of converting them, persuading them of the arguer's position. In this context, more will be required to achieve this than just the material in the illative core. I return to this idea shortly, but first I want to pause in the exposition in order to pick up a historical thread, for it will offer us greater clarity about a neglected aspect of argument. A Brief Detour into the History of Argumentation The word argument comes from the Latin argumentum, which in turn comes from the Greek argos, which means "to put into clear light." It would be fascinating to study the origins of this practice in Greek society. Unfortunately, there is no such history of argumentation, so the best that I can do is to draw some lessons from two of its expert practitioners: Plato and Aristotle. What I want to suggest here is that all of the 8 Beginning with Perelman (1958), there is a literature that distinguishes between persuasion and conviction. See Cox and Willard (1982). Here, I make no attempt to distinguish them.

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elements of the fortified conception of argument I shortly present are found already in the works of Plato and Aristotle. I am not able here to do more than offer a sketch of these elements. Aristotle's Practice I begin not with Plato but rather with the Father of LogicAristotle. Once argument becomes conceptualized as basically a certain way of structuring propositions, the syllogism becomes the paradigm and so I look back to Aristotle's syllogistic theory (primarily treated in Prior Analytics) as the embodiment of his conception. In so doing, I am correct but also I thereby present a truncated picture of the richness of Aristotle's logic (a term unknown to Aristotle), which included works devoted to forms of reasoning other than the necessary consequential characteristic of syllogism. I may be tempted to overlook the extremely important and fertile contribution of the Topics, in which Aristotle investigated probable reasoning, and the De Sophisticis Elenchis, in which he studied what we now call "fallacies." Moreover, when anyone wishes to know about Aristotle's conception of argument, look not only beyond Prior Analytics to these other works but beyond The Organon to Aristotle's practice. If Aristotle is observed as dialectician, things can be noticed about how he conceived the practice of argumentation that might otherwise be missed. Consider, for example, the way Aristotle argued his case in the De Anima by first considering the standard positions on the topic of soul. He said that he would first "call into council the views of those of our predecessors who have declared any opinion on this subject, in order that we may profit by whatever is sound in their suggestions and avoid their errors" (pp. 403b2023). The same sort of dialectical review can also be found in Physics and Metaphysics. Aristotle's practice thus reveals explicitly what is only implicit in his conception. And although Aristotle did not put the matter this way, I think he would agree with this point. If argumentation is to be an exercise in rationality, the arguer has an obligation to take into account the positions of others who have also taken a rational position because to fail to so do would not be rational. More important, to fail to do so would not be in keeping with the very nature of argument as a display of rationality. If the arguer takes seriously the positions of others and in the course of his own argument addresses himself to them, the result is a display that not only is rational but is also one that appears to be rational. More on this shortly. I am not claiming that Aristotle defines argumentation as I do; I am only claiming that his practice illustrates tacit awareness of argumentation as manifest rationalitya phrase I introduce and explain later this chapter.

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Plato as Dialectician Traces of a dialectical conception of argument as are also to be found in Plato. Consider Book I of the Republic, where Plato had his various interlocutors express three well-known views about justice, each of which is examined and found wanting. After someone gave his account and made his argument, Socrates typically subjected that arguer to questioning, which often revealed an assumption embedded in the structure of the reasoning (what logicians today might call a missing premise); he might have taken issue with a premise; or he might have pointed out an unintended but unwelcome consequence. Plato often had his interlocutor raise objections that would have been raised by an opponent if he were present. Plato often had his discussants engage dialectical material; for example, by confronting standard objections and alternative viewpoints. Thus, in Book II of the Republic, after the discussion with Thrasymachus, Adeimantus said: First, I will state what is commonly held about the nature of justice and its origin; secondly, I shall maintain that it is always practiced with reluctance, . . . and thirdly, that this reluctance is reasonable, because the life of injustice is much the better life of the twoso people say. This is not what I think myself, Socrates; only I am bewildered by all that Thrasymachus and every so many others have dinned into my ears . . . (358B) I call this material the dialectical tier; the illative core of Plato's arguments is furnished in later chapters of the Republic. In this way, the practice of argumentation as embodied in Plato's dialogues exhibits the contents of what I call the dialectical tier and also the character of rationality. Thus, the exoteric work of Plato and the esoteric work of Aristotle exhibit the essential features of the practice of argumentation and the essential ingredients of the conception of argument I wish to present: the illative core, the dialectical tier, and manifest rationality. These ideas are further developed later this chapter. An Afterthought: Why No History of Argumentation? As already noted, there does not now exist a history of argumentation. Why is this? I suspect that part of the reason has to do with what I called, in chapter 4, the mathematicization of logic. As long as it is thought that inference, argument, and implication are pretty much the same thing, and that these are all subject matters of logic, then because there are quite a few histories of logic, that means there are histories of argument.9 9 Important histories of logic are: Bochenski (1961), Kneale and Kneale (1962), Prior (1962). Nye's (1990) work is more critical than historical, but important and interesting. None of them accorded any primacy to argumentation.

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If I attempt to look into the history of the practice of argumentation, I immediately encounter an important question: What is this to be a history of? What gets counted as argumentation? There is a difficult conceptual issue here. For Finocchiaro (1980), Galileo's Dialogues represent a paradigm of argumentation. This is probably a safe call, yet it illustrates how interwoven are the conceptual and the empirical issues. If I am going to study argumentation in its historical setting (an empirical study), I must have recourse to some pretheoretic intuition of what to count as argumentation. Finocchiaro addressed this question without actually defining argumentation. His approach was ostensive. He would include Plato's Republic in his empirical study of argumentationand I agreeand he would exclude works of poetry and fictionand again, I agree. Finocchiaro would disqualify Descartes' Meditations on the grounds of its being too narrowly philosophical, and he would include, as already mentioned, Galileo's Dialogues (I'm not sure about this) and "selections of judicial opinions of bodies like the United States Supreme Court" (pp. 8283). I have some difficulty with these latter examples. There is a kind of discourse that might be called scientific argument, yet the core of scientific activity is certainly not to be found there but rather in the construction, elaboration, justification, and revision of scientific theory. The role that argumentation plays in this activity is unclear to me. As for legal argumentation, the problem is, as I showed in chapter 2, that there is no one thing called legal argumentation. There are the arguments that the lawyer presents to the judge, the arguments that the judge reviews, the argument that he writes in delivering his decision, the argument that lawyer must use to persuade the client, and so forth. Although there are resemblances between the argumentation in the courtroom (an adversarial context) and regular argument, there are also important differences. Reasoning in the adversarial context does not seem to obey a fundamental principle of argumentation: The strength of the better reasoning, and nothing else, shall determine the outcome. This is not always so in the realm of legal argument, where, for example, the skills of the barrister, the rhetorical presence, the strategy used in selecting the jury, cross-examination skills, a superior information base, the advocate's shrewdnessany or all of these may play a greater role in determining the outcome than the force of the advocate's reasoning. In sum, although I agree with Finocchiaro about the usefulness of studying reasoning and argumentation empirically; that is, historically; the way in which the empirical and conceptual strands come together here presents the investigator with considerable challenges. Such challenges are the material with which a theory of reasoning must reckon, and it is one of the contentions of this book that just such a theory is needed. Back to the question at issue: As long as logicians continue to think of argument as essentially a structure, without taking into account the pur-

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pose(s) of that structure, it will not be possible to write such a history. This brief detour through the history of thinking about the practice of argumentation has indicated that in practice, arguments consist of more than an illative core. There is also something called the dialectical tier. But no theory of analysis that I am aware of makes explicit provision for such dialectical material.10 These remarks indicate the importance of a new theory of analysis and in the next section, I begin to construct one. A New Framework for the Theory of Analysis Thus far I have argued that the traditional, dominant approach that sees argument essentially in structural terms is too limited and requires fortification (See Johnson, 1992a). The aim of this section is to present such a conceptualization of argument. I do this by situating the argument within the wider context of the practice of argumentation. Up to now, I have been using the term "argument(ation)," because I wanted to establish in the reader's mind the importance of their connection, of seeing argument within the context of argumentation. The time has come to sort things out. In chapter 4, I argued that one of the principal defects in current ways of conceptualizing argument is that these tend to be structural in character, ignoring the purpose(s) of argument. But that is really only part of the story. We are accustomed now to distinguishing between argument as process and argument as product (O'Keefe, 1982). But we should not stop there. To develop an adequate understanding of argument, we must situate it within the practice of argumentation, which includes as components (a) the process of arguing, (b) the agents engaged in the practice (the arguer and the Other), and (c) the argument itself as a product. I now provide my account of each of these components. The Practice of Argumentation To understand the product that we call an argument, it is necessary to situate it within its proper context: the practice of argumentation. By this, I mean to refer to the sociocultural activity of constructing, presenting, and criticizing and revising arguments. This activity cannot be understood as the activity of any individual or group of individuals but rather must be understood within the network of customs, habits, and activities of the broader society that gives birth to it, which continues to maintain it and 10 It has been argued that Toulmin's theory does make room for such material.

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that the practice serves. Hence, my understanding of practice is quite close to MacIntyre's (1981): By a "practice," I am going to mean any coherent and complex form of socially established cooperative human activity through which goods internal to that form of activity area realized in the course of trying to achieve those standards of excellence which are appropriate to, and partially definitive of, that form of activity, with the result that human powers to achieve excellence, and human conceptions of the ends and goods involved, are systematically extended. (p. 175) The activity here is, of course, the activity of constructing and responding to arguments. The goods internal to that activity are generally an increase in rationality and specifically a deeper understanding, andor being rationally persuaded, andor coming closer to an acceptable position. The important question that needs to be dealt with is, "What are the standards of excellence that are definitive of this activity?" I deal with that question in the next chapter. Consider, for illustrative purposes, the practice of exchanging gifts at Christmas. This practice exists in North America but not, say, in the Republic of China. To say that something is a practice is not to say that all members of the society engage in it, nor indeed that all members necessarily approve of or support it. It is to say, rather, that a shared understanding exists that at a particular time of the year, the exchanging of gifts between family, friends, and associates is commonplace. (Some Christians believe that the celebration of Christmas has become too materialistic and commercialized and so oppose it; for most members of the Jewish faith, the celebration is seen as inherently Christian and, hence, they simply opt out.) Typically, there are no written rules to govern the practice but, rather, a shared understanding that allows for significant variation in how people actually work it out. All of this is quite in line with calling this a practice. One result of there being this practice is that these activities receive their intelligibility within the practice; they do not require further explanation. Generally speaking, I do not have to explain why I am going shopping for my sister on December 23rd other than to say, "I don't have anything for her for Christmas." The practice of argumentation is a rich intellectual practice that exists in some, but not all, cultures. It exists in North American culture but not all other cultures. It probably does not appear in so-called primitive cultures, like that of the Tasaday. My approach largely agrees with Habermas' (1991) way of marking the distinction between argumentation and argument:

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We use the term argumentation for that type of speech in which the participants thematize contested validity claims and attempt to vindicate or criticize them through arguments. An argument contains reasons or grounds that are connected in a systematic way with the validity claim of a problematic expression. (p. 18) The main difference is that Habermas' approach seems focused on speech. Although my approach acknowledges the reality of oral argumentation, its dominant concern remains with the written text. The reason for this orientation stems from my belief that whereas the oral argument precedes written argument both in sociocultural and personal history, written argument is the most stable form of argument and therefore a more suitable candidate as the foundation of the practice.11 Walton (1990b), on the other hand, saw no point in distinguishing between argumentation and argument, stating, ''Such a pragmatic perspective suggests a new way of defining argument to make it co-extensive with argumentation. The only difference between the two is one of connotation" (p. 410). On the contrary, I believe I have at least one good reason for distinguishing the practice of argumentation from its product. I want to separate the normative issues that surround the practice of argumentation from those that surround the process of arguing, and both of those in turn from issues that concern the product. The Process of Arguing Within the practice, the crucial role is played by the process of arguinga specific type of interchange between two or more participants. In the typical interchange, there is a difference in point of view that has crystallized around an issue and one of the participants. The arguer is attempting to persuade the Other of the truth of the thesis being advocated. This process may occur in a variety of formats. The process may unfold in episodes: X is having an argument with Y about the advisability of Z. This process may take place in a confined and quite restricted way, as when X and Y argue on May 5, 1991 for about 30 minutes, come to a resolution, and move on. Or the process may extend over a long period of time, as, for example, philosophical arguments tend to do. Even today, philosophers are engaged in the process of arguing with Plato, who has been dead for over 2,000 years. (Here is one reason for making written arguments the foundation of my approach; if there were only spoken arguments, then ready access to Plato's arguments would not exist.) Thus, the process of arguing has its own mode of temporality. Arguments can go on for months, years, even 11 Govier rightly understood my reasons for taking written argument as the focus. See her Preface in Johnson (1996).

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centuries. Nor does the process preclude other episodes in which other arguers get into the process. But there is more to the process than merely the arguer trying to convince the Other of the truth of his thesis. Walton (1990b) referred to "the global process of defending and criticizing a thesis" (p. 410). This "global process" of arguing includes the arguer's attempt to support or defend a thesis. It also includes the response by the Other, which will typically take the form of introducing objections to or criticisms of the argument. To engage in the process by putting forth an argument is implicitly to ask for a response from other participants, a response that will take the form of criticism. Stated another way, anyone who put forth an argument and expected that the audience would accept it without question, without careful inspection and challenge, would display shocking ignorance of the real nature of the practice. There are limits to the form that the criticism may take and I have more to say about this later. The point here is that the process of arguing includes, by its very nature, feedback from the Other. Nor does the process of arguing end there. Also included as part of the process must be the response by the arguer to those objections and criticisms, as well as any revisions made by the arguer. In other words, the process of arguing is an unfolding dynamic in which the arguer puts forth an argument, the Other responds, the arguer responds, now the Other may respond again and so on, until they agree to stop. (An important benefit of the pragmatic approach is that it makes evident that criticism and revision are both internal to the process of arguing. They are not externalities that may or may not happen; they are not supererogatory efforts on the part of the participants; they are integral parts of the process of arguing.) The Agent(s) As was clear in our discussion of the process, arguing involves two participants; or if you prefer, it has two poles and the process takes place between those poles. I now focus on these two poles. The arguer may be viewed as the participant in the practice who initiates the process by producing an argument. There is little more that needs to be said about the arguer for the moment. However, the arguer is only half the story because the very nature of the process requires that there be an Other whose response to the argument is internal to the process of arguing. The process is incomplete without this Other, who we ultimately call the critic. It may be the case that the same individual plays the role of both arguer and critic. The arguer puts forward an argument, then steps back and criticizes it; if the arguer is too demanding, (s)he will not get very far in the process; if the arguer is too lenient, the argument will not stand its own

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against criticism. Certainly, it will often be useful for the arguer to direct his or her argument to the Other. The role of the Other goes beyond the ontological level. If the arguer is to be successful, the argument must be appraised by the Other and pass scrutiny. An argument depends on the Other for its success and well-being. To understand this, we must go back to the practice of argumentation and be reminded of its purpose(s). The fundamental purpose, although admittedly not the only one, is to arrive at the truth about some issue. The practice exists because everyone realizes that to achieve that goal, they need to reason; they need to give reasons and then access them. But it is also known full well that intellectual imaginations may be limited, that there may be a failure to see certain limitations in the arguments produced. In eagerness, certain items of evidence may be overrated and others may be underrated or ignored. And it does not matter how fertile imaginations are; there will be objections that cannot be imagined or anticipated. These are the limitations for which the Other can compensate. Hence the importance of criticism (as opposed to mere evaluation) and the opportunity for the arguer to revise the argument. Consider the following points. Perhaps nowhere is the practice of argumentation more central than in philosophy. Philosophers are notoriously selfcritical.12 It is a regular part of their mode of argumentation that they anticipate and ward off objections. But very few have been able to be such strong critics of their arguments as to have seen the need to move away from them altogether as a result of the criticism. That is to say, philosophers abandon their positions with great reluctance. The instinct is to modify the argument to deal with the objection, or to show why the criticism is not apt. I can think of only two philosophers whose imagination and intellect were strong enough to allow them to generate the seeds of destruction of their own theories. The two figures are Plato and Wittgenstein, both of whose philosophical thought underwent a significant shift (as opposed to revision or modification) as a result of their own criticisms. Yet, even here I suspect that their own ability to be self-critical must have been nurtured by active interchange with critical Others, (Plato by Aristotle; Wittgenstein by Russell and Ramsey). As a collectivity, then, and as a result of joint efforts, a deeper understanding or a truer position may be reached as a result of criticism. In fact, however, this result will occur only if some participant gets the ball rolling, as it were, by advocating some thesis and rationally attempting to persuade Others of its truth. Thus, the agent of the argumentthe arguercannot really be understood as apart from the receiver of the argumentthe Other. Both are essential 12 For an interesting treatment of this aspect of argument, see Adler (1994).

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participants in the process, and both have an active role to play. I have more to say about both in chapter 7, when I discuss the normative constraints on the agents. Argument as the Product of the Practice Finally, then, we come to the argument itself, best represented as the product (or the distillate) of the process. At a certain point in the process, the arguer distils elements from what has transpired in the process and encodes them in the form of an argument. It may be set forth in either speech or text. This encoding may well be a provisional move, in order to receive criticism in order to make the argument stronger. Or it may be that the arguer now believes (s)he can achieve the objective of rational persuasion of the Other with this product. In any event, the product comes out of the process and bears its imprint, as offspring tend to do. "As the twig is bent, so the tree is inclined." This is an apt preliminary description of the product called argument. I can provide a deeper insight into it by focusing my attention on the practice of argumentation and at its salient characteristics. (Clearly, not all arguments will embody all the features of the process. My conceptualization of argument must recognize this fact.) For it is not really possible to achieve this deeper understanding of the product without a fuller, deeper appreciation of the practice of which it is the product. Fundamental Characteristics of Argumentation The practice of argumentation is characterized by three features it is important to understand if I am to fully explain what an argument is. Argumentation as Teleological To understand any practice, we need to take into consideration first of all its purpose. As mentioned earlier, I view the purpose of rational persuasion as the fundamental purpose of argumentation. The emphasis here is on rational means, for I know that there are other methods. Indeed, the practice of majority rule is just such a practice. It says that the verdict of the majority shall stand as the verdict of the whole. It is one way to achieve closure on an issue. This is certainly an efficient method and, in that sense, a rational one. But the idea behind the practice of argumentation, as I understand it,

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is not to produce consensus or reach closure no matter what but rather to achieve consensus in which the parties agree that the strength of the better reasoning, and that alone, has determined the outcome. Now it is time to consider the impact of this feature of argumentation on the nature and structure of argument. As I said earlier, the standard way of defining an argument is structural in character. An argument is defined as a form of discourse with a certain structure typically portrayed as premises leading to a conclusion. Because rational persuasion is the telos, participants in the practice recognize that any claim made must be supported by reasons or evidence of some sort. (Reasons and evidence are not the sameevidence could include physical objects, studies, and such.) In the first instance, an argument appears as a premiseconclusion structure: Reasons are produced to justify a target proposition, which is the conclusion. This is the first tier, what I called the illative core of the argument. But there is more to the story. Because the arguer's purpose is rational persuasion, a second tier is required as well. Why? I have shown that the practice of argumentation presupposes a background of controversy. The first tier (the illative core) is meant to initiate the process of converting Others, winning them over to the arguer's position. But they will not easily be won over, nor should they be, if they are rational. The participants know that there will likely be objections to the arguer's premises. Indeed, the arguer must know this, so it is typical that the arguer will attempt to anticipate and defuse such objections within the course of the argument. If the arguer does not deal with the objections and criticisms, then to that degree, the argument is not going to satisfy the dictates of rationality; more precisely, to that very degree the argument falls short of what is required in terms of structurenever mind the content; that is, the adequacy of the response to those objections. For those at whom it is directed, those who know and care about the issue, will be aware that the argument is open to objections from those who disagree with its reasons, conclusion, andor reasoning. Hence, if the arguer wishes to persuade Others rationally, the arguer is obligated to take account of these objections and opposing points of view. To ignore them, not to mention them, or to suppress themthese could hardly be considered the moves of someone engaged in the process of rational persuasion; thus, the process of argumentation must include a seconddialecticaltier in which objections and criticisms are dealt with. We are now in a position to appreciate the connection between the teleological aspect of argumentation and the next feature I want to discuss: its dialectical nature. Because the practice exists to achieve rational persuasion of the Other as a rational agent, the practice must also be dialectical. Thus, the second feature of the practice of argumentation comes to the fore.

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Argumentation as Dialectical To say that argumentation is a dialectical practice is almost a platitude. And yet I believe that the force of this all-toofamiliar characterization has not been fully appreciated. The root meaning of dialectical is dialoguea logos (which I take to mean "reasoned discourse") that is between two (or more) people.13 That requires more than just speech between two parties because as we all know, such talking may be nothing more than a monologue conducted in the presence of another. Genuine dialogue requires not merely the presence of the Other, or speech between the two, but the real possibility that the logos of the Other will influence one's own logos. An exchange is dialectical when, as a result of the intervention of the Other, one's own logos (discourse, reasoning, or thinking) has the potential of being affected in some way. Specifically, the arguer agrees to let the feedback from the Other affect the product. The arguer consents to take criticism and to take it seriously. Indeed, the arguer not only agrees to take it when it comes, as it typically does, (s)he may actually solicit it. In this sense, argumentation is a (perhaps even the), dialectical process par excellence. If (as is likely) the arguer now modifies that argument as a result of the intervention by the Other, the result is an improved producta better argument. The intervention of the Other is thereby seen to lead to the improvement of the product. It has become a better argument, a more rational product. Thus do these first two features of argumentationits being rational and dialecticalnot only reinforce each other, they lead to discussion of the final feature of the practicemanifest rationality. Argumentation as Manifest Rationality Connections between the practice of argumentation and rationality are strong and multiple, as I stated in chapter 1. When I discussed the nature of rationality and its connection with argumentation, I was content to follow Siegel (1988) in the belief that no instrumental theory of rationality would be adequate for my purposes. Nor can I offer further clarification here regarding the nature of rationality. I must bypass the fascinating theoretical debates about the nature of rationality and simply say that rationality can be understood as the disposition to, and the action of, using, giving, andor acting on the basis of reasons.14 13 I want to thank Robert Binkley of the University of Western Ontario for pointing out an error in an earlier version of this section. 14 This is from the perspective of Habermas' view that there are three kinds of rationality: instrumental, practical and theoretical. My view would be that the kind of rationality both presupposed and in turn furthered by argument is theoretical rationality.

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I now discuss several aspects of the connection between argumentation and rationality. Argumentation Embraces Rationality. To engage in the practice, the participants must embrace and endorse and to some degree cherish rationality. There are so many other ways of handling the business of rational processing: putting one's trust in an authority, intuition, speculation, and so forth. (Not to mention the two greatest and most prominent onesforce and fear.) Each of these has some degree of rationality associated with it. It is rational to take some matters on authority because no one can undertake to learn everything from the bottom up. Fear can be rational, as when it is based on an accurate reading of the real situation. The fear that keeps tourists away from dangerous parts of a city at night is a rational fear. Yet each also cuts away from rationality, often at the crucial moment. If authorities disagree or if your authority is silent on the issue, what then? Argumentation, on the other hand, shares with other rational processeslike proving and theorizingthe requirement that nothing be accepted but what is shown to have reason behind it. Argumentation Depends on Mutual Rationality. It may be true that animals are rational and draw inferences. But there is no reliable evidence that any form of animal life engages in the practice of argumentation as it has been described here. There is no evidence that one dolphin assumes the role of the arguer while another takes on the role of the critic. Dolphin culture reveals no traces or deposits of actual arguments. The kind of rationality that argumentation depends on is at once human (there is no evidence of its existence elsewhere) and mutual (it requires a partner who is also rational). Argumentation Increases Rationality. As a result of engaging in the practice, the participants are more rational and the amount of rationality in the world has increased. The arguer and the critic have each exercised reasoning powers. If the critic has found a problem in the argument, then the arguer, having seen and accepted this criticism, is now in a better, more rational, position with respect to the issue addressed in the argument. If the critic's objections have been found wanting, then the arguer will have to have exercised his reasoning powers to show this, and his position will, to that degree, be more rational, having warded off objections. This rationality increases with each succeeding episode. As a result of each instance of the practice of argumentation, then, the world becomes a slightly more rational place. Argumentation Exhibits Rationality. It is not just that the participants embrace rationality, which they might do secretly but not publicly. No, the participants in the practice exhibit what it is to be rational. To give reasons;

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to weigh objections; to revise over them or to reject themall of this describes a vintage performance of rationality. The arguer acknowledges that there are objections and problems with the position, as contrasted with the rhetor (see next section) or the dogmatist, neither of whom will make this concession. The critic acknowledges that there is rationality in the arguer's position. Thus, I might think of argumentation as a prize exhibit of rationality. Argumentation and Rhetoric. To clarify what I have in mind, it may be helpful to compare and contrast the rhetor with the arguer with respect to the role that rationality plays for each of them. The rhetorthe agent in a speech act situationis certainly rational, for the rhetor must use reason and reasons to shape his message to the audience and other constraints such as time and place. How does the rhetor differ from the arguer? Rationality cannot distinguish them. Although rationality is internal to and constitutive of the practice of argumentation, the same can be said about rhetoric. Rationality is, in effect, the glue that binds both practices together. What separates rhetoric from argumentation is that the latter is bound by the requirement of manifest rationality. The arguer cannot ignore objections to his argument, even if it is not known how to forestall them, because it would not appear to be rational and so it would violate the requirement of manifest rationality. The rhetor is under no such constraint: If ignoring the objection will lead to a more effective communication, and if doing so is rational, then the objection can be ignored. Manifest Rationality. To say that the practice of argumentation is characterized by manifest rationality is to say that it is patently and openly rational. To whom? To the participants, whether they be arguer, critic, or those interested in the issue. They agree to do nothing that would compromise either the substance or the appearance of rationality. In many ways, this is analogous to the way that the ideal of justice is prized by those who support the legal system. Not only are these persons committed to the pursuit of justice, they are also committed that in this pursuit, the appearance of justice be clear. A judge who might be entirely fair-minded but who enjoys an association with one of the appellants must disqualify her- or himself because to remain would compromise the very appearance of impartiality required of the judge. If justice alone were the goal, the judge might well remain on the bench, for (s)he might well be fully capable of distancing her- or himself from those representing the form and dispensing justice fairly. But this course of action does not serve the appearance of justice. This additional consideration, this clothing of rationality, is what makes argumentation more than just an exercise in rationality. Manifest rationality is why the arguer is obligated to respond to objections and criticisms from

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others and not ignore them or sweep them under the carpet. It is not just that to do so would not be rational or would not be in keeping with the spirit of the practice. It is that it would be an obvious violation of itand it would be seen to be such. Thus, to put the matter somewhat strangely, it would not only not be rational; it would not look rational. Further, the requirement of manifest rationality explains why the arguer must respond even to criticisms that are believed (or known) to be misguided. If the arguer were obligated only by the dictates of rationality (rather than those of manifest rationality), then this person can well afford to ignore the criticism, as indeed the rhetor can. It is in this matter of dealing with criticisms, then, that the arguer and the rhetor part company. The rhetor may know of serious objections to the thesis and to the discourse and may or may not choose to include reference to these in the discourse. One could not accuse him of any lapse of rationality if the rhetor failed to do so. But if the arguer fails to deal with well-known objections, this is a serious lapse. Thus, participants in the practice of argumentation not only exercise their rationality but they need to be seen to be so doing.15 Conclusion I have argued that argumentation is characterized by these features that are, it is clear, intimately related. Because argumentation is a teleological practice that aims at rational persuasion, it must be dialectical; because argumentation is both rational and dialectical, it must be manifestly rational. With these characteristics in hand, I can now turn to the task of developing a deeper understanding of the nature of argument. Rethinking the Nature of Argument If the previous account is anywhere near the target, certain modifications in how we understand the concept of argument appear warranted. First, we should adopt an approach that recognizes the need for not just the illative core but also the dialectical tier. Second, we need to understand that the illative core is not well represented by the (P + I) model. 15 To use a parallel, in his discussion of the theory of names, Evans (1991) wrote, "Intentions alone don't bring it about that a name gets a designation; without the intentions being manifest there cannot be the common knowledge required for the practice" (p. 304). In the same spirit, I would argue that the idea of rationality alone cannot illuminate the practice of argumentation; without the rationality being manifest, there cannot be the common knowledge required for the practice. Thus, participants in the practice of argumentation not only exercise their rationality but they need to be seen to be so doing.

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The Illative Core and Dialectical Tier From the vantage point of the current proposal, there are three important limitations in the traditional, logical ways of approaching the definition of an argument. The first limitation is that the definition is structural rather than functional. That point has been discussed sufficiently. The second limitation is the failure to give adequate representation of the dialectical character of argumentation. I need to say more about that. From what has been said, it becomes clear why the structure of an argument must be more complex than the traditional conception envisages. In that conception, an argument is a set of reasons that support a target assertion, what others call the premises in support of a conclusion. The requirements of manifest rationality make it obligatory that, if I wish to persuade you of the truth or the acceptability of some thesisstatement and wish to do so in accordance with the dictates of rationality, recognizing your rationality, then I must give reasons. Thus there is ample justification for the illative core of argumentation. It consists of the reasons the arguer has advanced in support of the conclusion; what others call the premises of the argument. The interesting questions become, "Is this enough? Does providing a set of reasons for a conclusion satisfy the requirements of argumentation as manifestly rational?" My answer is "No." Although the arguer has given reasons or evidence for his conclusion, in this dialectical situation, that is not enough. The Other who one wishes to persuadeand I eventually discuss the character of the Other to understand this process thoroughlyalready knows that there are objections to the argument, whether to the thesistarget assertion, the reasons supporting it, or both. Realizing this, the arguer, who we are supposing is rational, is under a rational obligation to address these dialectical dimensions: alternative positions, and standard objections. This material forms the second tier of the argument, the dimension I call the dialectical tier. As indicated earlier, the notion of the dialectical tier as an essential part of any argument has long been recognized in the practice of argumentation. Philosophers and others for whom argumentation is the principal methodology routinely include in their own arguments a section in which they voice and then deal with objections to their position. In fact, when students are taught to argue, they are advised to consider possible objections. Thus, Meiland (1980), Solomon (1989), and Johnson and Blair (1993) all advised that the arguer consider possible objections. The interesting point is that although their instruction in practice includes reference to what I call the dialectical tier, the theories they advocated do not include any such reference. Solomon advised the student to "anticipate objections to your position and your argument and take the offensive against rival positions" (p. xiii),

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but when he later discussed logic and the standards of argument, Solomon was content to repeat the orthodox position and made no mention at all of the requirements of the dialectical tier. More about this gap between theory and practice in chapter 12. About the dialectical tier, it will be asked, ''Which objections must the arguer deal with? How many must the arguer deal with? And what form must that dealing take?" Clearly, the arguer cannot be expected to deal with all of the possible andor actual objections. So how does one specify which ones? I call this The Specification Problem, and I have more to say about it in chapter 11. In practice, many arguments consist of the first tier onlythe illative core. That is only to be expected because often, those engaged in the practice are casual rather than dedicated participants. What I mean by that is they argue on occasion; it is not their life-blood. If, on the other hand, we look to the best practices of those who have the most at stake in this process, philosophers and logicians and others who have a vested interest in this practice, we will find that their arguments almost always take account of the standard objections. They realize that to establish their own positions in an intellectually satisfactory way, they will have to do so by discharging their dialectical obligations. Arguments with a dialectical tier are found in nonacademic discourse as well: Remember my second example in chapter 2. Objections to the arguments of others on the grounds that they contain dialectical lapses, although not common, may still be encountered. Here is one in a letter to the editor of The Atlantic Monthly (1994), in which the writer is criticizing an earlier article by Fish: "The argument has tremendous emotional power but will not stand up to intellectual criticism because of its unwarranted assumptions [which the writer now identifies] . . . Moreover Fish doesn't deal with a number of other arguments against affirmative action." The critic here is complaining that Fish's argument is deficient in the dialectical tier; it does not do a good enough job of dealing with other positions. Clearly, then, if we wish to conceptualize the structure of argumentation adequately, we need at least these two dimensions: both an illative core and a dialectical tier. For if we have only the illative core, we are left wondering how this arguer proposes, with this argumentative material, to deal with the objections that must be addressed. The argument is, as it were, unfinished, incomplete. The same would be true if the arguer dealt only with the objections and failed to give us the illative core. Even if the arguer can handle the objections, we still want to know what reasons he proposes to justify the conclusion. The argument as it stands is unfinished, incomplete. Finally, I turn to a discussion of a third limitation of the traditional view in the way in which the illative core has been understood, what I call the (P + I) model, the view that an argument should be seen as consisting of a

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set of premises, plus an inference from them to the conclusion. The inference is typically represented as a bridge or a link from the premises to the conclusion. Why do I propose discarding the (P + I) model?16 For three reasons. First, this model promotes the tendency to confuse inference with argument, or perhaps even to equate them because, on this model, inference is a part of an argument and so is hard wired into its very being. Second, this model has led to the search for a type of inference appropriate for real argumentsa type less strong than a deductive linkage and also less strong than inductive. This quest has led some, Hitchcock (1983) and Govier (1987) to name but two, to embrace the notion of conductive inference, following Wellman (1971). I gave reasons in chapter 4 for questioning whether conductive inference can really be called a type of inference at all. Now, if we abandon the idea that an argument is composed of a set of premises plus the inference from them to the conclusion, then we no longer have to provide an account of inference. This in turn will help keep the boundaries between inference and argument distinct. Third, if on the (P + I) model we admit the existence of missing premises, the distinction between premises and inference can be challenged. Either we block the idea that there are missing premises, or it seems we may be forced to admit that the distinction between premise and inference is unsuccessful. But, the question will be asked, with what do you propose to replace the (P + I) model? My answer is that everything we need to understand the structure of argument is available to us in the notion that an argument consists of reasons put forth as rational support for the thesis. To understand the structure of the argument is to get clear on which reasons are offered as support for the thesis; to evaluate that structure, it will be sufficient to ask whether these reasons provide rational support for this thesis. To answer that question, as I explain in the next chapter, no mention need be made to an inference from the reasons to the thesis, or the premises to the conclusion. A Revised Definition of Argument Accordingly, I propose the following as a better way to conceptualize argument: 16 Toulmin also proposed abandoning the premiseconclusion terminology. In his model, the role of inference is replaced with the notion of a warrant. He developed his own way of conceptualizing the structure. The question will then be asked, "Why not just adopt that approach?" In my view, not only are there inherent problems with Toulmin's theory of structure (see Johnson, 1981b, for my account of them), but as was indicated in chapter 2, I also have reservations about adequacy of the jurisprudential model on which this approach is based.

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An argument is a type of discourse or textthe distillate of the practice of argumentationin which the arguer seeks to persuade the Other(s) of the truth of a thesis by producing the reasons that support it. In addition to this illative core, an argument possesses a dialectical tier in which the arguer discharges his dialectical obligations. Some Reflections on the Definition Note that this definition: 1. makes reference to purpose, with the notion of structure in a secondary role; 2. emphasizes argument as part of the practice of argumentation; 3. makes no reference to premises and conclusion; and 4. includes the dialectical tier within the definition. In the next section, I take account of some of the objections that will be raised. As I said at the outset, I am clear that the definition is stipulative; it is my recommendation about how we should understand and define the term. Let me fill out that idea a bit more here so that it is clear what I am proposing. I suppose that the term "argument" has a wide range of application; that there is a spectrum to which it applies. As Fig. 6.1 illustrates, the central part of the spectrum is occupied by the notion of argument I have introduced and that other specimens (like scientific theory and proof) are arguments in a secondary or derivative sense.17 A better way of understanding what I propose is this: Take "argument" to be a term whose meaning is best grasped neither as the essentialist would have us understand it nor yet as the Wittgensteinian would have us, but rather as the spectral theorist, according to whom certain terms are best understood as a kind of penumbraa center and wings. What I am attempting to do here is address the issue of how the center is understood. The sense of the term ''argument" that I am concerned with and am focusing on here is that which occupies the center of the spectrum. Perhaps we shall call a scientific theory an argument, an advertisement an argument, or a proof an argument. All these attributions make some sense, but that sense has to be unpacked in terms of clear center. My claim is that such a clear understanding of the center has been lacking since logic, which had hitherto been strongly connected with argumentation, became mathematicized. The informal logic movement can be seen as one 17 My understanding is that recent work in linguistics, especially in concept development, has strongly recommended some such model as this; that is, that a child learns the meaning of the term "dog" by being given cases at the center of the spectrum and gradually learning to extend it to other uses. See Keil (1989).

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Fig. 6.1 Range of application of the term "argument." attempt to free logic from those constraints and recover part of what was lostin effect to recover the center. I have just given a definition of argument that I believe is not open to the criticisms of the standard traditional definitions. But that definition, as well as the argument that one is needed, are both open to objections. By my own account, if my argument is to be complete, I have dialectical obligations of my own to deal with. I turn to those matters now. Objections and Replies There are objections to this definition and to the approach I have outlined, chiefly to the idea that in order for a piece of reasoning or discourse to qualify as an argument, it needs more than just the illative core; it requires a dialectical tier. I want to consider and respond to some of those objections here. Objection #1. Your fortified definition of argument is too restrictive. It means that many examples of reasoning classified as arguments by the traditional account will not be classified as such under your definition, merely because of the absence of a dialectical tier.18 Response. Let me deal first with the spirit that animates this objection, and then with the substantive point it raises. The spirit behind this type of objection seems to be a desire to preserve the traditional understanding of an argument as essentially a premiseconclusion structure. But when we understand more fully the background of this tradition, how it became enmeshed with a particular program for logic and philosophy (chap. 4), and how it is at odds with best practice, it seems to me there is ample reason for revising the tradition, or reconstructing it, rather than maintaining it as is. And that is the spirit that motivates my approach to these matters. 18 This objection is due to Blair and many others (Gilbert, Weddle, and Paul), who find my approach restrictive and out of step with the tradition and the practice.

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Some specimens that are presented as paradigms of argument in the traditional view would no longer be able to claim that status. But let me show what this revision entails by taking as an example a specimen from the tradition that would be acknowledged as an argument: If Argentina boycotts the alliance, then Bolivia will withdraw. If Bolivia withdraws, then Chile will also. Therefore if Argentina boycotts the alliance, Chile will also. Traditionalists will want to call this an argument, and perhaps proceed to evaluate and or criticize it, whereas I would not classify this as a paradigm case of argument. What will my response then be? I would certainly not ignore it. I would say this reasoning might represent the ground floor of an argument but that it lacks a dialectical tier. The arguer needs to complete it by showing how (s)he intends to handle certain objections. As it stands, my suggestion would then be to classify this reasoning as an implication and evaluate it according to the standards of formal deductive logic. What my position comes down to, then, is that the central case of "argument" is the entire structure composed of the illative core and the dialectical tier that has emerged in my investigation. I propose that this will be understood as the paradigm case of argument, the sense of the term over which policy is made, particularly policies regarding argument evaluation and criticism. (To avoid confusion, a term like "proto-argument" might be used to apply to what has traditionally been called an argument; i.e., reasoning consisting of the illative core alone. In 1993, Johnson & Blair used the term "proto-argument" to refer to "an attempt to persuade rationally by giving reasons for some claim, one which lacks a clear structure . . . " (323). The only correction I would suggest is that adding the words "or complete'' after "clear.") But we need not go that far; we can simply understand that a piece of reasoning containing only what I have called the illative core is an argument in a derivative sense; it does not occupy the central part of the spectrum. A cartoon that is reconstructed as an illative core may also be considered an argument in this extended sense, presumably because in that case, it can be seen that there has been an attempt at rational persuasion. To the question, "What, then, does your theory recommend we do with respect to those arguments that lack the dialectical tier?" I am suggesting that they be viewed as incomplete products, as works in progress, and be treated accordingly. In some cases, the author would be asked to rework it, whereas in others, one might as well make some critical remarks about the illative core. It is true that my approach may appear to be upping the ante, for I am stressing that the construction and presentation of an argument be understood as an intellectual enterprise. Unlike inference, which is typically spon-

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taneous and natural, there is nothing at all natural about argumentation. In this respect, argumentation resembles the activity of scientific theorizing and the construction of a scientific theory. Kuhn (1962) called attention to about how rare it is to find civilizations that support a scientific culture: Every civilization of which we have records has possessed a technology, an art, a religion, a political system, laws, and so on. In many cases those facets of civilization have been as developed as our own. But only the civilizations that descend from Hellenic Greece have possessed more than the most rudimentary science. The bulk of scientific knowledge is a product of Europe of the last four centuries. No other place and time has supported the very special communities from which scientific productivity comes. (pp. 166167) There is something rare about communities that support argumentation, and my definition attempts to show how very special the practice of argumentation is.19 One final question: "But what about those cases where the arguer is setting forth a novel argument to which there are not as yet any objections or criticisms to take account of? Here it appears that your definition cannot be satisfied and, yet, surely one wants to make room for such reasoning." My answer is that in constructing this argument, even if the arguer has not encountered criticisms or objections from others, that the arguer will have encountered in his own thinking some possible objections, and these could be the stuff of the dialectical tier. Objection #2. The dialectical tier is unnecessary. The requirement that the arguer discharge dialectical obligations is an appropriate one, but there are other ways to incorporate this requirement into our theory of analysis. For example, this requirement can be incorporated into the account of sufficiency.20 It could be required that to produce sufficient evidence for the position, the arguer must deal with the dialectical matters. Allen (personal communication, June 1995) suggested one may think of the dialectical tier as a component part of an extended argument, or a case. Govier (1997) suggested that I might want to distinguish between the original argument 19 Having just mentioned scientific theory, a point of comparison comes to mind. There is a loose sense of the word "theory" in which a single thought may lay claim to the status of a theory. But there is also a much more restricted sense of the word "theory" (as it is used in science) in which the construction of a theory requires a great deal of work. The loose sense is ultimately derived from the strict sense of theorya scientific or philosophical or mathematical theory. (Matthies, whose training as an undergraduate was in physics, once relayed to me how startled he was to discover how glibly philosophers tossed around the term ''theory".) 20 See Blair and Johnson (1987) for an elaboration of this approach.

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and the supplementary arguments in which the arguer discharges these dialectical obligations. Response. It seems to me that the ground that separates my position from that behind the objectors is about the means to achieve an end, and that we agree about the endthe need for an arguer to respond to objections and criticisms. The alternatives suggested here are reasonable. In Blair's approach, an argument without a dialectical tier becomes a bad argument because it fails to satisfy the sufficiency requirement. In Allen's view, the argument without a dialectical tier is an argument, but it is not an extended argument. One problem with Blair's view is that it does not allow us to distinguish conveniently between an argument that takes on objections but does a poor job of it (and therefore is guilty of a hasty conclusionat least of violating the relevance requirement), and an argument that fails to take on objections at all (and therefore is also guilty of violating the sufficiency requirement in a quite different way). Allen's suggestion is also reasonable: to make the dialectical tier a requirement for some larger reasoning calls for an extended argument (or case). Thus, the example on page 170 is an example of an argument but not an extended argument. The problem then becomes in what circumstances is an argument necessary and in what circumstances is an extended argument necessary? In my approach, an argument without a dialectical tier is not an argument. Let me draw an analogy that requires me to switch back for the moment to the conventional (traditional) idea of an argument. Consider the statement that "the argument lacks a conclusion." If this is really what is meant, and not merely that the argument lacks a stated conclusion, then this statement is incoherent (because by definition, an argument has a conclusion) and the making of such a statement means that the speaker has not grasped what an argument is. Likewise, I want to say that a person who says, "this is an argument although the arguer does not address himself to the well-known objection that . . . " is making a statement that is fundamentally incoherent and reveals that the speaker has not really grasped what is involved in argument and has, in some crucial way, failed to understand the very nature of the process of arguing. It may be objected that then it follows that an entire tradition of logic that presented this conception of argument did not really know what an argument was. This does not follow. Those in this tradition certainly know and understand the rich sense of argument that I have put forward, and I am confident that in their practice, this conception is exemplified. But their theoretical adumbration of it is impoverished. And there is good reason why

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this is so: The tradition was more focused on implication than on argument and saw argument through a lens that distorted fundamental aspects of it. Objection #3. Your definition is circular. You define an argument as the distillate of the practice; yet in presenting the practice of argumentation, you make reference to the notion of argument. Response. There may be some circularity, but I do not think it is problematic. I hold that in the order of intelligibility, a grasp of the practice of argumentation must precede an understanding of the real nature of argument. To discuss the practice without mentioning the word argument is scarcely possible. On the other hand, that discussion of the practice does not commit one to any particular definition of argument. The treatment of argument as the product of the practice could support (although perhaps not equally well) the traditional definition as well my own. Hence I do not think my definition is circular in any vicious sense. Objection #4. Your claim that there has not been any representation of the dialectical tier in earlier theories is mistaken. What you call the dialectical tier is similar to what Toulmin called a rebuttal.21 Response. Toulmin's idea of a rebuttal might be extended to cover what I have called the dialectical tier; but as it is introduced (1958), it is much more limited. Here is how Toulmin introduced it: Again it is often necessary in the law-courts, not just to appeal to a given statute or common-law doctrine, but to discuss explicitly the extent to which this particular law fits the case under consideration, whether it must inevitably be applied in this particular case, or whether special facts may make the case an exception to the rule in or one in which the law can be applied only subject to certain qualifications. (p. 101) True, Toulmin did not call these limiting features rebuttal, although from what follows it is evident that this is his intent: If we are to take account of these features of our argument also, our pattern will become more complex. Modal qualifiers (Q) and conditions of exception or rebuttal (R) are distinct both from data and from warrants, and need to be given a special place in our layout. (p. 101) 21 James Freeman and Mark Weinstein raised this objection at a presentation of a preliminary version of this chapter at Sonoma in 1989.

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Fig. 6.2 An example of Toulmin's layout of an argument. In the actual example reproduced from Toulmin (1958; see Fig. 6.2), (R) here stands for the claims "Both his parents were aliens/he has become a naturalized American." It is easy to see how someone who wished to use Toulmin's approach could see, in his concept of a rebuttal, an approximation to what I have called the dialectical tier. The rebuttal is in effect a blocking move by the arguer in which an objection is anticipated: But what if his parents are aliens? Or another one: But what if he has become a naturalized American? In this instance, the arguer concedes the force of these objections and builds protection from them into the rebuttal. However, no matter how closely they may in some cases resemble one another, I hold that there is an important difference between a rebuttal and the dialectical tier. The latter is a broader notion than the former; this narrowness of the conception illustrates, it seems to me, a point I made in chapter 2: that Toulmin paid a price for having chosen a jurisprudential model. Objection #5. This is all just semantics anyway! There is no one thing that the word "argument" means; there are various meanings, various approaches, and the important thing is to understand which one is being dealt with, which is always a matter of context; there is no one approach, no correct meaning. Response. I conceded the force of part of this objection previously when I announced that my definition would be stipulative. I intend this stipulative definition to cover the range of reasoning that is associated with the practice of argumentation, and so I want to be able to make sense of the notion of an emotional argument (Gilbert, 1995) and to include the realization that there are different purposes that can be served by argumentation and by arguments. But if there is a multiplicity of purposes, that does not preclude there being some purpose that is fundamental, and that is the position I have taken here. The purpose of rational persuasion is fundamental. And if it is true that there is a wide range of arguments from proofs at one end to

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joke and threats on the other hand, and I agree that there is sense to this view, still there must be a core or a center, and that is the ground I have sought to define and clarify in my theory of analysis and with this definition. As for the claim that this is "just semantics," I concede that this is semantics in some sense; we are about the work of grasping the meaning. But that this is "just" semantics suggests that somehow such work is trivial; and that is a suggestion that ought to be rejected. The objection might also mean to say that there are other ways to cut the pie. I have not denied that, but with each come certain consequences. In the final analysis, any stipulative definition must be judged by how well it serves us in our intellectual needs. My claim is that the approach I have taken pays important dividends not found in other approaches. I speak more about this at the end of the chapter, but, for one thing, my approach (like others who take this same approach) brings the entire practice of argumentation to the fore and allows me to see more clearly the important, pivotal role of rationalityindeed, manifest rationalityplays here. It shows as well that the dialectical tier is essential, rather than peripheral. More dividends emerge in the next three chapters. Walton on Argument and Reasoning Earlier in this chapter, I alluded to Walton's (1990b) views on argument, and I have been critical of philosophers and logicians for not making a clear distinction between argument and reasoning. Walton cannot be accused of that failure. He set out to differentiate between argument and reasoning. Because he distinguished the two and because that distinction is part of a larger account of argument and logic, his views warrant attention. Walton on Reasoning I briefly summarize Walton before going into detail. He began by quoting Govier's (1987) distinction between reasoning and argument to the effect that reasoning is what may be done before you argue and the argument expresses the (best) reasoning. But much reasoning is done before and outside the context of arguing. For Walton, "reasoning is the making or granting of assumptions called premises and the process of moving toward conclusions (end points) from these assumptions by means of warrants" (p. 403). Now, this is supposed to be a definition of reasoning, not of inferring, nor of arguing. Accepting such a definition would mean that any discourse that lacked the premiseconclusion structure would not be reasoningwhich seems much too narrow a view to take of reasoning. Nor does this definition seem to sit well with the views quoted from Govier that Walton seems to

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endorse. If the reasoning that goes on before and outside the context of arguing has the structure imputed to it by Walton, then the difference between reasoning and arguing is nugatory. Walton distinguished kinds of reasoning: monolectical (a single reasoner functioning alone) and dialectical (two participants reasoning together), alethic and epistemic reasoning, static and dynamic reasoning, and practical and theoretical reasoning. These are helpful distinctions but these issues, how to define reasoning and how to make profitable distinctions, seem to me more appropriately discussed in the context of a theory of reasoning. Accordingly, I leave off discussing them here and go on to Walton's views on argument. Walton on Argument Walton (1990b) turned directly to the question, "What is an argument?" He started with Angeles' definition and discussed its shortcomings, then reviewed Copi's definition and its shortcomings: both, he said, are guilty of ignoring or shortchanging the interactive context. He then cited the definition from Webster's, which, he said, "suggests a conception of argument that is broader than the truncated version expressed in the traditional logicians' definitions." It is broader because it acknowledges the dialectical dimension, which Walton here identified with "what van Eemeren and Grootendorst call argumentation." (p. 410) After this preliminary work, we are ready for a new definition. Walton said, "Argument is a social and verbal means of trying to resolve, or at least to contend with, a conflict or difference that has arisen or exists between two or more parties." (p. 411) Further: The conflict or difference . . . that is the origin of the argument could be a different kindit could be a conflict of opinions, an unsolved problem, an unproven hypothesis, or event a situation where both parties are blocked from further actions. (p. 411) Thus, for Walton, argument was a very broad term, encompassing such diverse reasoning activities as problem solving, theorizing, and negotiation. For Walton, dialogue and argument were intimately related. Walton went on to list no less than eight different types of argumentative dialogue, distinguished in terms of their initial situation, the goal, and the benefits. Last, Walton discussed the nature of logic, the difference between formal and informal logic, and showed that the two are complementary rather than adversarial. I already touched on his views on this matter. There is much that Walton and I agree on: Both of us want a pragmatic approach; both of us are unhappy with traditional conceptions and for

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roughly the same reasons; and both of us see the mandates of formal and informal logic in roughly the same way: formal logic deals with the syntactical and semantical aspects, whereas informal logic is more concerned with the pragmatic aspects. However, Walton did not see the point of distinguishing between the practice of argument and the process of arguing; and in the final analysis, I think his views about the nature of reasoning, the nature of argument, and the relationship between the two are questionable. The idea that there is a significant difference between arguing and reasoning leads, it seems to me, to the view that reasoning is a special kind of process, different in kind from arguing and also from inferring. And yet when one looks at Walton's definitions of reasoning and arguing, one sees that they are not all that different. If reasoning is moving from premises to conclusion by means of warrants, then reasoning is pretty much what most people would call arguing. If arguing is a means of trying to resolve a conflict of opinion, it would seem that arguing and reasoning (moving from premises to conclusion) are not all that different. In my view, the problem with Walton's view of reasoning is that it is too narrow. Walton essentially bought into an inferentialist account. I plan to discuss the problems with such an account in detail in a subsequent book on reasoning. The problem with Walton's view of argument is just the reverse: It is too broad. It encompasses too much that is not argument. Benefits of the Pragmatic Approach I recognize the danger in the road I have taken here, which narrows the conception of argument. My justification for this move is that when the practice itself is in jeopardy, as I believe it is, then any attempt to assimilate it to other practices is tantamount to driving nails into its coffin. To conclude, I want to discuss four benefits of the pragmatic approach to the conceptualization of argument. First, this approach offers an improved view of the notion of argument. I have shown that the structural view is inadequate for three reasons. First, argument cannot really be grasped as structure without reference to the purpose(s) that the structure is meant to realize. Second, the real structure is more complicated than the standard view would suggest. There must be more to an argument than just reasons leading to the conclusion; a dialectical tier is also necessary. Third, our approach suggests that an adequate conceptualization of argument cannot be had apart from seeing it as a product situated in the practice of argumentation. Second, the difference between inference and argument becomes clear. We can begin to get a handle on differentiating between argument and

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inference. Arguments, as I have shown, are outcomes within the practice that are dialectical in nature and characterized by manifest rationality. What is an inference? In chapter 4, I presented inference as in one important sense something that happens in the mind, an activity perhaps spontaneous, perhaps calculated, by which the mind moves from one thought to another. Some of the characteristics associated with inference are: 1. It is natural and spontaneous movement of the mind. 2. It goes from an input (a situation, a perception, a datum of some sort) to an output (typically, a thought and even more typically a statement or claim). 3. It is guided by past experience, background knowledge, and information. 4. It may or may not be articulated. Contrast argument on these four points. One might argue that argument and inference are alike in the first three respects, but there is a clear differentiation on the fourth point. An inference can be what it is while remaining within the mind of the inferrer; this is not true of argument. One way of drawing this contrast is to say that inferring is monolectical, whereas arguing is a dialectical process. Moreover, argument must be seen within the practice of argumentation, but no comparable requirement exists for inference. Third, the pragmatic approach carries with it some important consequences for the process of evaluating arguments. Here are three. The first benefit is a fuller approach to evaluation. Generally, a product is evaluated in terms of whether it meets the needs of the practice. This suggests that when arguments are evaluated, the evaluator must be led by a notion of the goal of the practice of argumentation. It is not enough to ask, "Does the evidence support the conclusion?" But this must be asked as well: "Does the argument deal with and defuse well-known objections, differentiate itself from other positions on the issue and respond to them?" Such material constitutes what I have called the dialectical tier and, accordingly, any theory of evaluation needs to take account of it. More is said about this in the next chapter. A second benefit is the difference between evaluation and criticism. As I have shown, arguments by their nature require criticism, whereas inferences do not. Absent the distinction between inference and argument, you have ipso facto taken the ground out from underneath the distinction between evaluation and criticism. A third benefit is that from this perspective, I can see that some fallacies occur in the structural core (hasty conclusion), whereas others are better characterised as dialectical; for example, fallacies such as ad hominem and straw person. To say that

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they are dialectical is to say that they arise in an argument when the arguer is dealing with objections, alternative positions, and so forth. This helps put a different light on fallacy theory. More on this in chapter 8. Finally, the distinction between informal and formal logic becomes clearer still. Formal deductive logic provides a normative theory of evaluation for implication; inductive logic provides a normative theory of evaluation for inference; informal logic provides a normative theory of evaluation and criticism for argumentation. This distinction between the two depends not only on the distinction between inference and argument but also on the distinction between evaluation and criticism, which is dealt with in chapter 8. Having discussed the nature of argument and the benefits of this pragmatic approach, I have at least provided a sketch of a theory of analysis. I turn in the next chapter to the task of outlining a theory of appraisal.

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Chapter 7 What Makes a Good Argument? Toward a Theory of Evaluation Using the results of the last chapter, I shift the focus now to the task of developing a theory of appraisal that derives from informal logic. This theory has two components. The first component is a theory of evaluation. This theory answers the question, "What qualities or properties make an argument a good one?" I deal with that question in this chapter. The second component will be a theory of criticism.1 That theory will answer the question, "What are the principles that govern good criticism?" I deal with that question in chapter 8. Traditionally, various answers have been proposed to the normative question. Some (Plato, Descartes) have taken the view that an argument must be conclusive in order to be a good one. As we have seen, the position adopted by formal logicians has been that an argument must be sound: its premises should be true and its conclusion must follow necessarily from its premises. The inadequacies of that theory were discussed in chapter 3. Some informal logicians have adopted the view that a good argument is one that is fallacy-free. This position, although promising, is a negative characterization and consequently not terribly enlightening. Our preliminary discussion of this theory in chapter 5 turned up several problems with the criteria that informal logicians have adopted. As regards the criteria for the illative core, I offered an account according to which the criteria are relevance, sufficiency, acceptability, and truth. Each of these criteria stands in need of deeper clarification. I offer some suggestions later in this chapter. 1 Here I distinguish between evaluation and criticism. I defend and further explain this distinction in chapter 8.

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To answer the normative question satisfactorily, we need to go back to the discussion of argumentation as a practice. Arguments are outcomes of this practice. They are, typically, a codification of lines of reasoning that have emerged in the dialectical process. The goodness of the argument cannot be understood apart from the process that produces it, nor yet from the arguers that produce it, although I shall defend that part of the traditional view that minimizes the role that consideration of the person of the arguer plays in evaluating the argument. In chapter 6, I said that the fundamental principle of argumentation is the force of the better reasoning and that alone should determine the outcome. What I need to do next is understand what makes for better reasoning in the realm of argumentation. To answer the normative question, our theory must incorporate the factors that have emerged during the course of our discussion: 1. There can be good arguments for and against a particular thesis. (chap. 2) 2. There are degrees of goodness in arguments. (chap. 2) 3. A good argument will display certain characteristics best understood in terms of the purpose(s) of argument and only secondarily in terms of its structure. (chap. 6) 4. An argument need not be conclusive in order to be a good argument. (chap. 6) 5. A good argument is one that can withstand criticism. (chap. 6) Let us begin the discussion of the normative question with the view that a good argument is one that fulfills its purpose. The standpoint of this work has been that the primary purpose is rational persuasion. That is, the purpose of the argument is to persuade the Other of the truth of the thesis imbedded in the conclusion and on the basis of the considerations advanced in the argument. If the Other is persuaded by the argument to accept the conclusion but not for the reasons cited, then the argument has not truly achieved its purpose although it may have advanced the cause of rationality. We can start by saying that an argument is a good one if it should succeed in persuading the Other of the Thesis on the basis of the reasoning advanced. But we must now ask: What should the Other require in order to be thus persuaded? The assumptions are that the other is rational and that the process is understood by the participants to be under the constraint of manifest rationality. In chapter 6, I argued that a proper understanding of argument must see its structure as more complex than that envisaged either by FDL or informal logic. The illative core is not well represented by the (P + I) conception I

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argued further that any argument, if it is to achieve the goal of rational persuasion, must have, in addition to the illative core, a dialectical tier. Each of these claims has important implications for our normative theory. The implication of the first claim is that our normative theory cannot be derived from a normative theory of inference. The criteria for the evaluation of the illative core will have to be other than those provided by either FDL or by inductive logic, even if those will come into play on occasion. The implication of the second claim is that in addition to criteria for the illative core, we will require separate criteria for the dialectical tier. The task of this chapter is to draw these strands together to start the process of developing an appropriate normative theory. My overall approach sees argument as a product of the practice of argumentation; the normative issue for the other components of the practice must be addressed as well. Part of the task, then, is to (discuss the process of how to) generate the norms for (a) the process of arguing, (b) the arguer, and (c) the practice. The final task will be to show that the theory outlined here can satisfy the adequacy conditions listed in chapter 2. Before presenting my own account, I want to review Hamblin's approach to the normative question, both because it has been so influential in thinking about these matters and because it has a direct bearing on the question of how to generate the sought-for criteria. Further Reflections on Hamblin2 In chapter 5, I went over Hamblin's discussion of the nature of argument. In the second half of his chapter, Hamblin turned to the real question, ''What are the criteria by which arguments are appraised?" Hamblin considered, in turn, three different types of criteria: alethic, epistemic, and, finally (his own preference), dialectical. Because his reasons for recommending dialectical criteria stem partly from the problems that arise from the other two types of criteria, I begin with Hamblin's discussion of them. Hamblin on Alethic Criteria Hamblin began the quest for the criteria of good argument at an obvious starting point: (A1) The premises must be true. (p. 234) This criterion turns out to be the main culprit. Further: (A2) The conclusion must be implied by them (in some suitable sense of the word "implied"). 2 This discussion of Hamblin is based largely on my "Acceptance is Not Enough" (1990b).

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The next requirement is that the conclusion must follow reasonably soon. How much of Hamblin's own thinking about this is under the influence of formal models was evident when he wrote, "Take some fairly advanced theorem of Geometry . . . Although this follows from any suitably complete set of geometrical axioms, it would not be sufficient, by way of premisses for this conclusion, just to give such a set of axioms" (p. 234). This remark is surely good guidance for someone constructing a proof, but it is appropriate here only if we suppose some connection between the enterprise of arguing and that of provingan assumption Hamblin questioned later when he wrote: [The modern formal logician's] conception of argument is well-illustrated by the formal concept of proof . . . A proof, I take it, is just a knock-down argument; but this model of proof, far from setting high criteria of argument-worth for us, completely lets slip certain important desiderata. (p. 249) The last comment suggests that Hamblin did not regard proof as an appropriate model for argumentation. I suggest taking this line of thinking one step further and ask, "Is a proof properly construed as argumentation at all?" (I deal with this question in greater detail in chapter 8.) If one conceives of argument as a species of implication or deductibility, then one will see the two as closely related. But this very consequence seems to me a good reason for distinguishing between argument and implicationa position I already argued for in chapter 4. In any event, reflection on the difference between proof and argument yields a third requirement: (A3) The conclusion must follow reasonably immediately. (p. 235) Typically, when people argue, they do not state all of their premises; some are left tacit or unexpressed. This fact leads to a fourth requirement: (A4) If some of the premises are unstated, they must be of a specifiable omissible kind. (p. 235) Having fleshed out these alethic criteria, Hamblin subjected them to critique. He showed that these alethic criteria, principally that the premises must be true (A1), do not work. Then Hamblin considered an epistemic modification that produced a set of epistemic criteria and argued that they do not work either. Finally, Hamblin produced a set of dialectical criteria. Because my interest is how Hamblin handled the matter of premise adequacy and not his view on the other matters (inferential adequacy, missing premises, immediacy) I discuss his position only as it bears on (A1). I want to pause to ask, "How did Hamblin arrive at these criteria?" What sort of process of reflection was used to elicit these criteria? It is fairly clear

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that Hamblin accepted the (P + I) model. An argument for Hamblin is composed of premises plus an inference (link) from those premises to the conclusion. It also seems clear that Hamblin was working from the theory of appraisal borrowed from FDL. This is most apparent with (A1) and (A2). For (A1) is the truth requirement; (A2) is the validity requirement. Hamblin's approach thus illustrates what I call the a priori approach to be discussed shortly. Hamblin's strategy was to argue that these criteria are too strong and to use that discussion as a basis for modifying them. Hamblin's position was that "there is one very important respect in which alethic tests are not sufficient, and another important respect in which they are not necessary" (p. 236). When Hamblin said this, he was thinking mainly of (A1), against which he raised what he saw as the decisive objection: Truth is neither a necessary nor a sufficient criterion for the goodness of the premises of an argument. Hamblin's argument that truth is not sufficient depends mainly on one pivotal move: Suppose the premises are true, but no one knows them to be true. We need to look carefully at the example Hamblin gave: The argument that oranges are good for orangutans because they contain dietary supplements might or might not carry some weight in the second half of the twentieth century but would rightly carry none at all as between two ancient Romans who had never heard of vitamins. (p. 236) Hamblin did not spell it out, but his reasoning must have gone something like this: This argument would not be a good argument to have presented in Roman times because even though the premise is true, the Romans would not/could not know it to be true. Truth is not a sufficient condition for premise-adequacy. Thus alethic criteria won't get the job done. I consider this example problematic for a number of reasons. First, I want to ask, "Is this specimen the sort over which policies should be made?" What I see here is not much more than a claim with one reason supporting it. Although such discourse falls well within the scope of argument as traditionally understood, the position developed in chapter 6 requires more of argumentative discourse than the mere giving of reasons. There must be a context, so it would have to be supposed that our Roman friends had somehow been engaged by this issue of how to nurture orangutans. We will then need to suppose that there has been controversy, with some Romans favoring one approach, whereas others favor a different approach. Hence, our arguer will know that there are people who disagree with his conclusion

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(i.e., that oranges are good for orangutans) and will realize that his argument must, in some fashion or other, deal with their objections. Such an argument would have to contain a dialectical tier that is not in evidence here. The arguer would say things like, "I realize there is an objection to my basic premise that I must deal with . . . " And so on. (I shall shortly indicate why, in this case, the development of such a tier is unlikely.) Second, I think Hamblin has misdiagnosed the problem. The reason that our Roman friends would be justified in rejecting the argument is not the reason that Hamblin gave; that is, that although the premise is true, they do not know it to be true. We would hardly expect a critic in Roman times to have said, "That premise about vitamins may be true but since no one knows it to be true, the argument is a poor one." The reason they would be justified in rejecting the premise in question is that the premise would be unintelligible to them. Moreover, if the purpose of the argument is to persuade rationally, it is hard to comprehend why the arguer would have put such a premise (one that his audience will not understand) in play in the first place. One might object, "Well, perhaps the arguer just misread his audience's knowledge." But that merely postpones the problem, for how would that kind of misreading be possible in the context of real-world, real-life argumentation? How could the arguer have thought that this audience of Romans would accept a premise containing a concept with which they were completely unfamiliar? Thus, the problem for the Romans would not be knowing whether the premise is true but, rather, would be understanding its meaning. This problem is neither alethic nor epistemic in nature but, rather, semantic. Thus Hamblin's example does not convince me that truth is not a sufficient criterion for premise acceptability and I conclude that Hamblin's case against truth as a requirement is not successful, based as it is on an untenable supposition, an underdeveloped conception of argument, and an example that raises more questions than it answers.3 For these reasons, then, I am unhappy with Hamblin's argument that truth should be rejected as sufficient criterion for premise adequacy. The second 3 This line of reasoning has been quite persuasive for many. When I presented a paper on this issue at Sonoma in 1990, I challenged the audience to give me an example from real inquiry. Mark Weinstein responded by presenting a case from the history of science regarding heliocentric theory. It is too complicated an example to replay here and although it is an example that certainly proves a point, it does not prove the point at issue here. Weinstein thought I was asking for "an instance of relevant evidence that is warranted in the sense of being supported by the available information, but yet is untrue." But that is not what I am looking for. I am looking for a plausible scenario involving a real issue and real arguers where the arguer is justifiably confronted with the following criticism, "Your premise is true but you don't know it to be true." Such a rejection is quite different than the one that goes, "But you don't know that to be true!"

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half of the argument against alethic criteria is folded into his argument against epistemic criteriato which I turn now. Hamblin on Epistemic Criteria Epistemic criteriapresumably criteria in which epistemic concepts such as knowledge and belief play a decisive roleare now introduced as possible successors to the alethic ones. Thus instead of (A1) we would have: (E1) The premises must be known to be true.4 Hamblin argued that alethic criteria and epistemic criteria are both too strong. His argument seemed more directed at epistemic criteria than alethic, for he started by noting that knowledge is a very strong condition to impose and that in argumentative practice, participants often proceed on less than knowledge. That is, rather than demanding that the premises be known, arguers are satisfied if the premises are matters of belief or acceptance: An argument that proceeds from accepted premises on the basis of an accepted inference process may or may not be a good one in the full, alethic sense, but it is certainly a good one in some other sense which is much more germane to the practical application of logical principles. (pp. 240241) We need to pause to take note of an hermeneutic point here, for this passage suggests that there are different senses (or criteria) of goodness: alethic, epistemic, and (the as-yet-unnamed-other-sense) dialectical. An argument might not be good in the alethic sense and yet good in the dialectical sense. Therefore, we face the question whether alethic and dialectical criteria are to be construed as alternative criteria, perhaps to be invoked on different occasions or in differing contexts, or as rivals for the mantle of goodness. I have come the heart of the issue: What is goodness, logical virtue, in the realm of argumentation? Hamblin believed that acceptance is the crucial factor as far as premise adequacy is concerned. I am not so sure, and I come back to this point later. Hamblin anticipated (accurately, I think) an objection. Logicians will accuse him of lowering his sights in proposing acceptability, of siding with persuasion (a subjective criterion) against validity (an objective criterion). In his response to this objection, Hamblin for the first time mentioned 4 This is a strong formulation of epistemic criteria. In chapter 9, I examine a weaker formulation due to Pinto (1994).

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purpose. He talked about "different possible purposes a practical argument may have": Let us suppose, first, that A wishes to convince B of T, and discovers that B already accepts S: A can argue "S, therefore T" independently of whether he himself accepts S or T and independently of whether S and T are really true. Judged by B's standards, this is a good argument and, if A is arguing with B and has any notion at all of winning, he will have to start from something B will accept . . . One of the purposes of argument, whether we like it or not, is to convince, and our criteria would be less than adequate if they had nothing to say about how well an argument may meet this purpose. (p. 241) Hamblin understood that argumentation serves more than one purpose and that one purpose is to convince others (and perhaps also ourselves) of the truth of some statement about which there is doubt. However, an argument might be quite convincing; all of its premises are statements that B accepts; or the inference could be of a sort acceptable to B and yet be a poor argument. (In saying this, the reader must keep in mind that for this discussion, the fundamental purpose of argument is rational persuasion.) Suppose, for example, the arguer uses tricks that (s)he knows will move B; for example, deliberately distorting an alternative position in order to win assent and acceptance. If the main reason for discarding epistemic criteria in favor of dialectical ones turns out to be that the latter are more in line with this purpose of winning the audience, then that seems to me a fundamental weakness in Hamblin's position. In any event, the drift of Hamblin's argument is that epistemic criteria are too strong, for they are not necessary for premise adequacy. Thus, truth is neither necessary nor sufficient. Alethic criteria are unsatisfactory. Epistemic criteria fare no better. The door is open for Hamblin to bring in his own candidate: dialectical criteria, to a consideration of which I now turn. Hamblin on Dialectical Criteria Having criticized both alethic and epistemic criteria, Hamblin introduced the type of criteria he called "dialectical." They will be formulated without benefit of the terms "true, "valid" and "known" and presumably any other term that would imply truth or knowledge. With that difference, they run parallel to epistemic criteria: (D1) The premises must be accepted. From this, one would think that the relevant dialectical standard is acceptance. But in an earlier passage, Hamblin mentioned "acceptance or

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acceptability." Are we to infer that Hamblin thought it not important to distinguish these two? Or did he have something stronger in mind: The case in which Smith tries to convince Jones on grounds which Jones will accept but Smith may not is, after all, somewhat less general than will satisfy us: we should consider, also, the case in which someone, with good reason, accepts a given set of premises and a given inference-process and becomes convinced of a consequent conclusion. (p. 241) One problem here is identifying just what this pivotal dialectical standard is. Is it acceptability? acceptance? acceptance with good reason? rational acceptance? Each of these is mentioned at some point and although acceptance is the one that appears in Hamblin's formulation of dialectical criteria, there is some doubt in my mind that it is the one he really wanted. I defer further discussion of this issue until later. Hamblin continued the development of his views, distinguishing between the onlooker's perspective and the participant's and concluding with this passage: Logicians are, of course, allowed to express their sentiments [about the value of any given argument] but there is something repugnant about the idea that Logic is a vehicle for the expression of the logician's own judgements of acceptance and rejection of statements and arguments. The logician does not stand above and outside practical argumentation or, necessarily, pass judgement on it. He is not a judge or a court of appeal, and there is no such judge or court; he is at best a trained advocate. It follows that it is not the logician's particular job to declare the truth of any statement, or the validity of any argument. (p. 244) I agree with Hamblin's basic point; that is, that Logic cannot be a vehicle for the expression of the logician's own viewpoints. Hamblin came close to articulating what I call the principle of logical neutrality, to be discussed in chapter 8. Two points. First, it is not clear just who Hamblin had in mind with this cautionary reminder. Logicians who advocate the ideal of soundness typically disavow any attempt to make judgments of acceptance or rejection of particular statements within an argument. Nor do they make judgments of the validity of particular arguments. They see their task as the purely theoretical one of the development of a theory of validity. Informal logicians are no different; they do not see their task as pronouncing on the worth of individual arguments, except to illustrate the way in which certain standards might be applied. Second, when Hamblin wrote, "There is no judge or court," he was correct. But it does not follow that there are no standards, criteria, or rules. Indeed, he himself argued for dialectical criteria as opposed to epistemic or alethic ones.

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Conclusion I have led the reader through a fairly lengthy discussion of Hamblin, which I think is justified because of the importance his position has had in the development of theories. His arguments appear to have persuaded Johnson and Blair (1977), Govier (1985), and many others. But Hamblin's case for dialectical criteria has run into some difficulties. First, there is a problem with identifying the central dialectical concept: Is it acceptance? acceptability? or acceptance for good reason? Second, if we take him to be advocating acceptance as a replacement for truth, there are problems. It is not clear just what counts as acceptance, and it seems that this is too weak a standard. Indeed, what Hamblin's dialectical criteria seems to capture is not so much logical virtue as rhetorical virtue. Third, the conception of argument evident in Hamblin's argumentation seems underdeveloped. Finally, his approach to developing criteria seems flawed. That is, it seems he began by anchoring himself in a theory of appraisal of FDL, where truth and validity are the criteria, and then attempting to work his way out from therechiefly by weakening the requirements of FDL. We may wonder whether this is the best way to go about generating a set of criteria for argumentation. Hamblin's critique of the conventional candidates for criteria of good argument has, as I have mentioned before, won quite widespread acceptance. From a rhetorical point of view, then, one would have to say that his arguments were effective and, in that sense, were good. But are they, in fact, good arguments? I believe this question makes sense. I want to hold open the possibility that even if his arguments were effective and persuasive, they are not good arguments. I have given some reason to think they are problematic, and this precisely illustrates the real problem with dialectical criteria. I return to this issue when I discuss dialectical standards in the next section. Criteria for Good Argument The question before us then, is, "What criteria must an argument satisfy if it is to be judged a good argument?" Hitchcock (1997) claimed that the question "What is a good argument?" is akin to the question "What is a good knife?" It depends on the purpose. The qualities that make for a good carving knife are not necessarily those that make for a good paring knife. Similarly, what qualities make for a good argument depend on the purpose being examined. Here, the purpose I have assigned to argument is rational persuasion. The goodness I am after consists in those qualities that are necessary for the argument to achieve the goal of rational persuasion. The basic intuition I defend is that a good argument is one that achieves its purpose of rational persuasion. The discussion of chapter 6 showed that such an

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argument will require at least two levels. The first is the structural level, the illative core, that consists of the reasons given for the conclusion. The second level is the dialectical tier. This is the part of the argument where the arguer discharges her dialectical obligations. It follows that my theory of evaluation must have at least two types of criteria: one set for the illative core, the other for the dialectical tier. I begin by discussing the structural criteria, and then I move to the dialectical. Generation of the Criteria for the Illative Core How shall we determine the criteria to be used in the evaluation of an argument? What alternatives are there? I see three. The A Priori Approach. This was the approach evident in Hamblin, who appeared to have arrived at his criteria by weakeningdownsizing if you willthe criteria furnished by FDL. Given the discussion in chapter 3 of the limits of FDL as a theory of argument, that approach does not seem likely to yield a viable theory of evaluation. The Empirical Approach. Another alternative would be what Nisbett called "dustbin empiricism." This approach would begin by identifying many specimens of good arguments. Then, by reflection on these examples, it would derive the theory of evaluation. To my knowledge, this approach has never been tried. I suspect the reason is the fear of psychologism that many informal logicians have inherited from their exposure to FDL. The Pragmatic Approach. Yet another alternative is the pragmatic approach, which I have adopted in this book, which starts by reflecting on argument in terms of its purpose. A good argument is one that achieves its purpose(s). The purpose I have focused on is rational persuasion. Accordingly, a good argument is one that rationally persuades the Other of its conclusion. This specification is quite general, however. I want to know specifically what criteria must the illative core satisfy in order to achieve this purpose. To that question, I turn now. Criteria for the Illative Core What criteria will be used to evaluate the illative core? Clearly, there must be some form of acceptance requirement, for if the Other does not accept the premises offered by the arguer, the argument cannot achieve its goal. However, as I argued in the previous section, there are problems both with the formulation of this requirement and with the requirement read as a substitute for truth. I have argued that Hamblin's case against truth and for acceptance falls short. I believe that there is at least a prima facie case for

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including truth among the criteria. It is natural enough for the Other to criticize an argument by claiming that a premise is false. If the premise is false, it would not be rational to accept it as a basis for accepting the conclusion. Hence, I propose to add truth as a criterion for the illative core. By including both an acceptance requirement and a truth requirement, I encounter the following problem: How can a theory contain both when they can at times be in conflict? I call this problem The Integration Problem and defer further discussion of it until chapter 11. Thus far, I have stated that premises must satisfy both an acceptability and a truth requirement. But that is not enough. An assertion might be true and might even be such that the Other will accept it. Yet, if it is not relevant to the conclusion, it does not deserve to persuade. Relevance must therefore be added to the list of criteria. Nor can I stop there, for the premises might all be accepted and true and relevant and yet fail to persuade rationally if they do not provide enough support. Hence, I must add the criterion of sufficiency: The premises taken together must provide sufficient support for the conclusion, Thus the criteria for the illative core are acceptance, truth, relevance, and sufficiency.5 This raises another problem: Is this set of criteria for the illative core complete? I refer to this as The Completeness Problem and defer discussion of it until chapter 11. A third problem waits in the wings. Assuming that my theory of evaluation contains these four criteria, it may be asked: In what order are they to be applied? Does it matter? Are some more important or more fundamental then others? I call this The Application Problem and deal with it also in chapter 11. It is beyond the scope of this book to attempt to develop a viable account of each of these criteria. Instead, I attempt to provide an overview that may serve to indicate what an adequate account of these criteria would look like. I begin with acceptability. Acceptability The criterion of acceptability appears to play, for some informal logicians, a role parallel to the truth requirement in the FDL doctrine of soundness. Influential in the emergence of acceptability as a criterion was Hamblin, who 5 Here I anticipate future developments in the sense that I include both acceptability and truth in the list of criteria. I ask the reader to bear with me for the moment. I also must face the objection (Biro & Siegel, 1992) that says that relevance is not necessary as a separate requirement because it is included in the very notion of sufficiency. I deal with that objection in chapter 10. My situation, although more complicated than that of most informal logicians, is less complicated that Toulmin (1958), who, in the course of his discussion, included all of the following: sufficiency, appropriateness, relevance, reliability, applicability, consistency, validity, soundness, and weight.

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argued, as I previously dicussed, that truth was an inappropriate criterion for arguments with a given audience, context, and occasionarguing that it was too strong. Hamblin mentioned at least three different candidates for this dialectical criterion: (a) acceptance, (b) acceptability, and (c) acceptance for good reason. None was carefully defined and each encounters some problems. Look first at acceptance. Hamblin said, ''If we are to draw the line anywhere, acceptance by the person the argument is aimed atthe person for whom the argument is an argumentis the appropriate basis of a set of criteria" (p. 242). There are a number of problems with this way of understanding the criterion. The first is understand exactly what is meant by acceptance. It seems clear that acceptance is not the same as belief. Just what is meant by acceptance and how it differs from belief.6 Can someone accept both P and not-P? There are no problems with acceptance as a necessary condition for the premises of a good argument. If an argument is an exercise in rational persuasion and persuasion requires some form of acceptance, it would seem to follow that acceptance (or something like it) is a necessary condition. What troubles me is the suggestion from Hamblin that it may also be sufficient. Here are, then, some worries about acceptance as the criterion. 1. Suppose that, as the arguer, I have no specific person in mind, or more than one. When, for example, one constructs a philosophical argument, one knows that the audience is anything but homogeneous in what it is prepared to accept. Take this fact too seriously and one will surely be paralyzed. The premise that is acceptable to the idealist will probably not be so to the realist. The same will be true of political argumentation, where one's audience will consist of various members of the commentary with their widespread allegiances. To some degree, this concern may perhaps be gotten around by the use of constructs like "ideal audience" (Perelman, 1969) or "model interlocutor" (Blair & Johnson, 1987). But just how much mileage one can get from such constructs is unclear. The point is that if the audience is sufficiently heterogeneous, it is going to be difficult for the arguer to put any premise into play if the desideratum is acceptance. On the other hand, there are also problems if the audience is homogeneous. If it is a hostile audience, it is going to be difficult to locate the premises the audience will accept without defense. If it is friendly, then finding such premises should not be a task. But then we run up against the preaching-to-the-converted phenomenon. Thus, acceptance as a requirement runs into some serious problems. 6 For an interesting theoretical treatment of the difference between acceptance and belief, see Cohen (1991).

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2. Suppose I discover that my audience accepts a proposition that I know or have good reason to believe is false, but that would, if accepted, provide strong support for the conclusion. If I take acceptance as a criterion, it seems that I not only may, but should, use that proposition. That seems entirely inappropriate, at least where argument is conceived as rational persuasion. Is it rational on my part to expect the Other to be rationally moved by an assertion that I believe to be false?7 What could possibly justify my using such a premise, even if it was accepted by or acceptable to my audience? I could justify it if my aim were to persuade at all costs, but that is not the telos I have assigned to argument for the purpose of this inquiry. 3. What happens to the requirement of consistency? Scriven (1976) held that this notion is imbedded in the very idea of an argument. He said that an argument says that if you assert A and B, then (under certain conditions) you must (if you wish to be consistent) also assert C. That explains why inconsistency is thought to be such a serious charge against an argument. But now, if we discard the truth requirement and instead adopt acceptance, and ifas seems possiblesomeone can accept both P and not-P, then inconsistency is no longer a vice. An argument can (other things being equal) be quite all right even though it contains both P and not-P, provided the addressee accepts both. This situation is not uncommon; those engaged seriously in the practice of argumentation can find both sides of the argument attractive, which I take to be roughly equivalent to either accepting or being inclined to accept both P and not-P. If we take acceptance without some constraint, then we will be forced to give up consistency as a virtue possessed by good arguments. 4. Another problem is that I want to allow for is the possibilityindeed likelihoodthat there can be an argument that is logically good but whose premises are not accepted by (at least some of) those to whom it is directed. Suppose I say that an argument is effective if it satisfies criteria the dialectical criteria set forth by Hamblin. The problem is that it is not clear to me that every good argument is effective nor that every effective argument is good. An argument might be accepted by its audience but contain tricks or cheats. In urging on us the standard of acceptance, Hamblin has, it seems, replaced the logical criterion of goodness with the rhetorical criterion of effectiveness. In the best of all possible worlds, the good and the effective would merge. But there is no guarantee that this is such a world. To bring this line of reflection to a conclusion, let me reformulate my concerns in a slightly different way: Consider argument A [consisting of premises P1Pn and conclusion C] formulated by Smart, and addressed to 7 Herein lies the nucleus of the solution I propose in chapter 11. It seems clear to me that my knowledge that the proposition is false must override my knowledge that the proposition is acceptable to my audience.

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Brilliant and Dull. Brilliant accepts the premises and, having no other problem with the argument, pronounces it a good one. Dull does not accept, let us say, P2 and P3, and so pronounces the argument a bad one. If we take Hamblin's approach, we will say that the argument was a good one for Brilliant but not a good one for Dull. We cannot, it seems, ask whether the argument is a good one in itself, a good one simpliciter, or a good one objectively. In other words, acceptance as a criterion leads to the subjectivity and relativity of appraisal of argument. Suppose now that we distinguish between Dull-1 and Dull-2. Dull-1 rejects P2 and P3 but cannot give any decent reasons why (suppose he is just perverse or ego involved with the subject), whereas Dull-2 rejects P2 and P3 but is willing to give reasons and can give them. I, for one, want to be able to distinguish these two and yet I fear that Hamblin's position does not allow for such differentiation. (This objection applies to simple acceptance but not to a revised version of it, such as acceptability or acceptance, for good reason.) Thus, simple acceptance does not seem to be in line with the requirements of rationality. If we require that an argument achieve the goal of persuasion rationally, then I think we must rule out simple acceptance and substitute instead a stronger criterion: acceptance for good reason, rational acceptance, or acceptability. The Acceptability Requirement. It is clear that each premise of an argument must be such that it will be a statement that the audience finds acceptable, else the argument cannot hope to achieve the goal of rational persuasion. Each premise will therefore be in one of the two following situations. Either that premise has been put forth with some defense, in which case the question whether it is rational to accept the premise will be decided by asking whether it is rational to accept the argument presented in its defense, or it will be a premise that has been put into play without support, yet it is rational for the arguer to believe that the audience will accept the premise and that it is rational to do so without support. It is clear that it must be rational under some specifiable situations for the Other to accept the premise even though that premise has not been defended. If every premise in an argument had to be defended, we would be caught in an infinite regress. At the same time, the constraint of rationality requires, as we have shown, that if an arguer puts forth a thesis, the arguer generally is under an obligation to furnish support for the thesis. Thus, in this pragmatic approach, the burden of proof lies with the arguer. The arguer has an obligation to defend any premise that the audience will not be able to accept without support. At some point, however, it is evident the arguer must put into play premises that he or she does not defend, that it is rational to believe the

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audience will accept, and that it is rational for the audience to accept. An adequate account of the criterion of acceptability must allow for this. Hence a viable account of acceptability as a criterion will have to take account of the following features: A1) Acceptability will have to be understood as rational acceptance. A2) Acceptability inheres in each premise individually. That is, the criterion is to be applied to each premise individually. A3) Acceptability is a dialectical criterion. That is, acceptability will have to be understood in terms of a dialectical situation, of the interplay between arguer and Other. Some would say that this means it will be a pragmatic criterion. I turn next to a discussion of truth as a criterion for the illative core. The Truth Requirement Earlier in this chapter, I reviewed Hamblin's arguments against the truth requirement. But that is not the end of the matter, for there are good reasons for questioning the truth requirement, as there are also good reasons for endorsing it. I hope to provide better ones for questioning the truth requirement, and after that argue that there are even better grounds for including it. What then are the supposed problems with truth requirement? Bad Reasons for Questioning the Truth Requirement. In addition to arguing that truth is neither necessary nor sufficient, a second line of argument found in Hamblin's critique is the view that truth and validity "are onlookers' concepts and presuppose a God'seyeview of the arena" (p. 242)a claim I find both confused and confusing. (See also Toulmin, 1958.) Consider validity first. The claim that validity presupposes a God's eye view seems both irrelevant and wrong. It is irrelevant because the issue under discussion is whether alethic and epistemic concepts are too strong, and validity is neither an epistemic nor an alethic concept but, rather, a logical oneor so I would argue. The claim is wrong because to judge that one proposition follows necessarily from another does not require an Empyrean vantage point. It can be done in any number of earthly ways: the use of Venn diagrams, deduction rules, truth-tables, truth-trees, none of which require any more than human calculating powers. Hamblin seemed on firmer ground in his claim about truth, although here his argument overlooks the point that there are various ways, philosophically, of defining or understanding truth. At most, Hamblin might have

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argued that certain forms of the correspondence theory presuppose omniscience. (Not all forms of correspondence theory can be said to presuppose thatelse one would have to be a theist to hold that theory.) Other theories of truthcoherence, idealist, pragmatist, instrumentalist, and, of course, relativistdo not require omniscience, and hence could be adopted by arguers without requiring that they forfeit their posture within the dialogue. Thus, it appears that there are problems connected with Hamblin's second line of objection to the truth requirement. Good Reasons for Questioning the Truth Requirement. There are considerations that militate against any wholesale adoption of the truth requirement (such as envisaged by FDL) while nevertheless indicating that any adequate normative account must make some provision for truth. As one moves away from science and toward other spheres of reasoningthe practical sphere of human decision making; the areas of morals, ethics, politics and everyday human affairsthat doctrine begins to seem questionable. This is not because the criterion of truth is inapplicable to human affairs but rather because, as one reviews the nature and functions of argumentation in this arena, it seems clear that the premises need not be true in order for the argument to be a good one. (See Blair & Johnson, 1987.) Further, if one assumes that an appropriate requirement for the premise of an argument is that it be true, then it will follow that logic can say nothing at all about whether this virtue is displayed in a given argument. The reason is that to decide whether the premise is true will take us outside of logic and into the specific field of knowledge or inquiry to which the premise belongs. Hence, logicians in the 20th century have virtually nothing to say about the matter of premise adequacy. Yet if we think about it for a moment or two, the situation is not so simple and straightforward as this doctrine would have us think. I argued earlier that any premise introduced into an argument should be defended unless there is some reason to exempt it. If this view is correct, then the introduction of a controversial and undefended premise is a logical failure and one would not have to have any special expertise to make this criticism. The whole issue of burden of proof also comes up here. So it is apparent that logicians need to deal with the issue of premise adequacy. No doubt we like our premises to be true. But there are many circumstances in which we may find an argument quite strong even without knowing that its premises are true. Further still, in some arguments with a welter of premises, the mere presence of one false premise is not really enough to wreck the argument if the other true premises are sufficiently powerful to cover for it. Here is an example. The argument begins:

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January 1998 has begun, with all major cities throwing parties with fireworks and people breaking in the new year with hopes of a better life. The arguer now goes on to argue that all people need to get involved in the process of helping to heal the earth. Now suppose that the premise is false because some major cities (Tokyo, Madrid) did not throw such parties; only most cities did. Will this falsity be enough to warrant rejecting the argument? Not if the other premises of the argument are true and strong enough to compensate for this weakness. So there are good reasons for rejecting the truth requirement. But there are also reasons, even better ones, to accept it, and I want to turn to them now. Good Reasons for Maintaining the Truth Requirement. Put most simply, the case for the truth requirement is that it is hard to imagine doing the work of argument evaluation without some recourse, whether explicit or implicit to it. The strongest argument for the truth requirement emerges when I consider the situation of those theorists who have officially discharged the truth requirement. If we look carefully, we will find that these theorists continue to rely on the truth requirement in any or all of the following ways: 1. making unofficial use of it even after they have discharged it; 2. continuing to rely on it by using terms in their theory of evaluation that themselves presuppose some commitment to the truth requirement; for example, inconsistency, contradiction, assumption, validity. Moreover, it is questionable whether a term like "acceptability" (often put forward as an alternative to the truth requirement) can be rendered intelligible without recourse to the truth requirement. The same can be said for relevance. 3. using the truth requirement in their metatheory; that is, in the metalanguage in which they set up their theory of evaluation. The second situation is by far the most common and the one I illustrate here. Johnson and Blair (1993) embraced acceptability rather than truth as the appropriate logical requirement for the premise adequacy. They did not exclude truth as an appropriate criterion in many cases, where the arguer is attempting to establish "the way things are in the world . . . for such arguments . . . the premises must be true" (p. 62). But they maintained that truth is not a logical requirement. This is part of their larger view that criticizing a premise for not being true is a substantive rather than a logical criticism. Johnson and Blair acknowledged the role of truth in argument evaluation but did not regard it as a logical criterion for premise adequacy.

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Still, when it comes to the discussion of some of the fallacies, their account seems to clearly presuppose the truth requirement. For example, when they discussed the fallacy of inconsistency, Johnson and Blair relied heavily on the truth requirement. They adopted the standard view that two premises are inconsistent if they cannot be true together. Viewing inconsistency as a fallacy clearly entails that premises being true together is a value and, hence, that there is an expectation that the premises be true. The truth requirement makes its presence felt elsewhere in their theory. Consider the test they proposed for determining relevance, "Let me suppose that P is true; does the truth of P dictate a truth value for C (the conclusion)?" (pp. 5455). Now, if truth is required in order to explain relevance and relevance itself is a criterion for the evaluation of the premises of an argument, would that not suggest that truth should be included as a criterion? For it seems that wherever it would make sense to challenge relevance, it would also be appropriate to challenge truth. The truth requirement also makes an appearance in their formulation of the conditions for popularity and dubious assumption, among others. It is hard to imagine any account of the fallacy of popularity that would not invoke as a norm the following claim: That many or all persons believe a premise to be true does not make it true.8 Thus, although truth is not included among the logical criteria that the premises must satisfy, it still appears to be highly functional in their theory of evaluation. Moreover, we need to recall what Hamblin appeared to forget: Various concepts of truth are available. For example, a relativistic concept of truth would make for a theory that is largely indistinguishable from theories governed by dialectical criteria. A correspondence theory would appear to be open to the sorts of criticisms mentioned by Hamblin. So the task of developing an appropriate theoretical apparatus here is significant. We do have some leads. T1) The truth requirement applies, like that of acceptability, to premises individually. T2) The truth requirement should be suspectible of a reading according to which there will be degrees of truth. T3) Because various theories and approaches to truth are available, the task for the theory of evaluation is to find one that best coheres with the other demands of the theory. 8 Notice what happens if instead of truth, we invoke acceptability. This fallacy disappears. The fact that most or all accept a premise does likely mean that it is acceptable, at least in some versions of acceptability.

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At this point, I leave the discussion of the truth requirement and move on to discuss relevance. The Relevance Requirement Nothing is more basic to reasoning generally and to argumentation specifically than relevance. The very idea of one statement's being a reason for accepting another statement contains the idea that the former is relevant to the latter. As basic as it is, relevance has likewise proven to be strongly resistant to analysis. It appears to have resisted the efforts and talents of formal logicians. Woods (1994) wrote: Of all the notions of argumentative and dialectical appraisal none is more intuitive than relevance, and none is in worse theoretical shape. In plainer terms, we have no theory of relevance; and so in an important sense, we do not know what relevance is. (p. 82) My aim here is not to provide such a theory but rather to specify those features of relevance as a criterion for arguments that such a theory will have to incorporate. What are the salient properties of relevance considered here as a criterion for the assessment of argument? In my view, answers to these questions form at least part of the database that a theory of relevance will have to come to grips with. As I said earlier, relevance is basic to reasoning, communication, and argumentation.9 To engage in the practice of reasoning is to grasp the idea that one unit paves the way for the next one. Much of what is understood about communication testifies to Grice's (1975) idea that interventions are expected to be relevant. In argumentation as well, the very idea of relevance is again basic. Blair (1989) wrote, "Premise relevance seems to be analytically connected to the concept of argument and its premise-conclusion relationship. Premises are presumed relevant until challenged or questioned" (p. 81). Even though the relationship between the concepts of premise and relevance is tight, it cannot be analytic because the idea of an irrelevant premise is not contradictory. Yet to count an item of discourse as a premise in an argument is to have already made a judgment that it is thought by the arguer to have a bearing on the conclusion. Because this judgment is typically tacit, relevance very often does not emerge explicitly in the process of argumentation, operating rather behind the scenes as a kind of negative constraint. It often emerges during the dialectical moment when the critic complains, "But that's got nothing to do with it." The point Blair was onto here is that judgments about relevance are typically built into the very premises themselves and hence are typically 9 See Sperber and Wilson (1986) for the case that relevance is basic to communication.

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not argued for. (We have here, I think, an important clue as to why judgments of relevance are so hard to defend.) In putting forth P as a premise, the arguer must be understood as claiming that the content of P is relevant to the issue. The question of who has the burden of proof here is a difficult one that I bypass for the time being. There are two ways in which relevance could be basic. The scholastics used to distinguish between the ordo cognoscendi and the ordo essendi; and although relevance is basic in the ordo cognoscendiroughly the order of learning, or coming to know thingsit does not seem as basic or fundamental in the order of being. The criterion of truth (if it enters our theory of evaluation) would seem even more basic because it is easy to see how we might define relevance in terms of truth. We can say that "P is relevant to Q" means "P has bearing on the truth of Q"; hence, we may be able to define relevance in terms of truth. The opposite derivation from truth to relevance does not seem plausible. To say that relevance is basic in the order of learning is to say that it is a ground-floor notion that a reasoner must grasp. Without some understanding of and appreciation of what relevance is, it is difficult to see how instruction about reasoning or arguing can move very far. Thus, R1 Relevance is basic. The next question to be considered is, "Of what is relevance to be predicated? What is it that is or is not relevant?" A variety of candidates have been proposed: topical relevance, internal relevance and audience relevance (Tindale, 1994), and agenda relevance (Woods, forthcoming). Then there are a host of other considerations listed by Walton (1982). However, it seems clear that something like propositional relevance is basic, at least as far as argumentation is concerned. Relevance is a property of propositions. (See Blair, 1989; Bowles, 1989a, 1990; Walton, 1982.) How does relevance inhere in the argument? Does it, for example, inhere each premise singly (like acceptability and truth) or in the total set (like sufficiency, as is argued shortly)? The answer, it seems to me, is neither. That is, relevance does not function in just the way that truth and acceptability function, nor yet as sufficiency functions. In this respect, relevance is idiosyncratic. Let me develop this point by contrast with how we apply the other criteria. When we apply the truth criterion, we focus on a single premise and ask, "Is this premise true?" When, for example, the arguer asserts that, "In every state where there is capital punishment, the rate of murder has declined since the installation of it" and the respondent says, "That is false, because in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, there was an increase in the rate of murder," the respondent is rejecting that premise as false. In making this

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judgment, the critic considers the premise by itself, in its relationship to the world; she or he abstracts from the relationship between that premise and the audience and between the premise and the conclusion. When we apply the criterion of acceptability, we ask, "Is this premise one which my audience is prepared to accept (for good reason), or do I need to provide argumentation for it?" Once again, acceptability is determined by looking at that individual premise in relationship to the audience. When we apply the sufficiency criterion, we must take into consideration all the premises that the arguer has put into play to support the conclusion. We ask whether the total set of premises gives us enough evidence for the conclusion. We must consider the premises taken together in their relationship to the conclusion. The relevance criterion is sui generis. As with sufficiency, we must have one eye on the conclusion. Like sufficiency, but unlike truth, we have often to make the determination based on more than just that premise. We may need to consider additional material (missing premises). We may need to bring in what Blair called a relevance warrant, or one of the other premises, before we can determine relevance. Sometimes the relevance is a property of a premise set, to use Blair's phrase. Yet this is not always the case. Consider this example: [P] Trudeau introduced the most enlightened social policies in the history of Canada. which seems clearly relevant to the claim that [C] Trudeau was an excellent prime minister. whereas it seems clearly not relevant to the claim that [C*] Trudeau was an excellent husband. These judgments can be made directly, without consideration given to the intervention of other premises. Relevance thus appears as a variable property as regards its inherence. In this respect, it appears to differ from its peers: sufficiency, truth, and acceptability. I conclude: R2 Relevance possesses variable inherence conditions. It may inhere in premises individually, in premise sets, or in premises taken collectively. Many theorists have taken the view that relevance is an all-or-nothing affair. The premise either is relevant or it is not. Like a light switch, it is on

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or off. That would mean that statements like the following made by Siegel (1988) in reference to McPeck would not be possible: ''I note in passing McPeck's ambivalence as to whether logic is entirely irrelevant to critical thinking, or only largely irrelevant (so that logic is at least somewhat relevant)" (p. 25). Because this sentence seems to me to make perfectly good sense, I think that one premise may well be more relevant than another, or that a premise may be said to have very little, if any, relevance. Or that it may be weakly relevant or strongly relevant. Consider my example: [P] Trudeau introduced the most enlightened social policies in the history of Canada. which seems clearly relevant to the claim that [C1] Trudeau was an excellent prime minister. but certainly not as relevant to the claim that [C2] Trudeau was a great thinker. This idea fits with Blair's (1989) gloss, which says that a premise is relevant means that "accepting the premise should lead one to be either more inclined or less inclined to accept the conclusion than one would be if one didn't accept the premise" (p. 68). Thus, R3 Relevance is a matter of degree.10 It is clear that, in some sense, relevance is context dependent in ways that truth is not. Here is Blair's example: "Hetta is a woman" is relevant to "Hetta should not get the job" (in Saudi Arabia). "Hetta is a woman" is not relevant to "Hetta should not get the job" (in Canada). Presumably, "Hetta is a woman" is true, if true, both in Canada and in Saudi Arabia. (p. 81) Another way of putting this idea is that relevance is a pragmatic property. What is relevant in one context is not necessarily relevant in another. However, we need to distinguish this noncontroversial form of the claim that relevance is relative [weak relativity] from a more controversial ver10 A similar result follows if I were (following Bowles, 1990, and overruling for the moment objections from Woods, 1994) to attempt a probabilistic reading of relevance: For if P increases the likelihood of Q {makes it .6} and if R also increase the likelihood of Q {makes it .7}, then assuming both are relevant, it follows that R is more relevant than P to Q.

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sion. In the stronger version, the claim is that the standard of relevance is itself field or subject-matter bound. In this stronger sense, it shows up in the view that what counts as relevant in one field, discipline, or inquiry will not necessarily count in another. Thus Blair appeared to endorse strong relativity: Where there are specialized subjects or domains of practice in which argumentation plays a role, the laws, rules or principles established therein will be available to serve as relevance warrants should they be needed . . . Hence the "type" of relevance warrant will be as varied as these subjects or practices. (p. 80) The weak relativity of relevance seems obvious enough. I do not think that strong relativity is at all obvious, nor is weak relativity a sufficient basis for proclaiming it. Let us pursue the matter of strong relativity a bit further. Blair said, "In general the kinds of consideration that can warrant the relevance of premises seem as varied as the kinds of topic that can be argued about" (p. 80). This position requires a brief explanation of the idea of a relevance warrant. Blair extended the notion of warrant developed by Toulmin, the idea being that when a particular data is put forth as the basis for some conclusion, it is often done through the mediation of a relevance warrant. Blair stated: Whatever the specifics, at some point the proponent might be required to produce some consideration designed to show that a premise in question is relevant. This consideration I call the relevance warrant of the argument. (p. 76) The idea of a relevance warrant and the claim that these are, in effect, field dependent is intriguing. I limit myself to three observations. First, good examples of this scenario are important. It is necessary to see how this proposal works out in concreto.11 Second, if we push this point about relevance and relevance warrants all the way, then it will turn out that there is no concept of relevance per se; 11 I remember recently being at a conference and discussing the criteria of relevance, sufficiency, and acceptability and suggesting that these might vary from one discipline to the next. Someone in the audience of about 50 (these were mostly university teachers from a variety of disciplines) queried this. So a member made a suggestion, put forth a putative candidatean instance of an argument that depended on a relevance warrant where that warrant appeared to come from some particular field. As soon as the warrant had been put forward, another member of the audience stated, "No that's the same as my field." There were other attempts, too, each of which met with the same fate. To be sure, this sample is too limited to base any position on. I am not attempting to saddle Blair and others with the position that a relevance warrant for one field cannot be a relevance warrant in another field, but the interchange within the audience on that occasion left some of us wondering whether the idea of a field-specific view of relevance is warranted.

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but rather that we have Relevancemathematics; Relevancephysics; Relevancephilosophy and so on. At this point, something like the Quinean objection (1963) to Carnap's attempt to render analyticity via semantic rules comes into play. Third, if indeed it turns out that there are relevance warrants, then this will prove to be yet another distinguishing feature of relevance, for it seems unlikely that we will find parallels for the other criteria. That is, I do not find much intelligibility in the idea of there being truth warrants, acceptance warrants, and sufficiency warrants. Those are some difficulties with the strong relativity thesis for relevance. In any event, if we use the standard semantic, syntactic, or pragmatic distinction, we see that relevance is pragmatic; that is, it is essentially tied to context. R4 Relevance is a pragmatic propertynot syntactic or semantic. Finally, I want to approach relevance using Hamblin's classification of criteria: alethic, epistemic, and dialectical, and ask into which of these categories relevance falls. It does not depend essentially on truth; for, as Blair (1993) argued, relevance can be defined using the notion of acceptability. It does not appear to be epistemic; we don't need to use the concept of knowledge to define relevance; hence, it seems that relevance is a dialectical criterion. R5 Relevance is a dialectical criterion. If I am right, then R1R5 are among the salient facts of the case that a theory of relevance will have to take account of. I move on now to discuss the final criterion: sufficiency. The Sufficiency Requirement The sufficiency requirement is that the premises must provide sufficient support for the conclusion. It may seem counterintuitive to say so, but the situation with respect to the sufficiency requirement is just as bad, if not worse, as the situation with relevance. Almost no work has been done by informal logicians on this criterion.12 Consequently, there is little to discuss in this review. There are at least two dimensions to sufficiency: There is the issue of whether there is enough of the type of evidence that has been produced. There is the separate question as to whether the range of evidence is adequate. To illustrate: One type of evidence about fitness levels in Canada 12 In his bibliography, Hansen (1990) listed nine entries under the topic of relevance; the topic of sufficiency does not even occur.

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would be obtained by discovering the number of people who work out in health clubs as a percentage of the population. If one were to survey only health and fitness clubs in metropolitan areas, the result would be an unrepresentative sample. However, even if the sample were representative, that would not mean that the sufficiency requirement has been satisfied; there are other types of evidence that would have to be taken into account: general health indices, reliable surveys, mortality rates, and so on. I turn then to the properties of sufficiency that this doctrine must capture. It seems clear that the question to be asked requires that the critic look at all the evidence produced by the arguer and ask whether the premises, taken together, provide enough support for the conclusion. Unlike acceptability, which inheres in perhaps a single premise, sufficiency resides in the premise set. S1 Sufficiency is a property of the premise set. Premise sets may be more or less sufficient to justify the conclusion. It makes sense to say that this set of premises offers almost but not quite enough evidence to support is conclusion. S2 Sufficiency is a matter of degree. Sufficiency is a pragmatic property, which means that what is sufficient in one set of circumstances may not be sufficient in others. What needs to be studied in greater detail is just how the context affects the requirement of sufficiency. For example, in the wake of the much publicized O. J. Simpson trial, many people now realize that the evidence required to convict someone in a civil trial in the United States is the preponderance of evidence. If a juror believes that the evidence makes it more probable that the defendant is guilty, that is sufficient to conclude that the defendant is guilty. But that same standard is not sufficient in a criminal trial where the stakes are greater. Here the standard is stricter: The juror must be able to conclude that the evidence points to guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. The difficult question for informal logic and the theory of argument is how to define context for the purposes of assessing and critiquing arguments. S3 Sufficiency is a pragmatic property. Suffice to say, then, a great deal more work needs to be done on sufficiency as a criterion of argument, but it will have to incorporate these three properties. This completes my discussion of the criteria I propose for the evaluation of the illative core of an argument: acceptability, truth, relevance, and sufficiency. At this point, we do not have an adequate theoretical account of

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any of these criteria. I hope that others will be stimulated to undertake that work. We also have not dealt with the question whether these criteria are in some sense a complete set of criteria for evaluating the illative core of an argument. I refer to this problem as The Completeness Problem and propose to defer further consideration of it until chapter 11. Criteria for the Dialectical Tier When I refer in what follows to dialectical criteria, I mean the criteria used in evaluating the dialectical tier. I do not mean what Hamblin meantcriteria based on the notion of acceptance. In chapter 6, I argued that the illative core is not sufficient for an argument. Because of the dialectical nature of argumentation, the elevator of argumentation needs to rise higher. That there is an argument in the first place means that the conclusion is at least potentially controversial. There is a mixture of opinion, a background of experience, information, and knowledge about this issue. There are those who take a different view; there are adversary views; there are typically well-known objections. An argument that does not take into account these dialectical realities is in some important sense incomplete. Not just poor, but incomplete. It lacks the dialectical tier. To focus the discussion, consider the argument below: P1 Trudeau introduced the most enlightened social policies in the history of Canada. P2 Trudeau provided leadership in the country's gravest crisisthe FLQ crisis. P3 Trudeau was returned to office 3 times. C Trudeau was an excellent prime minister. In connection with this argument, some of the dialectical issues would include: Anticipating an Objection to a Premise Argumentative positions are located within a dialectical context, which means that not only are there alternative positions but also standard objections to that position. Thus, for example, if the arguer's position can be characterized as pro-life, there are standard objections that must be dealt with, such as the objection that the fetus that is aborted is not viable and hence not entitled to protection under the law; or that the pro-life position results in discriminatory intervention. If the arguer's position can be characterized as pro-choice, there are standard objections that he or she has to face, such as the objection that the pro-choice position results in decreased

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respect for life or that it unjustly deprives the unborn of their right to life, and so forth. With respect to the Trudeau argument, someone might object by saying, "There are those who believe that Trudeau mishandled the FLQ crisis and in fact manufactured it." To take account of this objection into the fabric of the argument is a relatively simple matter, the arguer can add a premise like, "The objection that Trudeau mishandled the FLQ crisis is wrong because . . . " Of course, the hard part is to fill in what follows the "because." Anticipating Other Criticisms And there will be other types of criticism: "Some will object that failure to achieve the repatriation of the Constitution is an essential weakness in Trudeau's regime and that having failed to achieve his central purpose tells against the conclusion." This is not an objection to a specific premise but rather to the conclusion; it too can be incorporated into the fabric of the argument. In any event, this suggests that the following question is appropriate for the dialectical tier: [D1] How well is the arguer able to deal with the standard objections and criticism? (It is interesting to note that there does not exist any single term or concept to denote the property of an argument that satisfies [D1].) There are some problems that need to be noted here. Clearly, the arguer cannot respond to all of the objections and perhaps not even to all of the standard ones, not without making the argument prolix. Some selection process must be at work. But how to specify the arguer's obligations is a difficult issueI call it The Specification Problem. I postpone discussion of it until chapter 12. This criterion is related to the notion that has been expressed by many that an argument is strong if it can withstand significant objection. Because, in some important sense, the argument consists of the premises, conclusion, and dialectical material, once the objection has been raised, there is really no way for the argument to respond to the objection. The argument is what it is. It is the arguer who must respond and must do so using the material from the stated argument while maintaining its integrity. Dealing with Alternative Positions In the present case, I would expect the arguer to deal with alternative positions on this issue. Such a move might be signaled by saying, "Some theorists have argued that Trudeau's tenure as PM actually resulted in a weakening of federalism, but . . . " As with the earlier example, I do not have

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a single term to refer to the quality in question here. By this, I mean that I do not have a single term that I use to refer to that quality an argument displays when it addresses itself effectively to alternative positions. When the arguer attempts to satisfy this obligation but fails, such failure will often result in a fallacious move. One who fails to engage satisfactorily with alternative positions may commit the fallacy of straw person (if the argument is distorted), the fallacy of ad hominem (if the arguer personalizes inappropriately) and the fallacy of red herring (if he or she goes off on a tangent). Thus, some fallacies are best seen as dialectical in character; others have to do with defects in the illative core. Such reflection about the process of arguing leads us to a second question that the arguer must satisfy in the dialectical tier: [D2] How well does the argument address itself to alternative positions? Anticipating the Consequences and Implications Often criticism will take the form of showing that the position leads to untenable consequences or has unacceptable implications. Thus, in the case I have been considering, someone might raise this objection: "If you admit Trudeau to the class of excellent Prime Ministers, then what becomes of a Pearson?" Often the arguer must attempt to deal with this form of objection and incorporate that as a premise. Hence, yet another dialectical criterion for argumentation is contained in the following question: [D3] How well does the argument deal with consequences/implications? These are some of the criteria that seem appropriate for the dialectical tier. Conclusion To summarize: I have argued that for an argument to achieve its intended purpose of rational persuasion (and therefore be a good argument), the illative core must satisfy four requirements: the acceptability requirement, the truth requirement, the relevance requirement, and the sufficiency requirement. I have not attempted to provide a complete analysis of these criteria, being content rather to specify the properties that such an analysis would have to account for. In each case, we have shown that requirement is one that admits of degrees, thus generally being in line with the crucial adequacy condition, Adequacy Condition 4. I further argued that to be a

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rationally persuasive argument, the argument must have a dialectical tier in which three further requirements are satisfied. It seems to me that an argument that satisfies these requirements will have a good claim to being rationally persuasive, to being a good argument. But there is a question that may legitimately be raised concerning the completeness of the complete set? Are there other criteria for the dialectical tier to satisfy in order to be a good argument? These questions raise various aspects of The Completeness Problem and I defer further discussion of them until chapter 11. Having thus dealt with the issue regarding the normative requirement for the evaluation of the argument taken as the product of the practice, I move now to a discussion to the normative issues related to the remaining components of the practice: the process of argument, the arguer, and the practice itself. Other Normative Criteria Introduction We have now developed a set of criteria to guide us in the determination of the logical virtues of the argument considered as the product of the practice. We need also consider what norms and criteria exist for the process, the arguer, and the practice itself. I have argued that a pragmatic approach to argumentation is the appropriate one, so let us see what such an approach entails here. The practice does not exist for itself but rather because it yields a product of value to human society. Hence, broadly speaking, the practice may be deemed to be in good shape if it yields good products. If, then, we regard the product as basic from the normative point of view,13 we may suppose that the process of arguing is good just to the degree that it is the type of process that tends to produce good products; that an arguer is good just to the degree that his or her argumentative behavior promotes the process of arguing; and that the practice is in good shape (we might say healthy) just to the degree that the arguers, the processes, and the products are satisfying the appropriate norms. Normative Considerations Regarding the Process By the process of arguing, I understand an essentially dialectical process between two persons or points of view, according to which one attempts 13"If . . . " because there may be those who do not view the product as the endpoint; some may argue that it is the process that is the endpoint and the product is secondary.

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to persuade the Other rationally by producing a good argument. The Other then has the responsibility of either accepting the argument or of offering criticism. The arguer then has the responsibility of hearing that criticism and either rejecting it or revising his argument accordingly. The ProcessProduct Issue There is a view within argumentation theory according to which the proper approach is to see an argument as a dialogue between two or more participants and to see this exchange as a process that is governed by rules. The purpose of argumentation theory then is to develop a set of rules according to which such a dialogue may be carried out. Among the theorists who take this perspective are Barth and Krabbe, van Eemeren and Grootendorst, and Walton and Krabbe.14 In chapter 10, I discuss such theories. Such an approach develops rules that govern the process that in some sense replaces the criteria just discussed. As I have shown, criticism is essential to the process of arguing. If it were the basic purpose for the Other merely to evaluate the argument offered by the arguer, then the Other could simply apply the criteria and make his or her evaluation. But because the practice of argumentation has a different telos, the Other is called on not just to evaluate but also to criticize. What forms such criticisms should take is a matter that has partly been dealt with in this chapter: are the premises relevant, and so on. I have more to say on the topic of what counts as good criticism in the next chapter. Rules Regarding Process Thus, we may say that the process of arguing is a good one provided the following conditions obtain: The arguer presents the case in a rational manner. The critic responds to the argument in a rational manner. The argument is subjected to review in the light of the criticisms that are offered. An appropriate response to the criticism is given. All of these are required in the process of arguing to meet the constraints of manifest rationality. Thus, for example, if an arguer received criticism, acknowledged its force, but did not appropriately revise the argument, then that part of the process would no longer appear to be rational. Of course, these rules are general and require the kind of specification that dialogical approaches offer. I shall not myself attempt any such specification. 14 Is it coincidental that dialogue theorists seem to work in pairs?

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Normative Conditions Regarding the Person or the Arguer Once the arguer has put the argument before the audience, their obligation is to respond to the argument and direct reflective energies toward it. The arguer fades from the scene. The argument can be evaluated and criticized even if nothing is known about the arguer. Plato's argument for the pre-existence of the soul can be evaluated without taking Plato's own personality and character into consideration. It may be that something about the milieu in which the argument occurred will need to be known in order to understand the argument or its force. But, so traditional theory goes, the person of the arguer is off limits. Attacking the arguer as a way of getting at the argument is the traditional fallacy known as ad hominem. A strong consideration in favor of this view is evident in the process of blind refereeing. Here the idea is to make sure that the referee does not know the identity of the arguer, lest it influence evaluation. Built into this practice is the belief that it is entirely possible for the referee to render a fair and informed verdict on the argument without knowing anything about the arguer's identity. The argument, as it were, speaks for itself. There is validity to this way of thinking, but there are also limits. There are circumstances in which the arguer himself becomes a legitimate focus, and I want to know what these are. In the first place, there are exceptions to the basic rule that says that when the arguer has represented the argument, attention must be directed away from the arguer and toward the argument itself. What are these exceptions? Credibility. If the arguer puts forth a premise and in doing so appeals to his or her credibility, then it is legitimate for the critic to challenge that credibility. This might look like an ad hominem (typically a circumstantial one), but it would not be a case of attacking the arguer instead of the argument; rather, it will be a case of attacking the argument by attacking the arguer. The focus of the attack would have to be limited to those matters related to the arguer's credibility. An attack on other aspects of the arguer's character would not be allowed. Conflict of Interest or Bias. Any arguer has an interest in the conclusion. That does not open automatically the door to an attack on the person. Otherwise, such attacks would always be legitimate because the arguer almost always has this vested interest. So when is the conflict of interest normatively inappropriate? When the arguer's argument especially depends on expertise and there is reason to believe that the arguer had a conflict of interest, then it is legitimate for the critic to point that out.

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Issues of Character. Sometimes the character of the arguer is a legitimate topic of concern. Thus, when someone is a candidate for public office, that person will likely put forth proposals for policies, arguments, position papers, and such. It is legitimate for the critic to raise issues that have to do with the character of the arguer andor candidate. Not any and all are legitimate, but some are. For example, in recent years, the question has been debated whether marital infidelity by a politician is relevant in assessing character as it pertains to office. Complaints to the effect that the arguer is closed-minded or biased are perhaps best interpreted not so much as attempts to criticize the argument but rather an objection that the arguer is not really living up to the spirit of the practice. In other words, it is a complaint about the arguer to the effect that he or she is not satisfying the requirements of the process. It amounts to a claim of bad faith. Like all such claims, these may be true and warranted or not. But such complaints do not reveal any inherent weakness in the argument itself. Over and above these considerations, there are legitimate expectations that may be placed on participants in the practice of argumentation. And where those are or appear to be violated, then it may be said that the norms on the arguer have not been satisfied. To see what these are, I need to look at the normative conditions on the practice. Normative Conditions on the Practice Like any other mode of human activity, practices are subject to critique. For example, the practice of having a bride adopt the last name of her husband has been criticized and, as a result of that criticism, the practice is changing. It has been criticized because one of its preconditions (the assumption that the woman is subject to the man; that she is in effect a kind of property) is no longer a viable assumption. In many locations in North America, the practice of going from house to house on Halloween (trick-or-treating, it is called in some places) is on the wane, not because people were upset with or critical of the practice (although some were) but because some have abused the practice. An absolute precondition of this practice is the assumption of good will: that people giving children treats would do just that. When some deranged souls began to insert razor blades into apples or other fruit, the trust that was required for the practice began to erode. The issue of under what conditions a practice remains healthy is not one that can be discussed at great length here. Suffice it to say that the practice of argumentation as an ongoing cultural form depends on a number of conditions, and as I showed in my discussion in chapter 1, there are reasons to wonder how many of them contemporary North American culture satisfies.

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Conclusion Having discussed the normative conditions on the process, the arguer, and the practice, I now propose to review the theory of evaluation proposed here in light of the adequacy conditions set forth in chapter 2 and discussed in preliminary fashion at the end of chapter 5. Satisfaction of the Adequacy Conditions In the last two chapters, I have sketched or outlined a new approach to the theory of argument and presented the elements of both a theory of analysis and a theory of appraisal. I want to show that, at least in principle, this theory is capable of meeting the adequacy conditions set forth in chapter 2. Adequacy Condition 1 The theory must contain a definition of argument and the elements that constitute an argument. Discussion. The theory that I propose does satisfy this condition. An argument is viewed as a part of the practice of argumentation. Against the traditional view that an argument is a certain structure, I developed a more pragmatic view that stresses purpose and that reveals the structure to be far more complex than the traditional view would suggest. An argument must contain an illative core but also a dialectical tier. Adequacy Condition 2 The theory must contain an account of how to understand the structure of arguments and how that structure may be displayed in a clear and precise manner. Discussion. The theory I have proposed does not take a specific stand on this important matter. It is clear that whatever method of display is adopted, it must be sufficiently complex to embrace the two-tier structure of argument revealed by analysis in chapter 6. As I showed in chapter 5, there are a number of initiatives for approaching the task of understanding and displaying the structure of arguments that seem to have promise. So there is good reason to think that an approach coming out of the tradition of informal logic, suitably fortified can satisfy this requirement.

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Adequacy Condition 3 The theory must contain a theory of appraisal that recognizes that there can be good arguments for a given position as well as good arguments against it. Discussion. The theory discussed in this chapter allows for this in principle. That is, the situation presented in Fig. 7.1 can occur. According to the theory I propose, both arguments can be good, for both can satisfy the criteria for the illative core. Relevance. It seems clear that any account of relevance that satisfied the conditions sketched in this chapter will allow for this condition to be satisfied. That is, that P1 through P3 will be relevant to C1 and P4 through P6 will be relevant to C2. This will likely be because the two premise sets are heterogeneous; that is, no premise for A1 is such that it is incompatible with any premise for A2. Sufficiency. Can both arguments satisfy the sufficiency requirement? It would seem not, for if P1 through P3 are sufficient for C1 and C1 is contradictory to C2, then it would seem that P1 through P3 are sufficient to show not-C2. Here, it is important to remember that it is not unusual for different sides in the argument to point to different pieces of evidence. In other words, the premises in such a case will likely be heterogeneous and compatible. In scientific studies, this is often the case. One set of studies provides very good evidence that high levels of cholesterol are associated with CAD, whereas another reputable set of studies shows just the opposite. Further,

Fig. 7.1 Schema showing possibility of good argument for conflicting propositions.

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it should be recalled that the sufficiency criterion has been interpreted as a matter of degree. Acceptability. It will be asked whether in the previous situation both arguments can satisfy the acceptability requirement. I believe the answer is yes. Appropriately understood, it is possible for someone accept P1 through P3 and also to accept P4 through P6. In part this is because acceptance is relative and also because acceptance of P is not incompatible with acceptance of not-P. The cost of this approach makes some uncomfortable paying it, for it raises the general issue of relativism that must be dealt with in a later chapter. Truth. Can both premise sets satisfy the truth requirement? Clearly they can, if they are heterogeneous, as discussed previously. The problem would occur if, for example, any of P1 through P3 and any of P4 through P6 were contradictory; clearly, it is not possible for both arguments to also satisfy the truth requirement. I discuss this problem in chapter 11. Looking now at the dialectical tier, A1 and A2 might both be comparable. They might deal with different objections or they would handle some of the same objections and criticisms, but differently. I want to pause here to take stock of a consequence of this condition. I have just argued that the theory of argument I have proposed can satisfy Adequacy Condition 3. A further consequence of this needs to be noted here: If there is a good argument for not-T, then no argument for T will be conclusive. What this shows is that it is not necessary that an argument be conclusive in order for it to be a good argument. This view conflicts with a long-standing bias in logic and philosophy that would seek to make conclusiveness a requirement of a really good argument. More about this in the next chapter. Adequacy Condition 4 The theory of appraisal must allow that arguments exist in a continuum from strong to weak. Discussion. Because all of the criteria in my theory admit of degrees of satisfaction, it would seem to follow that, on this theory, arguments can occupy all points in the spectrum from strong to weak. Adequacy Condition 5 The criteria for the appraisal of argument should be such that, in principle, the ordinary reasoner can decide whether or not these are satisfied in a given instance. In short, the criteria should be user-friendly.

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Discussion. All of the criteria that belong to our theory of appraisal are accessible, even though not everyone has the same degree of capacity to use these terms. Adequacy Condition 6 The theory of appraisal must be such as to allow for fruitful criticism. This condition will be shown to be satisfied by developments in the next two chapters. Adequacy Condition 7 The criteria must be justified as to their appropriateness for the tasks assigned. This I have done. Conclusion In this chapter, I outlined a theory of evaluation that comes out of the informal logic tradition. I saw that this theory is not without its problems, chiefly a less-than-satisfactory theoretical articulation of some of its fundamental criteria, particularly relevance. I also saw several problems emerge (The Integration Problem, The Application Problem, and The Completeness Problem), which are discussed in chapter 11. More recently, I argued that informal logic appears to be capable of providing an adequate theory of argument. Because I have made much of the difference between evaluation and criticism, I need to show how informal logic's theory of appraisal can also yield a theory of criticism and satisfy the demands of strong criticism. I turn to that task in the next chapter.

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Chapter 8 Principles of Criticism Rilke said, ''A work of art is a work of infinite loneliness and with nothing to be reached so little as with criticism." Argumentation, on the other hand, is work of the minda dialectical undertaking that looks forward to the moment of critical inspection. The purpose of this chapter is to present the outlines of a theory of criticism. I begin by distinguishing between evaluation and criticism, after which I present and discuss several principles of criticism. Two levels of principle emerge. First, I discuss two metaprinciples: the principle of vulnerability and the principle of parity. Then I discuss two first-order principles: the principle of discrimination and the principle of logical neutrality. The justification for each principle takes the form of showing that the principle must be assumed if I am to make sense of argumentation in the way I discussed it in chapter 6, particularly for it to be conducted as an exercise in manifest rationality. Two of the principles discussedthe principle of discrimination and the principle of logical neutralityhave received prior articulations in the literature, but to the best of my knowledge, the other twothe principle of vulnerability and the principle of parityhave not. Criticism and Evaluation Introduction To set the stage for this discussion, recall that Adequacy Condition 4 for the theory of argumentmight be called The Continuum Hypothesis for Argumentationstated that arguments exist in a continuum from strong to weak.

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To repeat some of what was said in chapter 2, this hypothesis seems reasonable enough. Arguments are, after all, a human product and so may be expected to run the same range as other human inventions. Most arguments fall somewhere in the middle part of the range. That being so, it stands to reason that almost all arguments can be improved. But how will this improvement occur? The arguer can attempt to find the weak spots in the argument, and a skilled arguer can become a good critic of his or her own argument. But if the arguer were able to locate every weakness, they would have been eliminated and, thus, a different argument would have been constructed. At some point, then, the arguer's capacity for self-criticism runs out, and the arguer says, "good enough" and puts the argument forth to persuade the Other. What will happen next? It is natural that the arguer hope for a favorable evaluation. The arguer might like nothing better than for the critic to say, "Yes, that's a good argument; it satisfies all the criteria; I find myself persuaded by it." At some level, the arguer perhaps believes that the argument will resolve the issue, perhaps even think that the argument is conclusive. However, such outcomes are much less likely than another, where the critic reviews the argument and finds it wanting (in terms of the appropriate criteria). If the argument has any degree of complexity, the critic will find more than one problem. Thus, the critic says, "Well, it's not a bad argument; it has some good points, but . . . " and proceeds to list some of the problems with the argument. The Other has moved beyond the moment of simple evaluation and moved into the role of a critic. The moment of criticism begins when the Other sees the evaluation as a springboard for providing feedback for the arguer. It is no longer for the Other. It is now for the arguer's benefit. The simplest form of criticism would be for the critic simply to itemize the flaws that have been found. However, for this articulation to qualify as genuine criticism, it should exhibit the same qualities as the argument at which it is directed. That is to say, the criticism will be reasoned. The critic must provide not just the evaluation but the reasoning behind it. Without such articulation, the criticism, even if rational, will not appear to be rational. The critic would be making claims but not supporting them with reasonshardly in keeping with his or her role and responsibilities in the practice of argumentation as I have described it here. In this way, then, the Other moves beyond mere evaluation to criticism. The important issue I want to address is: What counts as good criticism of argument? My answer is that the requirement of manifest rationality dictates that this process of criticizing an argument take place within certain constraints and abide by certain principles. I shortly bring forward my candidates. Before that, I want to complete the discussion of criticism and how it differs from evaluation. The difference is important because, in my view, traditional logic has been more focused on evaluation than on criticism. One

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of the contributions of informal logic has been to recognize the difference between them and the importance of criticism. Evaluation and Criticism Distinguished I have claimed that there is a difference between criticism and evaluation and have hinted at what the difference is. It is now time to discuss this issue in greater detail.1 By evaluation, I understand the process (or the result of the process) of assessing a product (I use the term here very loosely) in terms of criteria (or set of criteria), where the purpose of such assessment is for the evaluator to establish the value of the product. The main function an evaluation serves is to contribute to the evaluator's knowledge and understanding, typically as a prelude to decision or action. Suppose that I am shopping for a used car. I have determined that what is most important for me is that the car get good mileage, be less than $3,000, and be between 5 and 7 years old. Those are my criteria for evaluation. I may evaluate a particular car in terms of this set of criteria and the result of that evaluation will be an overall judgment of how good the car is: Very Good, Good, and so forth. The purpose of the evaluation is internal, to help me to decide whether or not I am interested in purchasing that car. I do the evaluation for myself. I may share this evaluation with a salesman, or I may not. It does not matter, given the purpose at hand, whether I share the evaluation with others. It can be argued, of course, that my evaluation will be better if I share it. In any event, it may be said that evaluation (of this sort) is monolectical, meaning that its primary function is to develop a rationale for the agent doing the evaluation. By criticism, on the other hand, I understand the articulated and reasoned evaluation of something communicated to the creator with the view that it will help improve the product.2 Criticism goes beyond evaluation in that it must take into account the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the product and is intended for the one who produced the argument as a vehicle whereby the argument may be improved. Thus, it may be said that criticism is part of a dialectical process, whereas evaluation is not. With this in mind, consider the difference between the assessment of a skater's performance by the judge (which I would classify as an evaluation) and the assessment by the coach (which I would regard as criticism). The judge holds up card with his or her rating5.1 out of 6. That is the evaluation. There is no justification, no mention of strengths and weaknesses (although these may have occurred in the deliberation leading up to the evaluation). 1 For a different view of the relationship between evaluation and criticism, see Scriven (1991). 2 Finocchiaro (1994) noted that "'criticism' tends to have a negative connotation, in the sense of negative evaluation" (p. 21).

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The evaluation plays its role in this way. The absence of a developed and articulated rationale is not an impediment to its achieving its purpose. The coach, on the other hand, may not assign a rating or grade at all to the performance but will critique the skater's performance. The coach will discuss with the skater the strong and the weak points in the performance, and this is done precisely to help the skater achieve a stronger performance the next time. Here the assignment of a grade or an evaluation is strictly secondary. Here the presence of a developed and articulated rationale is essential. Given this understanding, it seems to follow that it is possible to evaluate an argument without criticizing it, and alsoalthough perhaps much less likelyto criticize without evaluating. The two processes are alike in that each process makes reference to some criteria. They differ in their context and purpose. A theory of evaluation would have the task of developing the appropriate criteria for judgment. A theory of evaluation for arguments would propose criteria according to which an argument is to be evaluated as good or bad, strong or weak (whatever evaluative criteria are central to the theory.) A theory of criticism has the task of providing guidance about the weighting and the integration of the criteria used in the evaluation of arguments, and of generally laying down the guidelines by which the process of criticism is carried out. A theory of criticism for arguments would discuss the nature of criticism and develop principles of criticism. Thus, although evaluation and criticism both make use of criteria, criticism is a more complex undertaking that requires not only that potential difficulties in the argument be located but that they be presented in such a way as to maximize the chance that this feedback will help the arguer revise the argument. Criticism so understood is not necessarily a negative thing. Criticism includes the idea that the critic must take account of strengths of the argument as well as the weaknesses. In our culture, the term "criticism" has, unfortunately, acquired a negative connotation. It means an adverse judgment or evaluation. Here's an example of such usage: People find it a whole lot easier to be critical of others in another part of the country. To be critical of people they will never have to face. It takes a little more courage to question the actions of people in your own neighborhood.3 Here, being critical means making some form of adverse judgment. In intellectual work, however, we are accustomed to speak of teaching students to develop the critical spirit,4 and we teach subjects like literary 3 Charlie Vincent, "NIT pickers, Rose dial the wrong numbers," Detroit Free Press, C1, March 15 (1994). 4 This phrase is prominent in Siegel (1988).

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criticism. Here, criticism means something closer to its original meaning of good judgment and appreciation. The word derives from the Greek word krineinfrom which come the words "critic" and "critical"which means to estimate the value of something. Thus, a critic is a person who judges, appreciates, and estimates the value of something.5 One psychologist made the following observations about criticism: There is one thing that everyone wants to give and no one wants to receive. Criticism. You can call it "correction," "feedback," "guidance," or any nicer sounding name, but most people still hate it. It is a rare person who likes criticisms . . . Yet it is crucial. After all, how can we know if we're doing a good job if our strengths and weaknesses aren't evaluated and told to us. This is well said. Notice the tension between the idea of criticism as something that no one wants (because it is negative) and criticism as helping us see our strengths and weaknesses (which some people do want). The same psychologist then stated: "The truly wise and strong will actively solicit criticism. They want it, chase it, and are excited . . . because it is an opportunity to learn." This remark certainly applies in the practice of argumentation as I have been describing it here. Once the arguer has produced an argument, the arguer will want feedback, if indeed the purpose of the argument is (as I have imagined it to be) rational persuasion. If the purpose of the exercise were just to cow the Other into submission or to make the arguer feel good about himself, then criticism and feedback would not be unwelcome. But I am supposing the contrary. The arguer is thus essentially interested in receiving criticism; if no criticism should come his way, then the arguer will make arrangements to go out and get some. An Illustration I want to bring the discussion to a close with an illustration from university life. There is a variety of responses that an instructor may provide when marking student papers. Over the years, I have observed that such responses tend to fall into three types. 5 I am indebted to Margaret Lee (April, 1989) for the following account of the changing meaning of the word "critical": "Critical" is a word with an interesting story. Suggested synonyms are indicative of the first and most popular understanding of the wordfaultfinding, captious, cavilling, carping and censorious. The OED traces the changing nuances from the first usenotably by Shakespeare's Othello: 'I am nothing if not critical,'meaning "given to judging in an especially adverse or unfavourable way"to Sir Thomas Browne's use in the 17th century meaning 'involving or exercising careful judgement or observation on the basis of which right decisions might be made' to the use by Thomas Jefferson of critical as 'a turning point of decisive importance in relation to an issue.'"

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Type 1. The instructor assigns a grade to the paper, but there is no or very little commentary. Such an evaluation serves the purpose of assigning a grade and the needs of marking, but it is of little help to the student. (Many students do not care about the feedback; they are only interested in the grade). Type 2. The instructor assigns a grade and makes copious comments about the paper's problems, but does not, in the end, provide any perspective or overview about these many criticisms. This is what I would call criticism. Such feedback will undoubtedly meet not only the needs of the registrar (who records the grades) but will also allow the student to improve the product if he or she is willing. But there is a danger that the student will get bogged down in the many details while missing the big picture. Hence, I come to the third type of response. Type 3. The instructor does all that the instructor for Type 2 did but, in addition, rank orders his or her comments. That is, they are all put into an overall perspective. It seems to me that this is the most useful kind of feedback for the students, and, hence, the one that best serves the practice of argumentation. In the terminology to be introduced later, the instructor who engages in Type 3 response has followed the principle of discrimination to be discussed later this chapter, whereas the Type 2 instructor has not. (It is possible that an instructor's giving a student an "F" might so enrage the student that he makes it his life's work to rewrite the paper and get it published. Here the mere fact of negative evaluation caused the improvement of the product.6 Yet this will not generally be the case.) As thus understood, criticism is internal and essential to the process of arguing. This important insight is one of the fruits of the theory of argument presented in chapters 5 and 6. What, then, shall be the guiding principles of criticism for arguments? Here we need to recall that argumentation as a practice is characterized by three features: (a) it is teleological; (b) it is dialectical; (c) it is manifestly rational. If criticism is to be part of this practice, then it too must exhibit the same features. What, then, is the purpose of argument criticism? One can assign many possible purposes or ends; but if the purpose of argument is to get at the truth or to arrive at the best possible view of the matter and in this way to persuade rationally, I will assign this same telos to criticism. Its purpose is not just to show the arguer where he is wrong, nor yet to destroy the argument as if this were an exercise in intellectual fighting and sparring (which it has often been confused with). The purpose must rather be to provide the arguer with feedback that will help in the reassessment of his own product. 6 On the different roles of negative and positive evaluation, see Finocchiaro (1994).

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It follows that such criticism must itself be reasoned; that is, the arguer must not just make claims but must back them up by referring to the argument itself. Such criticism must be balanced; because we may well expect a priori that the argument has both strengths and weaknesses, the critic will take account of both. Because it is in the areas where it is weak that the argument requires improvement, the critic will focus on these. More about this shortly. A further benefit from the distinction between evaluation and criticism is that it helps the difference between formal and informal logic become clearer. We are now in a better position to appreciate the distinction between them drawn in chapter 6. There, I stated that formal deductive logic is concerned with providing a normative theory of evaluation for implication; inductive logic is concerned with providing a normative theory of evaluation for inference; informal logic is concerned with providing a normative theory of criticism for argumentation. FDL provides a theory of evaluation (although not a theory of criticism) whose best application is to inference. The standard of evaluation is soundnessthe premises must be true premises and the inference must be valid. One takes the inference and evaluates it as good or bad, depending on whether it is sound or not. If it were to turn out that the premises are false and the argument is invalid, one is not expected to decide which of these flaws is more serious.7 One reason traditional logicians overlooked the difference between evaluation and criticism is the way that inference/ implication and argument coalesced. Arguments by their nature require criticism, whereas, as we have seen, neither inferences nor implications do. Absent the distinction between inference and argument, you have ipso facto taken the ground out from underneath the distinction between evaluation and criticism. Having distinguished between evaluation and criticism, I now go on to discuss four principles of criticism. The Principle of Vulnerability8 Statement of the Principle The principle of vulnerability plays a role in the realm of argumentation similar to the role that Popper envisaged for the principle of falsifiability in 7 FDL can be so extended, as Hansen reminded me in private correspondence. But even if that is true, it still seems to me that FDL is better suited to render decisions about the validity of implications than the goodness of arguments. 8 Earlier versions of the principle discussed in this section were delivered at the Conference on Argumentation and Education, sponsored by the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation, May 5 through 7, 1995 at Brock University; at Conference 95 on Critical Thinking (footnote continued on next page)

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the realm of scientific theorya way of demarcating between the genuine and the bogus. To be a legitimate scientific theory, according to Popper, a theory must be falsifiable. Likewise, to be a legitimate argument, an argument must be vulnerable to criticism. This principle applies, in the first instance, to the arguer. Observance of this principle is fundamental in the practice of argumentation for it opens the door to criticism. Violation of it closes the door. Although some such principle is implicit in many accounts of argumentation, it has rarely been made explicit. Van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1992) included something like the principle of vulnerability as one of their ten rules for rational discourse: "Parties must not prevent each other from advancing standpoints or casting doubts on standpoints" (p. 208). They described the specific phenomenon I am talking about by saying, "This may also happen by declaring particular standpoints sacrosanct, so that the opponent is prohibited from casting doubt on them and they are rendered immune to criticism" (p. 108).9 They pointed out that doing this is "putting obstacles to the development of a critical discussion" (p. 108). Fogelin (1978) also touched on this principle when he referred to what he called selfsealing arguments, "So far, we have seen two ways in which an argument can be self-sealing: (1) it can invent an ad hoc or arbitrary way of dismissing every possible criticism. . . . (2) A theory can counter criticism by attacking its critics" (p. 98). His first point describes a way of violating the principle I am discussing here. My point is that an argument that displays this feature is not a genuine argument. It may look like an argument, it may have all the elements of an argument, but if the arguer claims to have insulated the argument against all possible criticism, then this is no arguer and no argument. Violations of the Principle There are two different ways in which an arguer might violate the principle of vulnerability. The first and most obvious form of insulation occurs when the arguer seeks to undermine (or dismiss) in advance every possible criti(footnote continued from previous page) and Informal Logic at George Mason University, June 15 through 18, 1995; and at the 15th Annual Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform, Sonoma State University, August 3 through 6, 1995. I am very grateful to all those who have challenged my views and thus helped me to say more clearly and cogently what I want to say. Particular thanks are due to Jonathan Adler and Chris Tindale. 9 See their discussion of this in chapter 9. Their basic defense is in terms of the ideal of freedom of speech, although they also suggested that the attempt to restrict discussion is wrong because "it puts obstacles to the development of a critical discussion" (p. 108) and that such action is "an attempt to eliminate him as a serious partner in the discussion" (p. 108).

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cism.10 Will (1994) attributed a move something like this to Catherine MacKinnon: MacKinnon reasons serenely, as fanatics do, within a closed circle of logic: If you do not see our wicked society as she does, that just proves how wickedly society has "constructed" your false consciousness. Thus all critics are dismissable.11 I do not here take a position on whether MacKinnon is guilty as charged but rather merely use this situation as a possible illustration of one way of violating the principle. Another example is furnished by an anecdote about a student who sought to challenge the viewpoint being presented by the professor in a University class. The professor told the student, "This is not subject to argument or disagreement; it has been conclusively established by consensus!" I take this response to be equivalent to the assertion that the argument under consideration was immune to criticism and so could not be criticized. (I find it incredible that this should have been said in a university.)12 A second way the principle can be violated occurs when the arguer continues to reject every criticism directed against the argument. The arguer puts forth the argument; someone lodges a criticism of the argument; the arguer rejects that criticism as invalid. Someone else puts forth another criticism; the arguer rejects it. A third person puts forth a criticism; the arguer rejects it. Now, a certain amount of this is compatible with the conviction that naturally accompanies the arguer who has done his or her homework, has even anticipated objections and has been able, so he or she thinks, to deflect them. However, if this pattern continues, one begins to suspect that the arguer is not prepared to countenance any criticism as legitimate and it may be suspected that the arguer regards his argument as insulated against all possible criticism. Such insulation violates the principle of vulnerability. Here it is natural to think of Flew's (1955, p. 99) challenge where he put this question to the symposiasts: "What would have to occur or to have occurred to constitute for you a disproof of the love of, or the existence of, God?"13 In my terms, Flew asked these symposiasts, particularly those who argue that God exists or that God loves us, what might count against their argument. He asked them to indicate the vulnerability of their positions. 10 Gilbert suggested calling this the global approach. 11 Will (1994). 12 Perhaps I should not be so surprised. After all, there is, as James reminded me, a little dogmatist lurking behind the scene in all of us. 13 Flew's challenge bears obvious debts to Popper's views about falsifiability.

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(The very same request could be directed to atheists, agnostics, and, indeed, to Flew himself.) It is customary to point out that in the case of empirical theories, the proponent must be prepared to indicate what would cause the abandonment of the theory. The same is true of arguments. It is perfectly legitimate to ask the arguer, "What would or could upset your argument?" The arguer may not know the answer to this question in some cases. All the same, the arguer must be prepared to concede at least the possibility of such a challenge. There are, then, these two distinct ways of violating the principle, both of which give the appearance of the argument's having been insulated against criticism. It is important to distinguish violation of this principle from the legitimateindeed, necessarystep in which the arguer seeks to discharge the dialectical duties by taking on and defusing objections and criticisms. It might be asked, "Is not the arguer here aiming at making the argument conclusive, hence invulnerable to criticism? What is wrong with that?" The difference between the two situations is this: In the former case, the arguer attempts to determine in advance and disarm all legitimate criticism. In the latter case, the arguer acknowledges the legitimacy of certain types of criticism and seeks to show how his or her position handles them. Having formulated the principle and discussed violation, I can now formulate it more clearly: The arguer may not represent his or her argument as invulnerable to legitimate criticism. I turn next to the task of justifying the principle. Justification of the Principle The justification of this principle is found at two levels. The basic line of justification stems from the very nature of argumentation as I have discussed it. At a certain point, this line of justification merges with empirical considerations about argumentation. The a Priori Justification The justification for the principle of vulnerability rests on the fact that, by its very nature, an argument is open to, indeed in some sense expects, criticism. The attempt to forestall criticism altogether endangers the practice because (a) it does not accord with the telos of rational persuasion, (b) it violates the dialectical nature of argumentation, and (c) it violates manifest rationality.

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Take the last point firstthat such insulation violates manifest rationality. An arguer who represents the argument as invulnerable to criticism will appear to be a fanatic, a zealot, and will certainly not be thought to be operating in accord with the requirements of manifest rationality. That the move violates dialecticality is obvious, for the arguer who wishes to persuade rationally but will not listen to criticism in effect is turning his or her back on the Other, refusing to take any criticisms or objections. It is as if to say, ''I cannot learn anything from you." Such a posture is not in keeping with the practice of argumentation and undermines the dialectical nature of the process. Finally, an arguer who represents the argument as uncriticizable is not being respectful of the aim of rational persuasion and, in fact, is not acting rationally. It is not rational to act as if one's argument was perfect and beyond the pale of criticism. The arguer's obligation to face criticism is noted by Johnstone (1978) in his discussion of philosophical argumentation: "I shall begin by remarking that it is commonly supposed that anyone who makes a philosophical statement is under some obligation to respond to the criticisms of those to whom the statement is addressed." (p. 14). The basis for this supposition must be the understanding of the practice of argumentation as an exercise in rationality. What Johnstone said of philosophical argument, I would generalize to cover argumentation of all sorts. Johnstone continued: He need not, of course, reply to all criticisms or questions. But associated with any philosophical statement is a class of criticisms and questions more or less relevant to the statement and with these he must deal. His critic is naturally under a similar obligation. (p. 14) Here Johnstone invoked the principle of parity to be discussed in the next section. I want now to shift to the empirical dimension of the problem of the justification of the principle. The Empirical Dimension of Justification The empirical dimension of justification emerges from reflection on both the kind of thing an argument is as well as the history of the practice. First, arguments are human products; hence, liable one and all to be defective in some respect. As arguers, we commit recurrent flawssome would call them fallaciessuch as failing to consider relevant evidence distorting the position we wish to criticize, or engaging in irrelevancies. In Johnson and Blair (1993) the authors wrote: "Rarely is an argument so good that it cannot profit from criticism and seldom is an argument so bad that

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it cannot be improved by criticism" (p. 43). (In effect, this is a descriptive version of the principle of vulnerability.) But, it might be responded, although it is generally true that arguments will have defects that criticism will reveal, there is nothing in principle that would rule out the possibility of a flawless argument that would not be vulnerable to legitimate criticism. After all, one occasionally hears talk of a flawless performance by a pianist or remember how many 10s Olga Korbut racked up in the 1976 Olympics. So why is the same thing not possible in the realm of argumentation? What is different about argumentation that would entail this result? Here, it seems to me, we can, with profit, consider the history of the practice of argumentation. Although some arguers have sought to render their arguments immune to criticism, none have ever successfully done so. To my knowledge, there has never been a serious argument put forth by a serious arguer that has not been thought criticizable and in fact been criticized. Not Plato, not Kant, not Russell, not Marxno philosopher has been in this position with respect to any of his arguments. None has put forward an argument that has not been subjected to legitimate criticism. Nor did any of them represent their arguments as invulnerable. If these great dialectical talents in a discipline that especially emphasizes the practice of argumentation have not been able to to construct conclusive arguments, then it is not likely that lesser minds will be able to do so. Let me approach this same point from a different angle. Suppose that there was such an argument, one that was conclusive and hence invulnerable to criticism. That would certainly be a remarkable achievement. If we did know of such a specimen (and I take it for granted that we would), then we would certainly call attention to it in our teachings. We would haul this magnificent piece of reasoning out and say, "Ecce! Behold this perfect specimen." Logic texts would include it and display it prominently. But no such argument is on display and for good reasonno such argument exists. The empirical line of justification thus revolves around what I take to be a fact and that is there are not and have not been any conclusive arguments. If there were conclusive arguments, then there would be arguments that could rightly be said to be invulnerable to criticism and vice-versa; if there were arguments that really were invulnerable to legitimate criticism, they would be conclusive. Before I present my argument for this telling fact, however, I need to do two things. First, I need to distinguish the claim I am making here from another to which it might be assimilated. Second, I need to consider an objection that would undermine this entire line of reasoning. First, I want to distinguish between my position and the position that there are no conclusive statements. I do not hold that view and certainly

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am not arguing for it here. I believe that there are conclusive statements. Some examples would be statements that record perceptions, sense datum type statements, and certain analytic truths. I also believe that certain sorts of mundane statements are conclusive: that is, the Green Bay Packers won the first Super Bowl, beating Oakland 35 to 7 in 1967. But now there develops the following objection, "What about, for example, those who wish to argue that the Holocaust never happened? Isn't your view that there are no conclusive arguments just an inducement to such people to take wild and irresponsible positions and to defend their right to do so by citing the claim that no arguments are conclusive?"14 My response to this objection is two-fold. First, even among those who believe that it is incontrovertible that there was a Holocaust, it does not follow that the arguments for this assertion are unimpeachable. In other words, it may well be the case that the conclusion is as true as any empirical statement of fact could be; yet the argument for the claim may well be a poor argument. And if we take the view (the opposite to the one proposed here) that such arguments are invulnerable because we happen to believe in the truth of their conclusions, we have taken a position that is at odds with the practice of argumentation. Second, this objection is no more a problem for my position than it is for any other theory of argument that takes argumentation to involve something as fundamental as the right to freedom of speech. Next there is an objection, from Adler, that would undercut this whole empirical line of justification. That objection hinges on the claim that the connection I have made between being conclusive and being criticizable is a red herring. Adler argued along the following lines: Even if an argument is conclusive, that does not mean that it would not be criticizable. For even if I have produced a conclusive argument (and so may be said to know that the conclusion is true, given the premises), still it does not follow that I know that I know; and this is what the criticism of the argument would show. Hence even conclusive arguments are criticizable. Adler was right to point out that there is a difference between whether an argument is conclusive and whether the arguer is justified in claiming that it is conclusive. That is, if one holds that there are conclusive arguments, one might well hold that the arguer cannot know or believe justifiably that this is so until the argument has been tested against criticisms. I am justified 14 An objection much like this was raised by Tindale in his commentary in an earlier version of this paper, delivered at the Conference in Argument and Education of Ontario Society for Study of Argumentation, May, 1995. I am grateful to him for this and other helpful criticisms.

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in claiming that my argument is conclusive only when I show how the argument responds to legitimate criticisms. Hence, it would follow that my approach here is a red herring because the question of whether the argument is conclusive is irrelevant to whether it is subject to legitimate criticism. The difference between Adler's position and mine is on the first-order issue of whether there are conclusive arguments; that is, arguments that were not subject to any legitimate criticism or a criticism that shows that one of the criteria for its being a good argument is not satisfied. He believed that there are such; I do not. I proceed now to argue that there are no conclusive arguments.15 Here is how I argue the case: I begin by clarifying what is meant by a conclusive argument and what is required for an argument to be conclusive. Next, I discharge burden of proof by arguing that there is good reason to think that no argument has ever satisfied these conditions. Third, I discuss alleged counterexamples to my claim. Fourth, I argue that the argument has shifted the burden so that the other side now has the burden of proof. Requirements for a Conclusive Argument To begin the discussion of what a conclusive argument would look like, consider the following nominal definition: DF: A conclusive argument is an argument that conclusively established its conclusion as true on the basis of the premises offered. If there were such arguments, then there would be arguments that were invulnerable to legitimate criticism. If there are not such, or if there is good reason to believe that there is not such, then there is good reason to believe that any argument will be criticizable and, hence, the attempt to immunize it against such criticism is mistaken or misguided. By legitimate criticism, I mean reasoned criticism directed at the argument (as distinct from the arguer) and specified in terms of the normative criteria discussed in chapter 7 (or in terms of some other theory). In other words, simply to dispute a crucial premise without supporting that with reasons would not, in my view, count as legitimate criticism because it would fail to satisfy the requirements of rationality and manifest rationality. What, then, would a conclusive argument look like? Much depends on how we understand the term "argument." At this point, I need to pause to consider yet another objection that goes this way: There are conclusive arguments; proofs are conclusive and they are arguments. 15 Siegel suggested that this view is really just fallibilism applied to the realm of argument.

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Proof Contrasted with Argument My response to this objection is to concede that proofs are conclusive and yet to deny that they are arguments. A proof and an argument have something in common: both are instruments of rational persuasion. They are different in crucial respects. To see that, I must ask: What is meant here by a proof? The term proof is wide-ranging, covering everything from the formidable structures developed by mathematicians to the proof of age or citizenship that consists in possessing and showing a document of a certain type. There are different standards of proof, from the mathematical requirement that the conclusion be established as necessary given the premises to the different standards in criminal and civil law (absence of reasonable doubt vs. preponderance of evidence) to the somewhat weaker standards implicit in the practice of furnishing a driver's license as proof of age. Arguments, it has been suggested, similarly range from those that are deductive (in which the conclusion follows necessarily as in proofs) to those that are inductive to those that are conductive. Arguments, like proofs, aim at rational persuasion. Thus, it is natural enough to see an analogy between argument and proof. I assume that the sort of proof at issue in this objection is the sort found in the mathematics. Proof of age is always defeasible, never conclusive; even in a criminal case where the evidence is overwhelming, there is always the possibility that the argument will be revised on appeal and so is not conclusive. If we are looking for conclusive arguments, we can do no better than take the paradigm of mathematical proofs; for example, the proof that there is no greatest prime number. Here, a proof is a sequence of steps, each of which is either an axiom (or an otherwise incontestable step) or a valid derivation from previously accepted lines. The issue is whether such reasoning may properly be cited as an example of a conclusive argument. Indeed, the question I want to ask is: Is a proof properly termed an argument at all? Here, again, much depends on one's conception of argument. Of the traditional conception, one might well say that such sequences are arguments, for the traditional conception of argument is a formalstructural one: An argument is a certain type of formal structure, consisting of premises leading to a conclusion. There is a striking similarity between proof and argument in the traditional (formalstructural) sense. The conclusion I draw from this is that this conception of argument is inadequate because it analogizes proof with argument. Given the conception of argument offered here, a proof differs from an argument in several important respects. First, a proof will require axioms that are as clearly specified as rules of inference. But in the realm of argu-

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mentation, there are no axioms to which arguments may appeal. Johnstone (1978) wrote, "Again a mathematical reduction depends on axioms, but no cogent philosophical argument can do this, since any supposititious axioms brought into an argument of this kind would be subject to an appropriate doubt" (p. 26). Second, a proof must be deductive; its conclusion must follow necessarily.16 However, I argued in chapter 3 that deductivism as a theory of argument is misguided, whether as substantive or methodological. Reasoning need not be deductive in character in order to qualify as an argument. This is a second difference between an argument and a proof. Third, a proof establishes its conclusion not just as true but as a necessary truth. About the conclusion of almost no argument (whether philosophical or mundane) will this be the case. Last, an argument requires a dialectical tier, whereas no mathematical proof has or needs to have such. Thus, there are significant differences between argument (whether as traditionally conceived or as discussed here) and mathematical proofs.17 I conclude that even though mathematical proofs are conclusive, they are not arguments and so are not conclusive arguments. This discussion bears on the issue under discussion: When we say that a proof is conclusive, what do we mean? We mean that everyone recognizes the proof as a proof and as a result, there is no longer any debate about whether the conclusion is true.18 If asked for a basis why the conclusion is true, people will cite the line of reasoning stated in the proof to support the claim. Thus, the proof that there is no greatest prime number is conclusive, meaning that anyone who knows anything about such matters sees that the conclusion must be true and for the reasons given. Moreover, the proof put an end to anyone's attempting to show that X is the greatest prime number. Arguments do not function the same way, and so again I conclude that proofs are not arguments. I turn now to the question of what would constitute a conclusive argument. The Properties of a Conclusive Argument To be conclusive, an argument would have to display four properties, three internal and one external. I discuss each in turn. 16 The proof of the four-color theorem creates a potential problem for this position. 17 Finocchiaro suggested that the difference between an argument and a proof is one of perspective. That is, a proof is an argument that has been found to have certain properties. I am not sure how to respond to this objection. 18 It is no objection to this line of reasoning to cite, for example, that someone, somewhere, disagrees about its being a proof. That someone would have to have standing in the appropriate discourse community for their dissent to matter.

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Internal Properties In order for an argument to be conclusive, this would be a necessary condition: (C1) Its premises would have to be unimpeachable or uncriticizable. It looks obvious enough that (C1) is never going to be satisfied simpliciter. If one takes a fallibilist (or Quinean) position on such matters, then it is evident straightaway that no argument can be conclusive because no premise can satisfy (C1). One possibility here would be to evaluate premises using dialectical criteria, which in turn refers me to context and, hence, to a particular discourse community. One might claim that although no premise can be unimpeachable simpliciter, a premise might have this status within a particular discourse community. But for a premise to be unimpeachable within a particular discourse community, even if it were achievable (which seems unlikely), that would not confer on that premise the status of being uncriticizable. Someone from outside that community of discourse might well have a legitimate criticism of the statement (as appears to have happened in the history of science.) It is unlikely, then, that any argument can satisfy (C1). The second internal requirement concerns the connection between the premises and the conclusion: (C2) The connection between the premises and the conclusion would have to be unimpeachablethe strongest possible. I take it that no inductive argument, and no conductive argument (if there are such), could be conclusive because they do not meet C2. Each of them is such that the premises could be true and the conclusion false. Hence, no such argument could be conclusive. To be conclusive, the argument would have to be deductive in character. There is no problem with satisfying this requirement. But arguments have more than just an illative core, and so any soi-disant conclusive argument must have what I call a dialectical tier, in which the important objections to and criticisms of that illative core are dealt with in such fashion as to remove the ground from underneath them. For an argument to be conclusive, then, it would have to satisfy yet another criterion: (C3) A conclusive argument is one that can successfully (and rationally) resist every attempt at legitimate criticism. There are both theoretical and practical problems with regard to satisfying (C3). The theoretical problem is that no argument can undertake to

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head off all possible objections and criticisms; some limitation would have to be placed on what is expected, something like "all significant criticisms and objections." Here is one place where the arguer may be expected to run into difficulty. He or she may either underestimate or overestimate the force of some position or objection, may fail to anticipate altogether an important objection, or may not know of some very important criticism. One of the basic reasons that we put our arguments out for criticism is that we recognize our own limitations in these matters. The practical requirement is that even if it is supposed that the arguer can identify and respond to all the extant legitimate criticisms, to address them all in the argument would result in an unduly long and protracted argument. Both of these points raise broader concerns that I deal with in chapter 11 when I discuss The Specification Problem. Thus, it appears that no argument can satisfy the internal properties required for a conclusive argument, principally because of the difficulty of satisfying (C1) but also because of (C3). I now discuss the one external property. External Property To be conclusive, the argument would also have to satisfy one external property: (C4) The argument would be regarded as a conclusive argument. Here there is an analogy with proof. Part of being a proof is being regarded as a proof. Similarly, part of an argument's being conclusive would be having people discuss the argument in such terms. "As X's argument conclusively showed . . . " (I am not saying that no one has ever said such a thing, or that no one has ever claimed that some argument was conclusive; I am saying that no one who did so was justified in making that claim.) But, as I argued previously, if there were such an argument, when people were taught about arguments, this argument would be given them an exemplar or model. It would be celebrated in texts. Everyone would know it by name. But so far as I know, there is no such argument. Because no argument has satisfied all these conditions (the internal and external properties for being a conclusive argument), I conclude that there are no conclusive arguments. Of course, if someone can produce an example of an argument that satisfies C1C4, then it would follow that there is a conclusive argument. And it would follow that the argument would be invulnerable to criticism. It might in fact be criticized, but it could be shown that those criticisms were not warranted.

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Another Objection Now I can imagine another objection that says: "Suppose someone violates this principle? Then what? Nothing serious happens, because really no one is going to be impressed by the arguer's attempt to immunize the argument. They will just proceed to criticize the argument anyway. So it begins to look like this principle is gratuitous." In response, I would agree that someone who violates this principle is not likely to get away with it. It is not a regulative principle in the sense that the principle of discrimination is. Rather, this principle is constitutive.19 If someone violates it, that violation suggests that this person is not really a participant in the practice of argumentation but rather has some ulterior motive and is engaging the practice in bad faith. Alleged Counterexamples I need to take into account here that there are at least apparent conclusive arguments. Let me take a famous example: Socrates is a man. All men are mortal. Therefore Socrates is mortal. First, let me observe that this does not appear to be the sort of issue that people actually argue about. Second, the argument lacks any dialectical tier (these two points are connected, of course). So its credentials as an argument are somewhat suspect. But we know that there are those who do not accept the claim that all men are mortal and so would crititize one of the premises; we also know that Mill criticized the inference from the premises to the conclusion on the grounds that it begs the question. A second sort of example would be trivial arguments, arguments that can satisfy (C1) and (C2), so long as we deal with rather trivial issues. Thus, the following argument, appropriately contextualized, is sound and, to that degree, invulnerable to criticism: If it rains, the ground is wet. It rains. The ground is wet. 19 For the distinction between a regulative and a constitutive rule, see Searle (1991).

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I regard these as marginal cases of argument. For one thing, the issue here is scarcely worth arguing over; second, the argument lacks a dialectical tier. Reasoning such as this seems closer to implication than to argument. In any event, such specimens are not the sort that we want to make policy over. A different sort of counterexample is the famous Gettier counterexample to the classical view of knowledge as justified true belief. One wants to say, "Everyone agrees that this counterexample is indeed a counterexample; so it is conclusive and so there are conclusive arguments." In response, I want to say that a counterexample is not itself an argument, at least not in the paradigm sense previously discussed. It has, for example, no dialectical tier. Therefore, it is not a clear case of an argument. More to the point, I can imagine two things that could impugn the Gettier counterexample. First, someone finds a significant (but hitherto unknown) flaw in Gettier's reasoning. Second, someone shows how the justified true belief account can be maintained in the face of the Gettier counterexample. Unless both of these can be positively ruled out, it seems overly strong to claim that the counterexample is conclusive. Conclusion In the preceding section, I have presented my case for the empirical claim that there are no conclusive arguments. The very least I hope to have accomplished by this argument is to have shifted the burden of proof away from the position that there are no conclusive arguments and to those who hold that there are. This burden is easily discharged by producing an argument that meets the requirements set forth here and is therefore conclusive. Two important consequences ensue. First, it would follow that arguers, because they are rational, will not represent their arguments as invulnerable to criticism. Every argument is and should be regarded as subject to legitimate criticism. Second, because there are good arguments, it follows that an argument need not be conclusive in order to be good. The Principle of Parity The next principle of criticism I discuss is the principle of parity, which says any legitimate line of reasoning or argument that one party uses can also be used by the other. If the arguer uses a certain line or mode of argument, the arguer cannot object if the critic also uses that same line or mode of argument. If the critic uses a certain line of criticism, then he or she cannot object if the arguer, in responding to the criticism, now also uses that same line of criticism.20 To put the matter colloquially, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. 20 Johnstone (1978) discussed a principle something like this that he called bilaterality.

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This principle bears some resemblance to one of the rules for rational discussion developed by van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1987). In its fullest formulation, it appears as Rule 7, one of the rules for the argumentation stage: Before the start of the argumentation stage of the discussion the language users who . . . are to assume the roles of protagonist and antagonist [for me, the arguer and the critic] agree what rules are to govern the protagonist's defense of his initial point of view, what rules determine whether a protagonist has successfully defended his point of view and what rules determine whether the antagonist has successfully attacked it; these rules apply throughout the discussion and may not be questioned by either party during the discussion itself. (pp. 163164) This rule is far more general and more demanding than the principle enunciated previously. Indeed, my complaint about this rule is not that it is idealistic so much as that it is unrealistic and too restrictive. I develop that point in chapter 11. The Principle of Logical Neutrality21 Statement of the Principle The principle of logical neutrality might be formulated as: The critic should be clear regarding the nature of the criticism and should not pass off substantive criticism under the guise of logical criticism. Any argument may warrant of both kinds of criticism, but the critic must be clear on which is which. Hamblin implicitly appealed to some such principle as this when he criticized the author of a logic textbook, saying, ''If someone wants to pay lip service to a principle while making convenient exceptions, at least he should not be allowed to enlist the authority of Logic" (p. 170). Hamblin said that the author has made a substantive criticism but has masked it as a logical one. Such a move would be a violation of the principle I am discussing here. Substantive versus Logical Criticism In principle at least, most argumentation theorists would agree that there is a difference between criticizing the logic of the argument and criticizing its content. If one adopts the conventional approach to argument as com21 In this exposition, I lean heavily on the presentation of this principle found in Johnson and Blair (1993).

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posed of a set of premises plus the inference from the premises to the conclusion, then one would say that the criticism of the inference is logical criticism, whereas criticism of the premises (in terms of truthfalsity) is substantive criticism. Because I have already argued against this approach to the structure of argument, my approach to this distinction is different. To make this distinction is not to adopt the view that there is a rigid demarcation or precise boundary between substantive and logical criticism. In some cases, the boundary is not easily drawn, but there are a great many cases where the difference is clear. For instance, to criticize an argument because one of the premises is problematic is to make a logical criticism of that argument; to criticize the argument because one of the premises is false is to make a substantive criticism. Both are perfectly proper criticisms to make. The point is that they are different types of criticism. Let me work a bit more with the example just mentioned. The claim that a given premise is problematic is a claim about the logical status of that statement in a specified context (namely within the argument into which it has been incorporated). To call that premise problematic is to point out that, in this context, it fails to function adequately as a premise because it ought to have been defended, but was not. In saying, on the other hand, that a premise is false, we are making a statement, at least sometimes, about its relationship to the world. We are saying that it is not in accord with the facts. This type of criticism is independent of its occurrence in this or that argument. If the premise is false, it will presumably be false in any argument. Consider an example from the ongoing debate about abortion. One might challenge the position of those who favor abortion on demand by claiming, "Those who support abortion on demand are guilty of bad argumentation because they hold that the fetus is not a person, but that is false." I would classify this as a substantive criticism. The critic's point is that the fetus is in fact a person. The critic and the arguer have a substantive disagreement about the status of the fetus. On the other hand, to claim, "Those who support abortion on demand are guilty of bad argumentation because they have not defended the claim that the fetus is not a person, and they should" is to make a logical criticism. The critic's point is that the arguer has put into play a premise that has not been defended and in the present context should have been defended. This is a logical point. Origin of the Principle The distinction between the two forms of criticism is implicit already in FDL, where it would be marked by observing that criticizing an argument for being invalid was a formal and logical criticism; criticizing a premise for

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being false is a material and substantive criticism. (See Church, 1956.) The first explicit mention of this principle so titled is found in Fogelin (1983). The first appearance of this principle in a logic textbook is in Johnson and Blair (1983). Justification of the Principle The justification for this principle emerges from consideration of the requirement of manifest rationality. The critic who violates this principle is in effect saying: Logic favors my position. Yet it is clear that logic does not favor either side in any debate (except perhaps some debates within logic). Logic deals with the criteria that make an argument a good argument; the application of those criteria to a specific argument in such fashion as to render a judgment is the work of the arguer. On the issue of which position is the stronger, the pro-choice or the pro-life, logic does not decide. Logic itself is neutral with respect to the substantive issues. Hence, the attempt to make it appear that logic favors one side violates the requirement of manifest rationality. There is one complication that needs to be addressed. Given that logic grows out of and is dependent on the practice of argumentation, and given that the practice of argumentation itself is dependent on certain values and views about the world and our ways of behaving within it, there is a sense in which logic cannot be completely neutral in terms of worldviews. Logic must, in some sense, favor a worldview in which rationality and the freedom to inquire are valued. This is not such a limitation as one might think at first glance because anyone who engages in the practice of argumentation may be supposed to support these values. That does not mean that they will agree on the nature of these values. For example, it is notoriously true that the nature of rationality is the subject of much dispute. In the adjudication of all such disputes, logic itself will be neutral. One other complication also needs to be addressed. The previous principle finds its most natural articulation in terms of the standard approach to arguments as composed of premises plus an inference from the premises to the conclusion. In this approach, criticism of the inferences is logical; criticism of the premises is extralogical (or substantive). I have argued that this way of looking at arguments should be discarded. How, then, am I to mark the distinction between logical criticism and substantive criticism? In my view, substantive criticism occurs when the critic challenges the relationship between the premises and the world; otherwise, if the critic focuses on the relationship to the audience or to the conclusion, it is logical criticism.

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The principle of logical neutrality applies chiefly to the role of the critic. The next principle I discuss also is one that applies to the critic. The Principle of Discrimination The next principle I discuss is a fundamental (but thus far neglected) principle of logical criticism. That this principle is neglected is apparent if I look at the existing theories of criticism and at the practice of criticism as it is exemplified in logic texts and elsewhere. A careful review of the various theories of appraisal reveals that most of them are geared to evaluation rather than criticism. To accommodate Adequacy Condition 4, a theory must have more possibilities in its evaluative range than just good and not good (bad). My theory of appraisal must allow the user to situate arguments within a spectrum: arguments can be very strong, strong, moderately strong, weak, or poor (whatever evaluative terms one selects). By probing for, locating, and then discussing its strengths and weaknesses, the critic locates the argument in that spectrum. Thus, a viable theory of criticism must make this kind of ranking possible. No normative theory that I am aware of contains any such provision. Typical presentations of argumentation theory rarely mention the need to order the criticisms that have been produced.22 That is to say, there is barely any acknowledgment of the principle of discrimination. In many texts, the student is encouraged to critique an argument by locating fallaciesor other mistakes. Particularly in longer, more complex arguments where there may be more than one potential problem, of the logic texts I have reviewed that included Kahane (1992), Govier (1993), Freeman (1988), Groarke, Tindale, and Little (1991), Copi (1986), and Parker and Moore (1992)only oneGroarke et al.gives the slightest recognition of the need for integration in the practice of criticism. After a critique of the argument they are considering, they wrote, "Pulling together the strands of this analysis . . . " (p. 217). More typical is Freeman (1988), who after discussing a variety of flaws in the example he was treating, said, "in light of all this we do not have much of a case for the conclusion" (p. 304). Were I the arguer whose argument had been so discussed, I would say, ''It would be helpful to me if you were to focus your complaints and invest them with some order or perspective." The practice of argument criticism as it is discussed in texts thus reveals a general failure to require the critic to prioritize the criticisms. In my view, discrimination is a hallmark of strong criticism, and the principle I articulate and justify in this section makes it evident that this is the sort of criticism that belongs to the practice of argumentation. 22 The only text where I found explicit mention of this principle was Johnson and Blair (1983).

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The Origin of the Principle The first explicit awareness of this principle that I can find in the literature is found in Scriven (1976). Though he discussed it under the rubric of the principle of charity, there is little doubt that Scriven had the essential idea when he distinguished between strong and weak criticism: Roughly speaking, the difference is that a weak criticism is one that can be refuted by rather modest changes in the argument. . . . By contrast a strong criticism is one that gets to the heart of the argument, hits it in a way that can't be avoided without giving up the main thrust of the argument, rests on indubitable interpretations and highly like claims, and so on. (p. 72) Let's focus on the type of criticism that is desirable, that is, well-supported and incisive criticism. To use other terms, we want to be careful to produce criticism that "goes to the heart of the argument" and that succeeds in showing that it failed there, not in some peripheral way. (p. 73) In short, Scriven said that the critic should practice strong criticism. The philosopher who baptized the principle as the principle of discrimination (and thereby differentiated it from the principle of charity) is Binkley.23 Its first occurrence in a logic text, formulated as an explicit principle of criticism, in the second edition of Johnson and Blair (1983), "The basic idea of "discrimination" can be put roughly as follows: in criticizing an argument, you should strive to get to the heart of the matter" (p. 214). Here, the principle is simply introduced by a rough characterization. An explicit and precise formulation is not attempted, nor is much consideration of the need for a thorough justificationa task that will be the focal point of this chapter. The Principle Articulated and Clarified Building on the work of Scriven and Binkley, I propose this formulation of the principle of discrimination: When criticizing an argument, the critic should practice discrimination; that is, should display balance (that is, assess both the strengths and the weaknesses of the argument), perspective, (in discussing the problems, the critic should focus on the most important problems), and integration (i.e., so structure the critique as to give greatest emphasis to those criticisms which are major).24 23 The first occurrence is in what Binkley called The London Close Reasoner. 24 This formulation I am aware of first appears in Johnson (1992).

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In effect, the principle of discrimination says that the critic should practice strong criticism. That means keeping the focus on the serious flaws in the argument and avoiding the most common pitfalls: nit-pickingthat is, going after small points while neglecting more important ones; fault-findinglooking only at what is wrong rather than also what is right; and shotgunning the argumentthrowing down as many criticisms as possible in the hope that one or more will strike the target. This is more to be found in student critiques, although it will often be encountered when there is a strong ideological gulf between the arguer and the critic. Note that this principle is independent of any specific theory of evaluation. I am working through it here using the theory of evaluation that I associate with informal logic, but nothing in its formulation prevents its being used in conjunction with other theories. The Principle Justified Suppose we look at an argument from a logical point of view and ask why one should embrace the principle of discrimination. Here everything depends on what is meant by the logical point of view. If the logic in question is formal logic, then it will not be possible to develop any justification because, from the standpoint of formal logic, an argumentinference is either valid or it is not, and there does not appear to be any basis for rating one kind of invalidity as better or worse than any other. Hence, from the vantage point of formal logic, there is no need for discrimination and no point in adopting a principle that enjoins it. If, on the other hand, we consider the problem from the perspective of informal logic, its richer (fortified) conception of argument as outlined in chapter 6, and the distinction between evaluation and criticism outlined earlier in this chapter, then the argument being developed in this book would mean that the requisite justification should be developed by reflecting on the practice of argumentation. To justify the principle of discrimination, we must raise the question, How and why does criticism enter into the practice of argumentation? In answering this, let me refer back to our earlier discussion of purposes of the practice of argumentation. The primary purpose from our perspective is that of rational persuasion. The arguer constructed the argument to show that the conclusion was rationally defensible. Because the arguer is rational, he or she is aware that there may well be defects in the argument. If we can

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now show that it is in the arguer's best interest to become aware of such defects and if we grant that strong criticism is more likely to achieve that than weak criticism, we will have the requisite justification for the principle. To see why it is in the arguer's best interest to become aware of potential defects in the argument, we must remind ourselves that the arguer has put forth the argument to get to the truth of the matter (or some other telos), not simply in order to silence an opponent, to appear smarter, or to win. Had the arguer merely wanted to convince, he or she could have engaged any of various other, more effective methods: flattery, psychological strategies, deceit, power plays, and so forth. If the arguer is interested in the argument as an instrument for arriving at the truth, then he or she has a vested interest in becoming aware of any and all serious deficiencies in the argument so that they may, if possible, be repaired. On the other side of the dialectical fence, the critic realizes that the point of the criticism is not to devastate the opponent nor the argument. That would be true if this were some other kind of practicedebating, perhaps, or some other form of contest in which winning is the point. But such is not the telos that I have assigned to the practice of argumentation. The critic's obligation is to provide the best; that is, the strongest criticism. Why is this? Because strong criticism that gets at the core problems in the argument will be the one most likely to advance the dialectic. In this way, the interests of the arguer and the critic converge around strong criticism that most serves the cause of manifest rationality. How so? Because if the arguer receives strong criticism, both parties will be better off, and it will be apparent to both that they are. No result could better serve the requirements of manifest rationality. But now we must show that this is the case. If we can, it will make it clear that one reason argumentation is such a powerful practice is that if each party does its very best, then both sides will gain as a result of the process. (In this respect, it resembles negotiations where each party wins, at least in the ideal order.) If the arguer receives strong criticism, then he or she must inevitably gain. If the criticism exposes a real defect in the argument, then that defect can either be remedied, in which case the argument is now a stronger and more rational product; or else the arguer must find a new argument, in which case a poor line of reasoning has been retired and the interests of rationality have been served; or else the arguer may have to give up the position, in which case, again, the interests of rationality have been served. If the argument is able to withstand the criticism, then its value as a rational product has been further confirmed. It has been tested. Prospects for rationality are improved. The same result appears if I now review the situation from the point of view of the critic. If it turns out that criticism is easily responded to, then the critic has learned something. If the criticism

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turns out to be a strong one, then this paves the way for a dialectical step forward. Thus, whatever the outcome, the interests of rationality will have been served. Suppose, instead, that the arguer does not receive strong criticism. Suppose the critic engages in nitpicking; that is, pursuing small points as though they were major problems. There is a chance that the arguer might succumb to the temptation to pursue these tangents, thereby getting bogged down and retarding rather than advancing the dialectic. In this event, one of the purposes of the practiceto increase chances of getting at the truth, to increase and exhibit rationalityis jeopardized, as the real weaknesses of the argument are lost in the shuffle. To be sure, this kind of thing will happen from time to time, even when the critic advances strong criticism. Practices can continue even when the conditions on which they are premised are not always satisfied. Still, the proper functioning of the practice depends on the critic doing the job properly, which means with criticism that is discriminating. It comes down to the realization that strong criticism is what best serves the practice of argumentation, the interests of rationality, and the requirements of manifest rationality. This, then, is the logico-pragmatic justification for principle of discrimination. The Principle Deployed The principle of discrimination enjoins the critic to practice strong criticism. What counts as strong criticism? Following Scriven, I take the position that the strength of the criticism is directly proportional to its effect on the argument. A criticism is weak if, with minimal adjustment to the argument, it can be rendered impervious to that criticism; in other words, a weak criticism is one that can be superseded by making minor changes in the argument. A strong criticism is one that, because it goes to the heart of the matter, will force the arguer to make extensive adjustments and changes or, perhaps, in the extreme situation, abandon that line of argument altogether.25 Objections and Problems In this section, I want to take account of some possible (and actual) objections to and criticisms of the principle I have proposed. 25 Strong criticism gets at the core of the problem if there is a problem. This is what Scriven (1976) was driving at when he wrote: Attack with your strongest weapons first; do not start by making picky points, following the order of the statements in the original. Start in on the key weaknesses; start with your strongest criticism. Strong criticisms are those that could not be met except by extreme modification or complete capitulation. (p. 72)

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Objection #1. There is the objection that might be phrased as, "In your articulation, the principle of discrimination says: 'Lead with your best punch.' But why? Why should we begin critique with the most important criticisms?" Response. To answer this question, we need remind ourselves of the intimate connection between argument and criticism. In argumentation, in the putting forth and critiquing of argument, the process of criticism is an internal one. The argument will likely be revised in light of criticism. Criticism here has the potential to loop back and affect the argument.26 Therefore, it is important that criticism be done well. And one way to get the arguer to focus in thinking about possible revisions is to start with the most serious criticisms. If the arguer cannot handle these, it will not matter all that much if he or she can handle the weaker criticisms. In other words, if the strength of the argument is a function of its capacity to handle strong criticism, then it seems more in keeping with the spirit of rationality and manifest rationality to begin the process of criticism by focusing on the serious issues. Objection #2. Why not save the best for last? There is another kind of objection (due to Hansen, private correspondence) that says, "But also there is a value to starting with small criticisms because these will create a better climate of respect. Then you can hit the arguer with your strongest punch." Response. The latter point has more to do with the rhetoric and the psychology of the practice of criticism. I am speaking of an idealization when I speak of the practice, in which the two parties are in some important sense beyond ego, in which the climate of respect is already there. Indeed if there is not proper respect for the Other from the outset, then I do not see how it can be said that the two are really engaged in the practice. It seems more in keeping with the conduct of criticism in an openly rational manner that the critic start with the major points. The idea of holding back the strongest criticism so that you can then "hit the arguer with your strongest punch" seems more appropriate in other contexts where winning is the goal. Objection #3. Some have said that in requiring the arguer lead with strong criticism, the demand is too much, for it is not always possible to say in advance what will have a major impact on the argument and what will have only a minor impact. Hansen (personal communication) invoked an indeterminacy thesis: "Discrimination is indeterminate and unpredictable, 26 My late colleague, Prof Stuart Surlin, referred to this aspect of logic as "loopy logic."

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and not open to systematic treatment," and so, "It is impossible to predict beforehand the ease with which any criticism can be refuted, and hence impossible to decide beforehandin any system of logicwhich criticisms are more and less serious." Response. There are cases where the impact of the criticism will be clear, especially if one has understood the structure of the argument and so knows where the crucial parts are. It seems to me that, at least in our own minds if not in fact, we can distinguish between criticisms that go to the heart of the matter and those that are tangential or peripheral. A critic will often preface a criticism by saying, "I know this is not a core issue but . . . " or, "At the risk of seeming to pick nits, I want to say . . . " thereby indicating that the criticism that follows is not strong. Hansen's claim that it cannot be decided beforehandin any system of logicwhich criticisms are more and which are less serious still wants some showing. Even if the criticisms cannot be generated systematically, that does not mean that some order cannot be put into them. Hansen was right that it cannot always be known beforehand what the impact of the criticism will be on the arguer. What one may regard as a small point may have a major impact on the arguer; and what one may regard as serious, the arguer may just fluff off. But one must distinguish between the effect of the criticism on the argument and its effect on the arguer. Hansen's indeterminacy thesis seems more appropriate with respect to the arguer than with respect to the argument. In any event, in light of this objection and its validity, the principle needs an epistemic modifier: The critic should give prominence to those criticisms that, in his or her view, are the strongest. Objection #4. This objection (due to Hansen) is a variation of one posed earlier and goes like this: "The principle of discrimination seems to presuppose perfect understanding of an argument since one has to understand the argument totally in order to decide where the major and minor problems lie. In practice argument interpretation and criticism seem to be hard to separate. One begins where one can in the hope of understanding the Other better and this may well be by what is in effect nitpicking." Response. I do not think the principle of discrimination requires perfect understanding of the argument. The critic may not get the argument right, and the arguer may point this out in his response to the criticism. But certainly the critic has to attempt to get the structure right and has to know what is crucial and what is peripheral if he or she is to get to the heart of the matter. Nothing precludes a critic's being tentative in criticism. We often

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see the criticism prefaced by a cautionary remark like, "I'm not sure I understand how this argument is supposed to work. Nevertheless, let me proceed along the lines of the following interpretation, and so forth." As to the view that nitpicking may well be the place to start one's critical effort, nothing in the principle of discrimination prohibits the critic from beginning by picking a nit or two. All that is prohibited is that one should, as it were, write one's final draft that way. In other words, the practice of criticism, no less than the argument it criticizes, is part of a process and the critic will probably have to go through several iterations before producing the critique that goes to the arguer. One can begin anywhere one wishes in order to gain a toehold; what is required is that in the end there is discrimination. The Principle Revised In light of these criticisms I now propose the following revised version of the principle: When criticizing an argument, the critic should practice discrimination; that is, should focus the critique on what he or she takes to be the major or most important criticisms and should so structure the critique as to give greatest emphasis to those criticisms that reveal what the critic takes to be the major problems with the argument. With this revision, I conclude my treatment of the principle of discrimination and the four principles of criticism. Responding to Criticism Confronted with a legitimate criticism of an argument, the arguer may respond in any of various ways. The arguer may: 1. argue that the challenge or criticism is inappropriate; 2. acknowledge the force of the criticism and revise the argument accordingly; 3. acknowledge the force of the criticism and indicate how the argument can survive it; 4. acknowledge the force of the criticism and discard the argument; 5. ask for time to reflect on the challenge. All of these seem to be appropriate responses to criticism. There are others. Contrast the repertoire of moves with those that subvert the process. That happens when the arguer:

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6. attacks (usually personally) the person making the criticism; 7. refuses to admit the possibility of criticism; 8. simply ignores the criticism; 9. admits the criticism but pays lip service to any modification of the argument; 10. clings tenaciously to the argument. These are all familiar moves. Six is the ad hominem response. Seven constitutes a violation of the principle of vulnerability. Peirce (1955) identified ten as the method of tenacity. Concluding Reflections on Criticism Criticism is the dialectical moment par excellence. The arguer has prepared the argument and has put it out for the world (the audience) to behold. This is a difficult moment because a part of the arguer is reluctant to do this. What the arguer wants most (appreciation and recognition of the strength and the worth of his product) is almost exactly what cannot happen. The benefits of criticismespecially strong criticismare too well known to be recited in detail here. Wittgenstein (1953) wrote, "I am grateful to the criticism practiced on my ideas by P. Sraffa." I also know how crucial were the criticisms of Ramsey in the development of his later philosophy. Or again, consider Nietzsche. The spirit behind what I am calling strong criticism is reflected in this remark by Nietzsche (1969), "The strength of those who attack can be measured in a way by the opposition they require: every growth is indicated by the search for a mighty opponentor problem." When one looks behind the martial tone here, what Nietzsche seemed to say is that strong arguers demand strong critics and strong criticism, for they recognize that both are vital to their growth. The purpose of this chapter was to introduce and discuss the basic principles of argument criticismthe principle of vulnerability and the principle of discrimination, and to discuss more briefly two other principles: the principle of logical neutrality, the principle of parity. No claim has been made or intended about the completeness of this set of principles. My claim is that a full-scale and explicit discussion of principles of argument criticism (as distinguished from criteria of evalution) has hitherto been lacking and is much needed if we are to have better and better theories of argumentation. The elaboration of real principles is intended as a contribution to that end.

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PART III MATTERS DIALECTICAL

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Chapter 9 Criticisms, Objections, and Replies In Part I, I discussed the theory of argument as an inquiry and made the case that it was in need of improvement and that logic, specifically informal logic, could help. In Part II, I presented a theory of argument that derives from the informal logic tradition. I developed specific suggestions for the theory of analysis, where I argued for a revised conception of argument and understanding argumentation as manifest rationality. In chapters 7 and 8, I developed specific suggestions for the theory of appraisal. I argued for a specific theory of evaluation and also for a distinction between evaluation and criticism. I also presented some principles of criticism. Thus, Part II was in effect an argument that informal logic could provide the foundation for a viable theory of argument. Now, according to the dictates of my own theory, I must discharge my dialectical obligations by dealing with objections to and criticisms of this approach. That is the purpose of this chapter. The objections and criticisms I consider are directed not so much at the specifics of my theory as to its general character as informal logic. Behind each of the objections I have chosen stands an opportunity to clarify the relationship of informal logic (as I have presented it here) to some other inquiry. Thus, the objection that informal logic is really just formal logic requires clarification of the relationship between informal and formal logic. The objection that informal logic is really just rhetoric asks for clarification of the relationship between informal logic and rhetoric. The objection that informal logic is really just applied epistemology requires clarification of its relationship to that inquiry; and, finally, the objection that informal logic is sexist provides an opportunity to clarify the relationship between informal logic and psychology.

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The first objection that I deal with, however, is none of these but is rather the peremptory challenge: There really is no such thing as informal logic. Informal LogicAn Oxymoron Various authors have made the objection that there really is no such thing as informal logic. I call this The Peremptory Challenge. There are actually two versions of this objection: (O1) There is not yet anything that could be called informal logic. This could be termed the weak thesis. (O2) There cannot be such a thing as informal logic. This could be termed the strong thesis. Both forms of the thesis depend strongly on what the objector takes informal logic to be. My response is that neither version of this objection is successful when directed at informal logic as developed here. I review several different formulations of this objection: first from Goldman, then from Massey, then Woods, and finally Hintikka. Goldman's Objection Here is Goldman's (1986) way of putting this objection: It is widely assumed that logic deals with principles of good reasoning. Logic is often characterized as the art of reasoning. Unfortunately, such a billing is a bit of a sham. It isn't that logic courses are not useful for good reasoning; it's just that there are no well-established principles of good reasoning (good cognitive state transitions), and no satisfactory theory of how good reasoning is related to formal logic. In short, there is not a really well-established discipline of informal logic. (p. 82) Because Goldman stopped short of a definitive statement that there is no such thing but rather said that it is not really well-established, I take him to be defending the weak thesis here.1 By ''informal logic," Goldman understood something quite different, something much broader, than I am discussing here. What he called informal logic would develop principles of good rea1 This view represents a slight shift in Goldman's thinking, because he had written: "The term 'logic' is also used to refer to a subject called 'informal logic' often taught to introductory philosophy students. Unfortunately, there are no established truths of informal logic; indeed, it is quite unclear what the content of informal logic is or should be" (1985, p. 65).

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soning (conceived as cognitive state transitions) and would also clarify the relationship between good reasoning and formal logic. I have no disagreement with Goldman on the importance of these tasks. The difference between us is that I see the task of developing principles of good reasoning as the generic task of logicnot of informal logic specificallyand the task of clarifying the relationship between good reasoning and formal logic as the task of the theory of reasoning. Whether there is such an inquiry as informal logic depends in part of what I take informal to mean and what I take logic to mean. As I showed in chapter 5, there are a number of possible interpretations of informal logic. I attempted to set forth my own conception and distinguish it from the familiar Rylean conception. I showed that there is a potential for misunderstanding and ambiguity because of the ambiguity of the term "informal." The conception presented there was an informal2 logicthat is, a logic that did not rely on the notions of validity and logical form. But a logic that is informal2 is not necessarily informal3. In any event, Goldman was certainly right if I take him to be commenting on the current status of informal logic, which is radically underdeveloped and so not well-established as a discipline. Massey's Objection Massey (1981) presented a different kind of argument against informal logic. There, Massey raised three objections against so-called informal logic textbooks. First, he said, they are preoccupied with taxonomy. Second, they are malnourished theoretically; and, third, they are directionless and exhibit shoddy thinking. I do not think these charges can be sustained, but that is not the issue I want to pursue here.2 At the theoretical level, Massey's argument against informal logic develops out of the claim that there cannot be a theory of invalidity; but a theory of fallacy requires a theory of invalidity because a fallacy is an argument that appears to be valid although it is invalid. Hence, there can be no theory of fallacy and consequently (assuming again that informal logic and fallacy are interdependent), there can be no theory of informal logic. There are problems with this line of reasoning. The first is that informal logic as an inquiry is not dependent on fallacy theory. If the theory of evaluation presented in chapter 7 is viable, then it follows that there can be a theory of evaluation that is not dependent on fallacy theory. The second problem with Massey's critique is that he took over Hamblin's conception of fallacy. This adoption is understandable, given the widespread impact of Hamblin's definition. However, I have defended a conception of fallacy that 2 I will not here respond to these claims, having done so in Johnson (1989).

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does not invoke the notion of invalidity (Johnson, 1989). So even if there is no theory of invalidity (and not everyone will concede to Massey this point: See MacKay, 1984), that does not preclude there being a theory of fallacy in the sense in which I have been using that term. Hence I disagree with Massey's claim that there cannot be any theory of fallacy (and, to that degree, no such thing as informal logic). Woods' Objection Woods (1995) developed an argument that shows the formidable obstacles formal logic faces in coming to grips with arguments in natural language. His argument claims to show that informal logic is in even worse shape. In fact, Woods claimed there cannot be such a thing as informal logic. I take Woods to have been upholding the strong thesis. The important question here is how Woods understood informal logic. He said that informal logic could mean two things. It might be taken to refer to the study of the informal fallacies; that is, those other than denying the consequent. But, as Woods was at pains to show, such an approach to defining informal logic fails because there is no way to distinguish between formal and informal fallacies. Hence, on this understanding, informal logic reduces to formal logic and its problematic status. Or we might understand informal logic as that logic that presides over the task of the reconstruction of English language arguments in propositional calculus (PC) and the need for the argument to be dressed before reconstruction. About this dressing theory, Woods said: The dressing theory, thus, must be a logic of implication and consistency for simple sentences of English. Since those sentences are inputs to the dressing theorem the logic will have to make do without logical forms, which are the output of reconstruction. This will be an informal logic, if anything is. But, denied the fulcrum of logical forms, it is greatly to be doubted whether this logic will be able to produce general proof procedures. (pp. 191192) Here, by "informal logic," Woods understood a theory that converts simple statements of ordinary language into the notation of PC. Such a theory would be a logic of implication and consistency without recourse to logical form. The description here suggests what I have been calling an informal3 logic because the logic described can make no use of logical form. It may be that Woods was right about the nonexistence of this logic, which is, however, quite far removed from what most informal logicians (Govier, Walton) have understood informal logic to be. Woods proceeded to argue that such a logic would not be a logic at all. He said, "no theory is a logic if it lacks proof procedures" (p. 192). Notice

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that such a claim would appear to exclude most of the Organon (all but the Prior Analytics) from the realm of logic. It would rule out inductive logic, abductive logic, what Scriven called probative logic, and indeed everything but the highly mathematicized logistic theories of the 20th century. Thus, the question now becomes not so much what is informal logic but what is logic? If we understand logic, generally, as the normative theory of reasoning, it seems overly limiting to require proof procedures. To be sure, proof procedures have come to be part of what is identified as logic in the wake of its strong identification with the problematics of set theory and the foundations of mathematics. But that identification is a historical matter. In the beginning, logic did not require proof procedures, although it included them (Aristotle's Prior Analytics). I am not arguing that what logic was at its inception, it must always be. Woods and others are free to insist that the most current conceptualizations are the most appropriate ones. The point here is that Woods' way of stating the objection seems to depend on a particular conception of logic. The issue thus shifts to whether that sense of logic is defensible. And that is not an issue that I can pursue here. Hintikka's Objection One of the strongest formulations of the peremptory objection I am considering is due to Hintikka (1989), for not only was Hintikka involved in a reconceptualization of deductive logic and its role in argumentation, but he had, rightly I believe, located this task within the framework of the theory of argumentation and reasoning. He wrote, "I shall outline a solution to the problem of the relation of deductive logic to the theory of reasoning and argumentation in general" (p. 8). More on his proposed solution shortly. Hintikka began from the claim that "the main currently unsolved problem in the theory of argumentation concerns the function of logic in argumentation and reasoning" (p. 3). The traditional view simply identified logic with the theory of reasoning and, hence, this view will inherit any defects that cloud our conception of logic. The context for Hintikka's intervention is the dissatisfaction that has been expressed about the limitations of traditional deductive logic. Such complaints have led some to look to rhetoric for leads in the theory of argumentation. Although he did not say so explicitly, Hintikka took a dim view of that approach. Nor was he sanguine about those who pin their hopes on informal logic: This problem is an especially burning one on the pedagogical level. Philosophers assigned to teach introductory courses in formal logic have often been dissatisfied with the educational value of what they have conveyed to their

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students. As a consequence not only has a plethora of courses in "reasoning and critical thinking" or "argumentation theory" sprung up, but there even exists an organized "informal logic" movement dedicated to developing a theory and practice of informal argumentation. Unfortunately, there exists by any reasonable standard no respectable theory of informal argumentation. It serves no constructive purpose to argue in detail for such a judgement here. If your intellectual tastes are such that you are satisfied with the theoretical level of traditional rhetorical theories or of so-called theories of informal reasoning, I am not going to be able to re-educate you in half-an-hour. (p. 4) Elsewhere in the article, Hintikka said that, "the very term 'informal logic' is a solecism" (p. 13) and later still, Hintikka claimed that we should not try to replace formal logic by "some mythical 'informal logic'" (p. 20). Nor is Hintikka optimistic about the possibilities of Harman's (1986) approach, which sees reasoning as a belief change in the presence of new evidence. The trouble with this approach is that although it may have heuristic value, it lacks anything like an adequately developed theory. Having dismissed rhetoric, informal logic and Harman-type approaches as ways of shoring up the defects of traditional deductive logic (the defect being that it makes no real contribution to the theory of argumentation), Hintikka found the approach he was seeking in the game theory. What needs clarification, according to Hintikka, is the notion of rules of inference and the idea that logic is about the formulation of such rules. Hintikka introduced an important distinctioncrucial for his positionbetween definitory rules and strategic rules and notes that strategic rules have been ignored in deductive logica hint that, for Hintikka: (H1) logic = deductive logic. In fact, I suspect that, for Hintikka: (H2) logic = formal deductive logic. Hintikka compared the situation of logical theory today with that of ethical theory in the Victorian area, which allowed itself to become focused on the question of how to avoid losing one's virtue. Logic has focused on how to avoid making mistakes in drawing inferences. But this approach is unsatisfying if what we want are optimal strategies for inference, or argumentation, or both? Or are they, in Hintikka's view, the same? More on this important point later. Continuing with Hintikka: Furthermore, the rules of inference, be they formal rules of deductive inference or rules for "inference to the best explanation," cannot be the proper tools

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for studying skillful inferences. For skill in reasoning is a matter of strategy (and tactics). (p. 7) The problem with deductive logic, as traditionally constituted, is that is does not help make skillful inferences. But that does not mean that it cannot do so; in fact, when relocated within the interrogative model, it turns out that deductive logic will have an important contribution to make. In any event, from this text, we may perhaps infer that, for Hintikka: (H3) reasoning = inferring. This hunch is somewhat supported when Hintikka distinguished between corollarial and thematic inferencea distinction he took over from Peirce, who used the terms "corollarial" and "theorematic" reasoning. To further complicate matters, there are clear indications that Hintikka believed inference and argumentation to be pretty much the same thing; which suggests: (H4) inference = argumentation. In the text that follows, Hintikka said: Indeed, if philosophers had been interested in matters of deductive strategy and tactics, they would have every reason to welcome Peirce's distinction. For even though it deals in the first place with particular steps of argument, it shows which kind of deductive inference can, and which ones cannot open the door for further argumentative possibilities. The basic intuitive idea is almost ridiculously simple. In a sense that can be made precise, theorematic inferences are the ones which introduce a new individual into the argument, whereas corollarial inferences merely traffic in the individuals which have already been considered in their premises. From this intuitive description, it is seen at once how theorematic inferences can open new lines of thought for one's argumentation. . . . (pp. 78, emphasis added) Even when theorematic deductive arguments are considered in logic texts . . . (p. 8) From these passages, it is reasonable to infer that Hintikka is thinking of the inference chains so typical of deductive logic texts. Thus, I may also suspect that for Hintikka: (H5) inference = deductive inference. In the intervening sections of the paper (615) which I cannot discuss here in detail, Hintikka advanced his own proposal. After further elaboration of

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the model and its implications for the relative importance of the deductive and interrogative moves, Hintikka turned to a vindication of Sherlock Holmes' sense of logic. He wrote, "These simple observations open an extremely important perspective in the role of logic and of the rules of logic in the general theory of reasoning." (p. 17) After further discussion of the respective roles of deduction and interrogation, and the issue of simplifying extra premises, Hintikka defended his idea of deductive logic as a general theory of reasoning strategies: Here, then, we have the answer to the question concerning the role of logic in argumentation. Assuming, as I have done, that the interrogative model is a realistic representation of reasoning in general, we can see that logic plays only a modest supporting role in the total drama of reasoningon the level of particular steps of inquiry, i.e., on the level of definitory rules. When it comes to questions of strategy, however, logic suddenly assumes a new function. It is as if a supporting actor were at the same time the director of the entire play. On the strategic level, the principles of deductive strategy selection are a major part of the principles of strategy in the entire process of reasoning. (p. 20) Thus, logic as refurbished by the interrogative model assumes fundamental importance in line with a theory of reasoning. What is less clear is how this reconstituted logic does any better than its predecessor in contributing to the theory of argumentation. Critique of Hintikka Hintikka shared with informal logicians skepticism about formal logic. Both saw it as a far more limited theory than many of its proponents have thought. But after this, they parted company. Hintikka urged an interrogative model, whereas informal logicians saw the important move as in the direction of everyday or mundane argumentation. It is clear from my description of Hintikka's position that between what informal logicians thought of as argument and what Hintikka thought of as argument, there is a considerable gulf. His dismissal of informal logic as a solecism was not accompanied by any detailed discussion of either what informal logic is in general nor of problems with specific initiatives.3 Nevertheless, Hintikka was correct in his assessment of the theoretical underdevelopment of informal logic at this point, and I turn to a discussion of that next. A further problem is that he 3 Hintikka later returned to this theme. He called it "mythical."

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seemed to treat as unproblematic the notions of argumentation and inference, which leads me to a more important point. Hintikka's position on the role of logic involves five assumptions, each of which is disputable. For example, in chapter 3, I argued that there is ample reason for questioning (H2). I have argued explicitly against (H4) in chapter 6 and (H5). (H3) is an issue for the theory of reasoning, as indeed are all of these questions, to some degree. Hintikka seemed to think that reasoning, argumentation, inquiryall of these can be successfully represented in terms of deductive inference. I want to challenge that assumption. If I reason from a sample to a population, I am reasoning, but this is not a deductive inference. If I am giving an explanation, I am reasoning, but it is highly doubtful that all explanation can be successfully represented as deductive. Certainly, scientific theorizing is a very sophisticated form of reasoning but it is questionable whether it can be represented deductively. (See Grunbaum & Salmon, 1988.) From my perspective, the most important consequence of Hintikka's challenge is to draw attention to the importance of the theory of reasoning, for the issues he raised depend strongly on how one conceives of reasoning. In that respect, Hintikka's position supports one of the fundamental themes in this book: viz., that the theory of argumentation requires completion by the development of a theory of reasoning. Conclusion I have reviewed several expressions of the peremptory challenge. That objection typically depends either on a dogmatic view about the nature of formal logic, an ill-conceived view of the nature of informal logic, or both. Yet the peremptory objection houses an important truth and that is that informal logic, as presently constituted, has not progressed far enough to present a uniform face to the communities of scholars. This, in turn, is probably due to the fact that informal logic is theoretically underdeveloped. The very adjective informal suggests a causal and breezy state of affairs that seems completely incompatible with what Wittgenstein (1953) called, "the hardness of the logical must" (p. 437). Indeed, if logic is understood as a science for which there are decision procedures or proof procedures (Woods, 1995), then informal logic as I understand it cannot be a logic in that sense. In chapter 4, however, I attempted to call attention to the shortsightedness in that way of viewing logic. To observe that in the 20th century, the main systems of logic have been both formal2 and formal3 in the sense of Barth and Krabbe (1982) is to make a true historical observation. To claim that logic must, by its nature, be formal2 is to make a contentious claim that appears to me to be at odds with the history of logic.

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Neither the term "theory" nor the term "rigor" (closely associated with FDL) is univocal in its meaning.4 It may be that the theory of argument proposed by informal logic is a different kind of theory than the theory of implication as developed in propositional logic or quantification theory; and it may be that the rigor practiced in informal logic is different from the rigor practiced in formal logic. But then the rigor that earmarks a good piece of detective work will also be different from the rigor of formal deductive logic. The word theory itself has a wide variety of uses. There are those who would respond to this type of peremptory challenge by saying, "Well, it may not be logic as you think of logic, but whatever it is and whatever it is called, it most certainly exists and it is important; so perhaps we can call it something else: argumentation theory, for example; or, as Willard (1989) suggested, 'the discipline of Argumentation.'" Such a response is mistaken, for it concedes too much. It entirely ignores the lessons discussed in chapter 4. It transforms what was a temporary experiment (the attempt to make logic a formalistic science that could serve as the foundation for mathematics) into a norm for all times and places, and assumes that such a view is more truly representative of the nature of logic than other historical conceptions, such as the view that sees logic as the art of argument, logic as dialectical, or logic as a craft. Having discussed the peremptory challenge in various guises, I now wish to consider a series of quasi-reductivist objections. Behind them lurks the question of how informal logic relates to other disciplines. Informal LogicSee Formal Logic The next objection I want to consider comes from Weinstein (1990, 1993, 1994), developed a position that is simultaneously a critique of informal logic and the nucleus of an alternative theory of argumenta Toulmin-type theory. Here, I want to look at his criticism of informal logic. In chapter 11, I look at Weinstein's proposed alternative theory. Formalism in Informal Logic Weinstein (1994) argued that informal logicians have been unwittingly limited by their formalist training and that informal logic really is not a substantially different logic from formal logic: My claim is that informal logicians have misconstrued their function, limiting norms that govern argument and that furnish the concepts for argument analy4 For the point developed here, I am indebted to my colleague, J. Anthony Blair.

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sis to general concepts, analogues to the formal logical principles that informal logic must transcend. My recommendation is that informal logicians see the concepts of their discipline as mere early indications of the basic concerns of their field, and look more carefully at what the analyses and evaluation of arguments require. (p. 158). The objection here has two dimensions. First, Weinstein argued that informal logic is still too formal. Second, he suggested that the way out is through applied epistemology. In other words, the relevant standards for the assessment of arguments are furnished by the epistemology of the discipline. Weinstein (1993) raised the issue of the degree to which informalists have bought into formalism in this way, "Despite the rejection of formalism, informal logicians are beguiled by the will-o'-the-wisp that led formal logicians in a merry chase after succinct and general strategies for appraising arguments of all sorts" (p. 2). First, Weinstein and I have a basic difference in our respective interpretations of formal logic. I have argued that formal logic is not a theory of argument, even if some logicians have (mistakenly) construed it as one. Formal logic is best construed as a logic of implication. Thus, the relationship between formal logic and informal logic is complementary rather than adversarial. Second, it is not clear what these succinct and general strategies are that informal logicians have developed while pursuing this will-o'-the-wisp. Weinstein continued: The history of formal logicians' attempts to offer general and transparent analyses of such crucial argument types as explanations should have afforded a warning to informal logicians. Instead, their philosophical predilections for aseptic and a priori principles has resulted in their mimicry of their formalist forbears. (pp. 23) Whatever the case with formal logicians, very few informal logicians assimilate explanation to argument. Indeed, Govier (1987) argued explicitly against such assimilation, and the distinction between argument and explanation has become a staple of the informal logic approach. (See also Berg, 1990, and Kasachkoff, 1988; Thomas, 1973, stood apart on this matter.) Weinstein's critique would be stronger had he provided examples of these offending aseptic and a priori principles. If, by an "a priori principle," Weinstein meant a principle that is not dependent on experience, then such principles are to be expected from anything that calls itself logic, unless Weinstein proposed the view that logic is an empirical study based on a posteriori principles. That suggestion, although intriguing, does not seem to be the direction that Weinstein was headed in. To conclude my treatment of Weinstein's objections to informal logic, I wish to make four points.

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First, and on the plus side, because most informal logicians began as formal logicians and only set that aside when they encountered formidable obstacles, there is some plausibility in Weinstein's claim. Second, Weinstein assumes that there are but two alternatives for informal logic: either the aseptic, too general and unuseful norms reminiscent of formal logic or norms located within disciplines. Informal logic is of little help in the domain Weinstein (1990) called ''stylized argument." But as Govier (1987) pointed out, there is a great deal of important argumentation that takes place outside of the academy, whatever one chooses to call it: ordinary argumentation, naturally occurring arguments, or mundane argument. Siegel (1988) made a similar point: "Reasons frequently are expressed in non-specialized, non-technical language. In such cases full understanding does not require mastery of specialized language or information" (pp. 2930). There is every reason to think that informal logic has an important service to perform in this realm. (In the next chapter, I show that Weinstein believes that informal logic has an important contribution to make to the study of argumentation in the disciplines; indeed, that is its real calling.) Third, Weinstein's critique would profit greatly if it were carried out with more attention to specifics, both illustrations and evidence to support strong claims and also sensitivity to the important BarthKrabbe distinction between formal2 and formal3. Finally, it should be noted that Weinstein's own position is not located within any of the disciplines. His argument is not historical, not mathematical, not biological. Weinstein's position seems rather to belong to that inquiry I called the theory of argument, where informal logic represents one important theoretical initiative. So even if it is true (as Weinstein, 1994, eventually argued) that the important standards for argument evaluation are all discipline-specific, it does not follow that there is no need for a theory of argument. Conclusion There is something right about Weinstein's claim about the presence of formalism in informal logic. Yet the criticism is undeveloped and, in my mind, not forceful enough to cause anyone to mistake informal logic for formal logic, particularly not if they are differentiated not only by their approach but by their respective domains, as I have suggested in chapter 5. I propose to defer further investigation of this issue until the next chapter. The next reductivist move was already anticipated by Hintikka. It is the move that says that informal logic really is nothing but rhetoric. As presented by McPeck, this objection also incorporates elements of the peremptory challenge and of Weinstein's position. Thus, I may appropriately turn to it now.

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Informal LogicSee Rhetoric McPeck (1981) argued that informal logic is a solecism (Hintikka made the same claim) and that, in fact, it is not really distinguishable from rhetoric. This objection will provide an occasion to discuss the question of the relationship between informal logic and rhetoric. Ultimately, McPeck's position is that the most important thing to teach our students if we want them to engage critically with the discipline they are learning is neither formal nor informal logic, but rather the epistemology of the discipline. So in a sense, McPeck's position is that informal logic (what there is to it) reduces to epistemology. McPeck's Position In the course of his critique of informal logic, McPeck made the following claims about informal logic: 1. It is not clear what informal logic is; the term "remains about as vague as it could be" (p. 67) 2. The phrase "informal logic" is a contradiction in terms. (p. 69) 3. There is little to differentiate informal logic from rhetoric. 4. Informal logic rests on two articles of faith, both of which are unfounded: A. If a piece of reasoning is justified, then it is justified by some principle; B. A principle in one area must also apply in another area. I discuss the reasoning behind each of these propositions in some detail, with particular emphasis on point 4A because this is the proposition that lies at the core of his case and because it is the one he argued for in greatest detail. For further discussion of McPeck's misconstruals of informal logic, see Blair and Johnson (1991) and Johnson (1996). Before I go on to discuss (4), it should be noted that (1) appears incompatible with (2) and (3). It is hard to see how McPeck held both (1) and (2); if the term "informal logic" is vague, then its meaning is unclear and if unclear, how could it be self-contradictory? Further, (1) and (3) do not seem to be consistent. If informal logic is rhetoric, if that is its content, then informal logic is just as clear, or opaque, as rhetoric. As to (1): It is difficult to take this claim too seriously. There is, we know, a problem in defining a term like "informal logic." There are various conceptions of it, as was made plain in chapter 5. But McPeck had before him a perfectly coherent statement about the nature of informal logic. I know

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this because he proceeded to discuss Johnson and Blair's 1980 definitionobjecting to the use of the word logic. As to (2): McPeck wrote: Informal logic and rhetoric distinguish themselves from the demonstrative sciences by the absence of formal detachment rules, the hallmark of logical systems. Indeed, there is an important sense in which the phrase "informal logic" is a contradiction in terms; if something is truly informal (that is has no detachment rules) then it is not logical in the normal sense of the word. (p. 69) McPeck believed such rules and principles would be a formal logic because he identified formal with systems with detachment rules. If he meant that in order to qualify as logic, a system must have detachment rules and if he wanted a clear demarcation between rules and axioms, and if he meant that to qualify as a formal system, a system must specify its detachment rules (such as modus ponens), then it follows that Aristotle's syllogistic is not formal logic; nor is the logic of the Stoics a formal logic, nor indeed anything prior to Frege. The absence of clearly specified detachment rules is not a reason for denying an inquiry the status of logic. McPeck cannot be thinking here of formal2, so it must be that he was thinking of formal3"procedures which are regimented by rules." But if this is his criticism, then he failed to appreciate the difference between formal2 and formal3. And his argument goes astray because informal logic has never aspired to be presented as an informal2 logic. As to (3): This part of the critique appears to be based on a misunderstanding; that is, McPeck assumed that what Johnson and Blair (1980) were up to was to differentiate informal logic from rhetoric, whereas what we were attempting to do was differentiate it from formal logic. In any event, the legitimate issue McPeck's critique raises is how to understand the relationship between informal logic and rhetoric. Once again, we are involved in a conceptual dispute that hinges on the meanings that one assigns to the crucial terms "informal logic" and "rhetoric." McPeck never told us what he understood by rhetoric, but I can make some inferences from what he wrote. McPeck began by claiming that informal logic and rhetoric have a common foe (formal demonstration) and, as well, both approach arguments using the notion of fallacy. (Note that this is true of some, but not all, informal logicians and some, but not all, rhetoricians.) Both have a common concern with praxis and both are focused on argumentation as persuasion. The only thing that would distinguish the two would be if informal logic could bring off a comprehensive theory of argument, something that McPeck appeared to believe rhetoric has not attempted, "Historically, rhetoric has

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been content to name and describe discrete types of argument and fallacies piecemeal" (p. 70). But, McPeck argued, such a theory of argument would have to be formal. Hence, there is really no significant difference between the two: There is ample evidence that rhetoricians, particularly Perelman and Olbrechta-Tyteca, are concerned about analysis and criticism as informal logicians. Indeed the detailed descriptions of various fallacies and rhetorical techniques offered by rhetoricians often surpass the best work of informal logicians. (p. 70) These passages provide some idea of what McPeck understood rhetoric to be, but fall short of a careful delineation of the field. I come, then, to (4), and specifically to (4A). This part of his discussion is relevant because here he argued for the claim that there cannot be a general theory of argument, which is all that would distinguish informal logic from rhetoric. McPeck holds that a general theory of argument (or reasoning) would require principles: For one thing, the theory would provide a set of rules or principles to which one could appeal in the successful evaluation of arguments. But if informal logicians were ever successful at developing all these rules and principles, they would then have a formal logic of ordinary argument or reasoning. (p. 71) Govier (1987) argued, and I think rightly, that part of what causes McPeck's argument to go astray here is that he confused the formal with the general. Further the claim that such principles would be a formal logic takes place in abstraction from any attempt on his part to specify or nail down the meaning of formal. In what sense of formal is one to understand this claim: formal2 or formal3? Or some other sense? McPeck's use of the concept formal is thus unregulated, as Govier also pointed out (p. 14). McPeck asked whether there were any grounds for thinking that such a theory could be constructed: At the moment it seems that there is little more than blind faith in the constant requests for principles or rules to justify inferences or to support charges of fallacy. There is the implicit assumption that for every bit of reasoning there must be some principle to justify it. And given that principles are by their nature general, the thinking seems to be that these general principles can be codified into theory of reasoning . . . (p. 71) There are a number of problems with McPeck's position. First, I want to call attention to the phenomenon observed in chapter 4the tendency to switch

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back and forth between the terms "inference," "argument," and "reasoning," as though these were one and the same. They are related, we know. But when we are arguing about what sort of theory exists or might need to exist, it is clearly important to differentiate between a theory of inference, a theory of argument, and a theory of reasoning. If inference here has the sense of an implicative relationship between premises and conclusion, then such a theory does existFDL. If inference here has the sense of inductive inference, then again such a theory exists, although its status is controversial. (I am thinking of the debates in logic and philosophy as to whether there is or is not such a thing as inductive logic.) If we look to argument, we know that there are various theories of argument, some of which are identical to the previously named theories and some of which are not. Finally, as to a theory of reasoning, my view is that we lack, at this point, a developed and coherent theory of reasoning. If the argument of this book is successful, it points in the direction of the need for such a theory. McPeck's position gets a fair amount of its plausibility by moving back and forth between these terms and adding others. Thus, it is one thing to assert that informal logic is committed to the view that for every bit of reasoning (in the sense of argument), there is some principle to justify it. I am not sure exactly what this means and turn to it in a moment. It is quite another thing to assert the more general (and probably false) claim that every bit of reasoning needs to be justified in terms of some principle. Second, McPeck's claim that such a theory of argument assumes that every bit of reasoning (qua argument) requires some principle to justify it is both unsupported and unclear: How does informal logic make this assumption? What precisely does this assumption come to? These are questions to keep in mind as I continue, for without clear answers to them, McPeck's objection will not amount to much. He continued: One is the view that if a piece of reasoning is justified, then its justification must reside in some further principle. But the mistake here is to confuse the notion of having a justification with that of the use of a general principle. Not all justified decisions (or judgements) employ general principlesat least not the kind required for a theory. In addition to justified sui generis judgements, there are justified decisions and judgements that rest simply on experience and can be supported in no other way. (p. 71) Suppose McPeck is right: There are justified decisions that rest on experience alone. What does this have to do with the claim that an informal theory of argument rests on unsupported faith? Did McPeck believe that there are arguments whose goodness can be justified in this same wayby an appeal to experience? Again it appears that McPeck's view gets some of its plausibility by the shifting that takes place between crucial terms such as "argument," "decision," and "judgment." An argument is not the same as a decision

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nor yet as a judgement, and what is true of the one is not ipso facto going to be true of the other. These are points that I cannot discuss in detail here but that would properly be taken up in a theory of reasoning. Perhaps the most revealing text in which McPeck chided informal logicians is: The informal logician's desire to have it both waysthat is, to know how to reason within an area without knowing the areastems from the long-held philosophical prejudice, which is that philosophy somehow has a monopoly on such things as argument, reasoning and proper analysis. (p. 81) It is not at all clear which philosophers McPeck has in mind. Perhaps Hegel held such a view, but very few philosophers in the 20th century have held such imperialistic views. Indeed, the contrary has been the tendency. Positivists, for example, have argued that philosophy is essentially the logic of science. In recent years, the project known as naturalized epistemology has been arguing that insights about reasoning obtained from psychology are crucial for philosophers. Rorty is widely interpreted as calling for the end of philosophy as separate inquiry. Still, it would be naive to ignore the fact that philosophy does enjoy a special connection to the practice of dialectic and argumentation. But this is only to be expected in an inquiry whose basic methodology is argumentation. It may fairly be stated that philosophy has a longer and more intense relationship to argumentation than any other discipline and that its fate as a discipline is vitally dependent on argumentation. But this does not mean that philosophy has, or believes itself to have, a monopoly on argument, reasoning, and analysis. Nor does it mean that other forms of discourse, such as narrative and dialogue, have no role to play. A theory of argument need not make any such assumption about all reasoning. It need only assume that arguments are governed by or can be appraised by standards or rules.5 With this, all informal logicians will agree. Where they differ is on the nature of these standards. Some, following Toulmin, hold that they are field-dependent; others take the view that there are field-invariant standards. In sum, McPeck's position on informal logic seems to depend on a number of unsatisfactory assumptions. His argument is weakened by his tendency to equate reasoning, argument, and inference. Moreover, his critique of informal logic rests on an inadequate understanding of informal logic, a highly dubious assumption in the theory of reasoning that is completely undeveloped, and a commitment to Toulmin-type theories. 5 See Govier (1987) for an interesting discussion of the view that principles of reasoning must be general. She took Wisdom's treatment of case-by-case reasoning to be a denial of this point.

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McPeck may have been right to claim that informal logic promised more than it delivered and that its ambitions exceeded its achievements, but as I pointed out, informal logic was then and still is, to some degree, in its infancy. Having attempted to raise doubts about the existence of the kind of theory of argumentation that informal logicians call for, McPeck concluded that, "there is at present little to distinguish informal logic from rhetoric" (p. 72). But given the absence of an informed account of rhetoric and the number of questionable claims he made about informal logic, this line of argument is not compelling. Yet McPeck did raise the question: What is the relationship between informal logic and rhetoric? I want to conclude this section by offering some thoughts about this question. Informal Logic and Rhetoric Both logic and rhetoric trace their provenance to Aristotle, both have had long and complex histories, both are concerned with the practice of argumentation, and both have undergone important transformations in the latter half of 20th century. If it is possible to speak of a new rhetoric that was ushered in by the work of Perelman and OlbrechtsTyteca, it is also possible to speak of a new logic ushered in by the work of Toulmin and Hamblin. In asking how they are related, much depends on how one conceives of them. I have already presented my account of informal logic as the normative dimension of the study of argumentation. Rhetoric is now widely conceived as the study of effective communication.6 Because one prominent form of communication is argumentation, rhetoric has an interest in the study of argumentation. Informal logic has been significantly influenced in its development by the work of the rhetoricians and speech communication theorists. Their influence is evident in a number of developments: the role that informal logicians have assigned to audience (see Blair and Johnson's (1987) notion of the community of ideal interlocutorsa variation on Perelman's notion of the universal audience), and the awareness of the importance of context. The influence of rhetoric can likewise be seen in the way that some informal logicians have dealt with the "ad-" fallaciesexploring the view that the fallacies are not always fallacies (see Wreen, 1988a, 1988b) or the view that it is not always fallacious to attack the person or to appeal to emotions (Walton, 1992). The influence is evident in an important shift that occurs in the theory of evaluation. Under the sway of theorists like Perelman and Hamblin, informal logicians dropped the truth requirement (which many had brought with them from their earlier exposure to formal logic) and 6 See Foss, Foss, & Trapp (1985) for expressions of this view of rhetoric.

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substituted instead some form of an acceptability requirement. Thus, it seems evident that informal logic has been influenced by work in rhetoric and speech communication. At the same time, theorists in those areas have read and cited the work of informal logicians. Thus, it appears that the new logic and the new rhetoric have forged a working alliance. In spite of this new spirit of cooperation, some traces of the historical animosity between the two disciplines (which it is customary to lay at the feet of Plato) remain in the suspicion that some logicians have that rhetoric will ultimately always sell out to the audience and in the concern that many rhetoricians express about the abstract and idealized models that logicians are fond of creating and then imposing on the practice of argumentation. Posing the Question If we ask again the ancient question concerning the relationship of logic and rhetoric, we cannot content ourselves with traditional accounts that were premised on the belief that logic equals FDL. Sad to say the spectre of FDL still hangs over this discussion in the view (still adhered to by many in both rhetoric and communication theory) that logic's approach to argumentation is bound up with a priori and formalistic procedures and conceptions that emphasize conclusive arguments as the ideal.7 I attempt to crystallize the difference in three ways. First Difference: The Teleological Nature of Argument In assigning to argumentation the telos of rational persuasion, we have located the practice of argumentation within the domain of the rational. Both logic and rhetoric see argumentation as governed by rationality. Rhetoric sees the shaping of the argument as rational, for the arguer must use Logos (reason and reasons) to develop the argument. But from the point of view of rhetoric, the rational force of the argument is not and should not be the only factor in determining outcomes in argumentative space. There is also the need to take into account the role of Ethos and Pathos. To be effectively rational, rhetoric will insist that the argument takes account of the human environment and that it, as well, connects with human sentiment. Logic, on the other hand, sees the telos of rational persuasion as governed especially by Logos. It does not deny that Ethos and Pathos have roles to play, but these are secondary. Second Difference: The Dialectical Obligation I have argued that the telos of rational persuasion has consequences for how logic depicts the structure of argument: A dialectical tier is required. 7 See, for example, Dearin's understanding of logic on pages 8083 of his (1982) work.

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Does the telos of effective persuasion have the same impact on the structure of argument as understood by rhetoric? My answer is "No." Rhetoric will not generally require a dialectical tier in the argument. That is, if the arguer can achieve the end of producing an effective argument relying only on what I have called the illative core, then the interest of rhetoric will have been satisfied. It will require this tier only when it is necessary in order for the argumentation to be effective (persuasive) for a given audience. Thus, for example, when the arguer can anticipate that some member of the audience will raise a certain objection, it makes sense for the arguer to anticipate and indicate how that objection will be handled if he or she wishes to persuade the audience. But this is not generally the case. Suppose that there is an objection; let me call it O*; which the arguer knows about and which the arguer also has very good reason to believe his audience does not know about. I may suppose, for example, that the arguer is the editor of a journal that has just received a paper for publication in which this objection is raised; and we suppose that the arguer knows that the author of the paper is not in the audience. From the point of view of rhetoric, there is no obligation for the arguer to deal with O*the argument can be perfectly effective without it. However, from the standpoint of logic, the arguer is under an obligation to deal with this objection, even if, and especially if, doing so could potentially influence the rationality of the argument. Because even though the audience does not know of the objection, and so the arguer could get by without dealing with it, the argument will be more rational in substance and appearance if it can meet the test of this objection. If this objection should create difficulties for the arguer, then, from the perspective of logic, he or she is all the more obligated to deal with the objection. Further, the requirement of manifest rationality explains why, in argumentative space as understood by logic, the arguer must respond even to those criticisms he or she believes (or knows) are misguided. If the arguer were obligated only by the dictates of rationality (rather than those of manifest rationality), then he or she can afford to ignore the criticism. From the standpoint of rhetoric and rationality, the arguer is only obligated to respond to the misguided criticism if doing so is necessary in order to achieve the goal of effective persuasion. But from the perspective of logic and the requirement of manifest rationality, the arguer is obligated to respond even to those criticisms that are regarded as misguided because to ignore such criticisms compromises the appearance of rationality. Thus we have come on a second difference in how their respective teloi influence the structure of argument. From the perspective of logic, the obligation to deal with dialectical stuff is unconditional; a dialectical tier is required. From the perspective of rhetoric, this obligation is conditional.

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Third Difference: Criteria for Evaluation I believe that there is a third difference that derives from the different ways in which logic and rhetoric consider the task of the evaluation of arguments. The issue is premise adequacy. Many informal logicians have adopted acceptability as a criterion for premise adequacy. In dropping the truth requirement and introducing the acceptability requirement, informal logicians haveso I believebeen persuaded by rhetorical values and concerns. I argued in the last chapter that a viable theory of evaluation must include both truth and acceptability. The problem of coordinating these, I have called The Integration Problem. I suggest that in seeking to resolve this problem, informal logic should tend to favor the truth requirement over the acceptability requirement, whereas rhetoric will, I believe, take the reverse view. That there are differences between the way in which rhetoric and logic (here informal logic) view argumentation should come as no surprise. That there may occasionally be friction between their standpoints should also come as no surprise. But by and large, as recent history shows, they have much in common: Not only do both have vital contributions to make to the theory of argumentation, they can and do and should continue to work together to achieve their respective ends. Informal LogicSee Epistemology The last reductionist objection to be considered seeks to reduce informal logic to epistemology. The proper standards for a theory of argument appraisal are really epistemological in character. (McPeck (1981) held this view with respect to both informal logic and critical thinking.) There is a strong and various weaker formulation of this thesis: Strong Form. The appropriate standards for the appraisal of arguments are epistemological. (Biro and Siegel, 1992) Weak Form. The appropriate standards for the appraisal of arguments are closer to epistemology than they are to formal logic. (Pinto, 1994). This objection raises the question of the relationship between informal logic and epistemology that I shall deal with next.

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The Strong Thesis: BiroSiegel Biro and Siegel (1992) argued that the standards that informal logicians have adopted are really epistemological, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that they called for an epistemological treatment of these standards. They put the question this way: ''What are the standards of rationality to which we ought to appeal in assessing the epistemic forcefulness of arguments/reasons?" (p. 97). Thus, I can see that the BiroSiegel argument applies chiefly to the assessment of arguments; hence, to the theory of appraisal. Their argument leaves entirely untouched the question of whether epistemology can furnish the necessary wherewithal for a theory of analysis. Biro and Siegel were well aware that the theory of argumentation has a multidisciplinary character. They made it clear that their own interest is an epistemicnormative issue, and they answered it by saying, "An argument succeeds epistemically (rather than rhetorically, pragmatically, etc) to the extent that it advances the knowledge of the arguer or her audience or provides good reasons for the belief or the acceptance of a proposition" (p. 96). There are problems here. An argument might advance the knowledge of the audience even if it is not a good argument. How? Suppose the argument is poor yet it stimulates someone to do the sort of research and reasoning that results in that person's having advanced his or her own knowledge. Also, in restricting successful arguments to the realm of belief and knowledge, the authors overlook the heuristic function that arguments serve. An argument may show that a particular thesis is rational even if it does not advance knowledge or result in acceptance by the audience. Biro and Siegel wrote, "The question thus becomes: What is it for a conclusion to be warranted by an argument?" To this question, they answered, "Many writers in the informal logic literature appeal to three criteria of argument assessment: (a) acceptability of premises, (b) relevance of premises to conclusion; and (c) strength of support afforded by premises to conclusion" (p. 97). They dismissed the second criterion as really just a special case of the third criterion: "If a premise is irrelevant, it offers no support, and if it is relevant, the crucial issue of the strength of the support it affords the conclusion must still be addressed . . . so these criteria collapse into two. . . ." (p. 98). But, they argued, these two remaining criteria themselves depend on a deeper epistemological theory of good reasons in order to tell when and to what degree they are justified. Hence, the significant criteria for appraising argumentation are really epistemological in character. The SiegelBiro argument is that relevance is redundant and that the standards involved (sufficiency and acceptability) require a foundation in some form of epistemological theory. Not just any form will do: "Our view is that if we are to understand argumentation epistemically, we must reject epistemological relativism, accept a more or less standard conception of

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truth and regard justification as a fallible indicator of truth" (p. 98). This raises the important question: What are the epistemological assumptions of a theory of argumentation? Were Biro and Siegel right that one must reject relativism? That one must accept a more or less standard conception of truth? There are many who argue that truth is not required for a normative theory of argumentation. These are contentious matters, to say the least. Let me leave the issue of the relationship between informal logic and epistemology and return to the proposed reduction of the standards proposed by informal logicians to epistemological standards. 1. If one is determined to be a reductivist, the question is: Why stop with the reduction of three standards to two? Can it not equally be argued that acceptability can be subsumed under sufficiency, so that really I only need one standard? 2. Biro and Siegel were wise to attempt the dispatch of relevance because, of the criteria they cited, it is the one that least resembles epistemological standards. There are, so far as I know, almost no epistemological studies of relevance; the concept seems to have played little evident role in the discussions of standard issues of epistemologythe nature of knowledge, belief, and justification. Yet the criterion of relevance lies close to the very heart of argument assessment. 3. Even if the reduction can be achieved, it is not clear that it should be achieved. One may, of course, argue that one should get by with the minimum possible set of standards, and usually the basis for this reductivist bias is allegiance to Occam's Razor: Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. But that raises the issue of what standards are necessary for the purposes of appraisal. Here, it seems to me, that I am wise to recognize that my categorial schemes are inevitably wed to my purposes.8 Because, in my view, the purpose of the theory of appraisal is not simply evaluation of the argument but also criticism of it, I view the proposed reduction is wrong headed. Even if the criterion of sufficiency in some sense includes relevance, that is not an adequate reason for dispensing with it as a separate criterion. At the level of criticism, there is an important difference as to whether a specific premise is irrelevant or whether the problem is that a set of premises is insufficient. If the purpose were simply evaluation (which may well be the axis of the BiroSiegel approach), then the BiroSiegel proposal makes sense. But because a crucial issue for the theory of argument is criticism, my view is that it does not make sense to collapse the two. 8 This is a point that Wittgenstein (1953) made when he asked us to think about how many ways there are to classify pieces. There are many ways to classify chess pieces and which one I accept will depend on the purpose of the classification.

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To illustrate, consider an illative core: P1 P2 P3 C Suppose we criticize the argument and determine that the serious problem with this argument is that P2 is irrelevant to C. If we take the BiroSiegel approach (so that the only criteria are sufficiency and acceptability), then it looks like the critic here must say, "This is a bad argument, because P1 through P3 are insufficient to establish C." Yet the grounds that the critic will have to give here are not the sort that one would expect when the charge is a failure of sufficiency. Indeed, the reasons the critic presents will precisely those that support the claim that "P2 is irrelevant to C." Hence, if we have the criterion of relevance available, our criticism will be more precise. If more precise criticism is stronger criticism, it is preferable according to the principle of discrimination. It is important not to subsume relevance under sufficiency if one is interested in criticism rather than mere evaluation. If, on the other hand, the goal were simply evaluation, the BiroSiegel view would be the correct one. This result seems to me an illustration of the significant difference between evaluation and criticism and the importance of maintaining this distinction for a theory of argument. The second problem here concerns what sort of help we can expect to get from epistemology with respect to the other two criteria invoked by both Biro and Siegelacceptability and sufficiency. Biro and Siegel held that there are two things we may expect from epistemology: Such an epistemological account must address at least two questions: to what specific principles ought we to appeal in assessing the goodness and forcefulness of reasons?; and, what general account of knowledge, truth, warrant, rationality, and rational justification underwrites those specific principles? (p. 98) The BiroSiegel position assumes that knowledge, truth, warrant, rationality, and rational justification all in some sense are epistemological in character, such that a full appreciation of them is to be gotten only or best from epistemology. Let's look at these notions one at a time and think about their status in theory of argument and epistemology. Knowledge. With respect to this concept, Biro and Siegel are on solid ground. Certainly, one would turn to epistemology for an account of knowledge. Hence, if knowledge was a criterion for good argument, if, for example, one adopted the epistemic view that a premise must be known to be true, then recourse to epistemology would be necessary. But is an account of

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knowledge necessary for a theory of argument? What is the relationship between argument(ation) and knowledge? Neither most epistemologists nor most logicians would accept the view that S knows that P just in case S has a good argument for P. The whole issue of the relationship between knowledge and argument is yet another issue for the theory of reasoning. Truth. There are various theories of truth, some developed by epistemologists (coherence theories), some not (Tarski's, 1944, semantic theory of truth). Some theorists (Hamblin, Pinto) hold that truth is not a criterion that the theory of argument requires. In any event, it is reasonable to expect some help from epistemology here. Warrant. The status of this concept in epistemology lies within theories of justification. The notion of warrant is important for Toulmin-type theories of argument, and certainly it seems fair to say that Toulmin's exposure to epistemology played a role in the use to which he put this concept in his own theory of argument. (On the role of warrant in epistemology, see Plantinga, 1993.) Rationality. In chapter 1, I acknowledged that the theory of argument depends on the theory of rationality. Epistemology also has an interest in rationality, but it is not clear that I am going to get the kind of articulation of it that I need from those quarters. A more likely place to turn for illumination is rationality theory itself. Justification. Clearly, justification is a central epistemological concept. What is justified is belief. However, the connection between belief and argument is problematic. In other words, to know what it is for A to be justified in believing P and to know under what circumstances A is justified in putting forth P as premise in an argument are two different, even if related, issues. This bare-bones sketch of these fundamental concepts and their respective roles in epistemology and the theory of argument shows again the importance of The Network Problem discussed in chapter 1, and again the need for work in the theory of reasoning. To conclude, I agree with Biro and Siegel that the approach to the theory of argument developed here must have recourse to epistemology. I harken back to Barth's (1987) advice that we should take what help we can from the established sciences. Although informal logic must welcome help from epistemology, the claim that informal logic is reducible to it seems unjustified. Biro and Siegel (1992) rightly said that the theory of argument is "an essentially normative phenomenon," and any theory of argument must account for that normativity; "purely descriptivist accounts of argumentation simply cannot do so" (p. 99). But the claim that the norms or criteria for

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argumentation are either epistemological in character or such that their analysis will be found in epistemology appears overstated and unjustified. Of the four criteria that I have proposed for the illative core, only onetruthcan be said to be inherently epistemologicaland indeed its status is controversial. Anotheracceptabilityalthough perhaps rhetorical in origin is capable of being enlightened by epistemological reflection. It is less likely that informal logicians will receive much help from epistemologists with key concepts such as relevance and sufficiency. Where they will receive help is with the distinction between belief and acceptance, the nature of both, the issues of truth and justification, and the problems of relativismall good reasons for maintaining an open-door policy. The Weak Thesis: Pinto A somewhat different approach to the question of the relationship between epistemology and informal logic is found in Pinto (1994). After ruling out soundness as a useful standard of appraisal for arguments, Pinto instead proposed two standards that, he acknowledged, are audience-dependent: whether the premises are acceptable or reasonable to believe; and whether the inferential link is suitable. These standards are, like some epistemic standards, relative to persons and times, which means that informal logic's method of appraisal would come closer to that of epistemology than that of formal logic (variant of the weak form) because validity and truth are not, according to Pinto, audience-dependent. (Pinto seemed to assume that the standards for argument are either all absolute or they are all relative. Could it not be the case that some are absolute and others relative? I see no reason to reject this possibility a priori.) Weak Epistemic Standards To defend his view that the proper standards for argument are (weakly) epistemic, Pinto appealed to principles that he found intuitively plausible rather than reflection on the contexts, goals, and circumstances that might be used to determine the standards. Those principles are: AP1: Good arguments provide good reasons for believing their conclusions. AP2: An argument that it would unreasonable not to accept is a good argument. These look like reasonable principles. But I make three points.

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First, Pinto's approach adopts the (P + I) conception of argument according to which an argument is constituted of premises plus a link between the premises and the conclusion. I discussed in chapter 6 my misgivings about this model, and, hence, any position that depends on it. Second, Pinto may be construed as presenting a refinement on Hamblin's argument (discussed in chapter 7) by showing that even if epistemic criteria fail, weak epistemic criteria may not fail. Suppose that Pinto was successful (which I think he was not) in establishing that there are weak epistemic standards and that, unlike epistemic standards, they are not open to the objections Hamblin urged against epistemic ones. Pinto noted that Hamblin's case for dialectical criteria "wanes considerably as one takes weakly epistemic criteria seriously" (p. 4). But it is not altogether clear exactly what would be the difference between Pinto's weakly epistemic and Hamblin's strongly dialectical criteria: that is, Hamblin might well argue that the criteria being used should be billed as strongly dialectical, in which the operative criterion is "accepts for good reason." Third, like Hamblin, Pinto did not directly engage the issue of how the standards or criteria are to be generated. He followed Hamblin in adopting a trickle-down approach. That is, one begins with the ideal of soundness that, it is argued, is too stringent. So one looks for ways to soften or dilute it. Thus, rather than require that the premises be true, one settles for a weaker criterionacceptance for good reason. And one does not require that the link be the strongest possible but allows for a weaker connection. Is this the best way to generate standards of argument? Should we not rather look at the practice we are engaged in and ask about its purposes and processes and derive our criteria from a consideration of them? If the argument of this book has merit, then any attempt to derive standards of argumentation by watering down standards devised for implication is unlikely to be successful. The core of the argument comes where Pinto proposed two standards that he called weakly epistemic: WE1: The premises must be reasonable to believe. WE2: It must be reasonable to infer the conclusion from the premises. These are said to be weakly epistemic in comparison to Hamblin's candidates because the latter are formulated in terms of knowledge rather than reasonable belief. For our purposes, it is WE1 that needs to be considered. (I omit discussion of WE2, being content to point out that very likely Pinto would have to unpack this standard with reference to deductive, inductive, or conductive theories of inference, or some combination thereof.) As regards premise acceptability, Pinto's argument resembles Hamblin's argument that alethic standards are neither sufficient nor necessary. I have

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already spelled out in some detail my problems with that argument in chapter 7. But let us see how Pinto made the case. Truth Is Not Sufficient Truth is not sufficient because if the premises are true but not known by the arguer to be true, it may well be unreasonable to accept them, thus violating WE1. Pinto wrote, "Mere truth will not be sufficient. For one does not have good reasons for accepting a conclusion if one infers it from premises it is unreasonable to believeeven if those premises happen to be true" (p. 3). Pinto held that it can be the case that a premise is unreasonable to believe, yet true. Hence, the argument in which that premise appeared was not a good oneas directed to that audience at that time: Directed to another audience, it might be quite a good argument. In arriving at these judgments, it seems clear that Pinto assigned the greater weight to the acceptability requirement. But is that a defensible policy? Does that policy square with the requirements of rationality and manifest rationality? In a conflict between truth and acceptability, which should prevail? I deal with this problemThe Integration Problemin chapter 11. Pinto held that the argument about orangutans and vitamins, had it been proposed to the Romans, would not have been a good argument because the premise is not one that it would have been reasonable for the Romans to believe. That same argument, however, might be a good one now. Thus, Pinto's position raises the problem of relativism. To accept Pinto's position, one must be prepared to allow that a given argument may be a good argument for Paul but not for Peter, or a good one for Sheila at one time but not a good one for her at another time. The problem of relativism is admittedly a difficult one here in the theory of argument, no less than it is in epistemology. My own view is that relativism in the way that Pinto presented it here is wrong-headed. I see that argument as having two components. The first is that the worth of arguments is relative to time. The orangutanvitamin argument would not have been a good argument for the Romans but might be a good argument now. (Presumably this means that some people living today might find the argument a good one, others not.) But it seems to me that the orangutanvitamin argument is a positive nonstarter as far as the Romans are concerned. It is not that it is a bad argument; it is that it is unintelligible. The second component is the idea that an argument maybe a good one for Peter but not a good one for Josie. Clearly, if something like acceptability is the significant criterion for premise adequacy, then this is the likely outcome. But that takes me into the arms of The Integration Problem, discussion of which I defer until chapter 11.

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Truth Is Not Necessary On the question whether truth is necessary for a good argument, Pinto was somewhat more reticent. He began by citing Govier's (1987) argument that this position had the consequences that "in many times and places people should not be convinced by arguments at all" (p. 280). That is because what is reasonable to believe and therefore suitable premise material is false, so good arguments will not be possible. Pinto regarded this as having merit, "though the case still has to be made for the unacceptability of this consequence" (p. 4). And I would like to add: Some examples of this phenomenon and how it might occur would help. Next he cited Hamblin's argument to the effect that a logician's passing judgment on the truth of someone else's premise is simply expressing agreement or disagreement and that there is something repugnant in the idea that logic should be the vehicle for the expression of the logician's judgments. Pinto accepted part of this: The logician's judgments have effect only to the degree they are supported; but that does not, said Pinto, mean that "objecting to a premise on the ground that it's false is somehow a mistake, unhelpful or inappropriate" (p. 119). I agree, but I do not think this rejoinder quite captures the thrust of Hamblin's complaint against truth as a necessary condition. He said that all "p is true" can mean is "I accept p'' and that such personal judgments are clearly inappropriate. Thus, there are at least two separate issues. The first issue, as I see it, is whether this proposed reduction is viable. I do not think it is. It is obvious that although "I accept p" means that "I regard p as true," the meaning of the latter is different in an important way from the meaning of "p is true." Indeed, the truth conditions of the two are very different. Thus, in deciding whether "p is true" is true, no reference to my psyche will be needed as a rule. But in deciding whether "I regard p as true is true," the appeal to my psyche is definitive. (I can always apply the Moorean test: "I accept p, yet I wonder whether it really is the case that p."9) What is behind this aversion to embracing truth as a criterion (whether necessary or sufficient), one supposes, is the notorious difficulty of finding a definition, criterion, or theory of truththere being many different varieties. But such difficulties seem to me insufficient reasons for dropping the term "true" from the evaluative vocabulary. At the very least, Hamblin's argument, which fails to give a hearing to theories other than correspondence theories, is not a sufficient reason for rejecting it. And given the enormous amount of useful work that "true" performs in our commerce with arguments, and its obvious utility in many instances, it seems that the language is better off with it than without it. 9 See Moore (1903). Ayer (1936) adopted a version of this strategy.

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The second point is that Hamblin failed to distinguish questions of the appropriate criteria for argument evaluation (which is a question for logic) and whether a given argument meets the criteria (which is not a question for logic). A final line of argument (Pinto's own, I take it) is that sometimes an argument has false premises that it is not reasonable not to accept; that is to say, its premises, although false, are beyond reasonable doubt. I have two problems with this line of argument. First, the argument is too abstract to be fully satisfying. Following in the footsteps of Hamblin and Govier, Pinto asked us to concede this possibility. But his case, like theirs, would be stronger with an illustration to exemplify this possibility.10 Second, what does Pinto's argument, if successful, show about truth and premise acceptability? Does it show that truth is not a viable standard? No; at best it shows that truth is neither a necessary nor yet a sufficient condition. It does not follow that truth is not an appropriate criterion or standard. Something can be a standard, or a criterion, without being either a necessary andor sufficient condition. Here is an example. Having the won the most games in the league in one season is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for being selected as the Cy Young Award winner. There are pitchers who have won the award without having won the most games and there are pitchers who have won the most games and not won the award (because it was given to a reliever); hence, winning the most games is neither necessary nor sufficient. But does it follow that it is not a standard or a criterion to use in judging who the best pitcher is? I do not think so. Thus, I conclude that Pinto's arguments do not show that truth is not an appropriate criterion for premise acceptability. 10 There is a rejoinder here, due to Binkley, that would let Pinto off the hook. Binkley argued that the HamblinPinto position is not in the least bit odd, resembling as it does the well-known epistemic situation: I know that some of my beliefs are false, but I cannot name any specific one. This, Binkley claimed, is similar to the case of a premise's being true but not known to be true. However, I do not think this reasoning works because the analogy is ill-designed. My reasoning is this: Knowledge about human knowledge and about my own epistemic history provides me with ample reason for holding that at least one of the beliefs I currently hold to be true is in fact false, even though I cannot specify it. (If I could, then I would, presumably, reject it.) What justification can be provided for my claim with respect to the argument of another that one of its premises is true but it is not known to be so? No generic line of reasoning appears to be available, as it was in the analogue. To justify this claim, I have to produce reasons that support my claim that the premise in question is true, and at the same time, I have to produce reasons that the arguer does not know the premise to be true or reasons why it is not reasonable for the arguer to accept the premise. It is not clear how the critic will know this about the arguer. To know this, I will have to know a fair amount about the contents of the arguer's mental repertoire, whereas in the former case I need know nothing about the contents of any believer's mental repertoire. Hence, it seems to me, Binkley's analogy fails.

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Conclusion Let me end with a few more observations about Pinto's views. First, Pinto owed us an account of what is meant by reasonable to believe because this concept lies at the heart of his account of good arguments. Second, Pinto was more sanguine than I am that there is gold in them thar hills. Epistemologists have been notoriously preoccupied with questions like whether knowledge is possible, responding to the skeptic, offering analyses of "S knows that p," and so onnone of which strikes me as having any immediate payoff either for the theory of analysis or for the theory of appraisal. But I must admit that this is an open question and that informal logicians need all the help we can get from whatever quarter. Third, the connection between knowledge and argument, between knowledge and good arguments, is difficult territory and an important part of The Network Problem that can only be resolved, in my view, by an adequate theory of reasoning. I conclude that Pinto's argument for weakly epistemic criteria for the premises is unsatisfactory, in spite of the useful points that it contains. And because it is committed to the notion that arguments are best seen as composed of inferences, that is yet another problem from my perspective. Hopes for any such approach stand or fall with whether an adequate theory of conductive inference is available. Informal Logic and Epistemology What, then, can be said about the relationship between informal logic and epistemology? Clearly there is overlap between informal logic and epistemology. Yet any reduction of one to the other seems unlikely. Why? Take argument to be the fundamental notion of informal logic and take knowledge to be the fundamental notion of epistemology. It seems obvious that I can know a proposition to be true without its being the conclusion of good argument. I can know by sensation; I can know by reason alone. It also seems obvious that neither the premises nor the conclusion of an argument must be known in order for the argument to be a good argument. It is further clear that both argument and knowledge are dependent on reasoning and rationality. These realizations take us back to what I called The Network Problem, the awareness of the inter-relationships and mutual lines that run between argument, knowledge, reasoning, and rationality. There are, I think, four additional good reasons to resist any attempt to think that the structure and concerns of legitimate knowledge and belief will be exactly the same as those of legitimate argument. First, we have seen that argument is dialectical, whereas neither belief nor knowledge can properly be characterized in that way. Belief, especially, seems closer to inference in being monolectical in character. (Some view

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knowledge as dialectical in the sense that justification requires reference to norms and that such norms are always communitarian in nature.) Second, when we analogize argument to knowledge, as we will be tempted to do by the epistemological reduction, we will find it natural to make the following extrapolation: Just as knowledge consists in beliefs that are justified, argument consists in holding a conclusion that is justified by premises. This approach promotes the view that an argument is essentially a matter of the illative core, whereas we have seen that for argument, in the deep sense, a dialectical tier will be necessary. No corresponding structure (no dialectical tier) exists for knowledge. Third, with respect to belief, it is not clear that the arguer must believe the truth of the premises of the argument. One can develop a line of reasoning for the sake of argument. Fourth, one wonders about both the utility and the provenance of such reductionism. As to the latter, it must remind us of the drive in logic in the first part of the 20th century to discover the smallest primitive basis for axiomatic theory. Russell's axiom set for propositional logic contained 5 axioms, one of which was redundant. Whatever the role of such reductionism there, it appears to play no significant role here. Even if all standards could be reduced to one, I have shown that the analytic accomplishments of the reduction will still have to be played off against the needs of both evaluation and criticism. Hence, the objection that the normative part of the theory of argument is either reducible to or strongly dependent on epistemology seems unwarranted. My rejection of the strong thesis should not be taken as an attempt to isolate epistemology totally from informal logic, nor to reject the weaker thesis that epistemology can provide sustenance for informal logic, both of which points I have embraced in my discussion of Biro and Siegel. Indeed, because there are obvious ways in which the interests of informal logic and those of epistemology converge (both, for example, being interested in rationality), there is clearly going to be overlap. In addition to what emerged in discussion of the BiroSiegel thesis, it seems evident that epistemology will be helpful in elucidating such matters as credibility and the appeal to knowledge, both of which play a role in argument analysis. Nor is it beyond the scope of possibility that as informal logic develops, traffic may move the other way: That is, that epistemologists may look to informal logicians for help with some of their problems as well. What seems ill-advised is for either to engage in reductionist claims. Fortunately, there is little evidence that such disputes are of much interest to either epistemologists or informal logicians. Disciplinary disputes inevitably look foolish to the outsider. But how boundaries are drawn around intellectual enterprises is a significant issue and often revelatory of deep assumptions about the nature of these disci-

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plines. In the long run, such questions are rarely settled by the sort of give-and-take that occurs here but rather by the quality and texture of the initiatives within the disciplines. Informal LogicSee Sexism A very different sort of objection to informal logic that I want to consider next is the claim by some feminists (Nye, 1990) that logic is sexist. As a form of logic, it would appear that such a charge is applicable to informal logic no less than formal logic, which is Nye's actual target. However, I focus on Nye because something like this very charge of sexism has been levelled specifically against informal logic by Orr (1989). Orr on Informal Logic Orr began by discussing the sources of her current dissatisfaction: her own experience as a student, her experience as a teacher, and her interest in epistemology and women's studies have "led me to think that my style of rationality . . . is not wrong but rather simply different from the dominant style" (pp. 12). This led her to formulate a general thesis that "this culture's conception of rationality, especially as it is reflected in our educational institutions and the materials and practises that we as teachers use, is far too narrow" (p. 2). There is also a specific thesis that is more germane to my discussion, which is "that it is time for the informal logic movement . . . to recognize, theoretically ground and incorporate into its texts alternative styles of rationality" (p. 2). Her focus was on one of these that she called ''the feminine style." Orr moved to a discussion of this feminine style of rationality, basing her discussion on the work of Gilligan, Piggott, and Farrell, in whose writings she found a differentiation between a masculine and a feminine style of thinking. The male mode has been dominant and developed, Orr said, "with the explicit intent of excluding the emotional and the subjective" (p. 5), which Orr connected with the female mode. To illustrate this point, she referred to the methodology of "the widely acclaimed geneticist, Barbara McClintock" (pp. 56). She offered further evidence from the work of Chodorow and from Belenky et al. Orr began her discussion by focusing on informal logic and stated that "it is time for informal logic to take the next step, to expand its understanding of what rationality and argumentation are when they are understood as human, not masculine, practice" (p. 7). Orr indicated what this might look like when she said: For informal logic this will mean, among other things, a study of the role and the use of the subjective in the feminine mode, the study of and description

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of typical patterns of inquiry and persuasion and the identification and study of fallacies typical of this mode (p. 8). Finally, she discussed the consequences of the thesis that both the masculine and feminine modestyle of thinking, rationality, or reasoning need to be stressed. Because she said, gender is an acquisition and not sex determined, both modes of rationality are open to both sexes. Informal logic should actively foster the development of these alternate modes of rationality and, in that way, extricate itself from its sexist past. What, Precisely, Was Orr Targeting? It is not clear to me exactly what the focus of Orr's critique was. Is it the style of rationality? Or this culture's conception of rationality? These do not appear to be equivalent. Or is reasoning, rather than rationality, Orr's concern? Was her concern the differences between men's and women's reasoning or between the masculine mode of reasoning and the feminine mode of reasoning? Was her concern different styles of thinking? Masculine versus feminine modes of rational persuasion and inquiry? There are, we know, important connections between reasoning, rationality, and thinking and also between all of them, inquiry, and rational persuasion. Perhaps Orr meant to claim that they all display this same duality between a dominant male and a female mode wherein the male mode has been developed with the explicit intent of excluding the emotional and the subjective (the female).11 It is one thing to claim that there are gender-based styles of rationality, another thing to claim that there are gender-based styles of reasoning, and still another to claim that there are gender-based styles of thinking. Without denying the possible interconnections, I would argue that nothing is gained by assimilating these different elements of The Network Problem to one another. (I shall bracket as outside the scope of this work the way in which Orr moved back and forth between the concepts of sexsexuality (malefemale; masculinefeminine) and gender (menwomen). I also bracket the even more vexing problem about how to unpack the notions of masculinity and femininity and remain content here to point out that Orr's position depends on there being some articulable set of differences between the masculine and the femininea position many would question. For a more detailed look at this part of Orr's case, I recommend Menssen, 1993.) 11 Here Orr ignored the many philosophers who have been strong advocates of the emotions and subjectivity. Names that immediately come to mind are Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, James, and Sartre. It could hardly be claimed that these are submissive voices; it is hard to determine at any given moment in philosophy which voices are dominant and which muted.

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Did Orr Understand the Informal Logic Project? I see problems in Orr's understanding of logic. She stated that "Informal logic's recent arrival on the scene has challenged the received belief that formal logic adequately describes how people proceed when they reason in ordinary language," (p. 7). This claim is not accurate as it stands. I do not hold that formal logic fails because it does not describe how people proceed when they reason in ordinary language. I hold, as do other informal logicians, that formal logic fails to provide the proper standards for the evaluation of argumentation in ordinary language. The approach to argumentation developed in this work is one that sees it as just such a human practice, one in which both men and women can engage. Informal logic has been criticized for its militaristic (and hence sexist) language (Ayim, 1988), but I believe it is possible to purge such language without any loss to the project. The approach to argumentation advocated here construes it as a cooperative enterprise, in which the arguer and the critic are engaged in a relationship of real dependency and, in many cases, of friendship. It avoids the picture of argument often associated in such discussion with the masculine and its emphasis on winlose, on competition, and on individuality. Moreover, in the emphasis that it places on the audience and on real arguments rather than the codified and abstracted arguments of FDL, informal logic seems to reflect some elements of what might be called the feminine mode of rationality. Many argumentation theorists have explicitly abandoned or moved away from the idea of argument as proof to the idea of argument as dialogue, and this also might be seen as a move toward incorporating elements of the feminine mode. Having made these observations, I return to what for me is the most difficult question: What Would Principles Fashioned by the Feminine Mode Look Like? It is far from clear what Orr had in mind here. Using an analogy, she wrote: In this paper I would like to discuss the clues that have led me to believe that the toolbox is less than fully equipped and to make some suggestions as to where informal logic might look to enlarge its stock of implements. (p. 1) The problem is that Orr was not forthcoming with suggestions about what these tools are. She said, "To dismiss the feminine mode of rationality with the stock charge of 'mere psychologism' would be at best question begging, at worst prejudice" (p. 7). It would be helpful if I could see an illustration

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of what Orr argued against here, of someone who dismissed the feminine mode with the charge of being "mere psychologism"a position associated with the view that logic is a descriptive rather than a normative science. Moreover, Orr's argument for her position against psychologism seems to be situated within something like conventionally understood informal logic. Thus, Orr indicted those who make the charge of psychologism with question begging. Indeed, her entire article constitutes an argument (in the traditional masculine mode) in which she can be construed as making a case, citing evidence, appealing to authoritiesall techniques that seem to go hand in hand with what she referred to as "the masculine mode of rationality." There is nothing wrong with Orr's using the masculine mode to argue for the need for another, feminine, mode or argumentation. All the same, it does raise questions as to what such a mode of argumentation would look like. So, again, the question is: What sorts of principles would informal logic have to embrace in order to satisfy Orr's challenge? Perhaps there is a clue in her discussion of ethical theory in which she drew a contrast between an ethics of justice and an ethics of care: She said that in Gilligan's analysis, "the logic underlying an ethic of care is a psychological logic of relationships, which contrasts with the formal logic of fairness that informs the justice approach." (cited in Orr, 1989, p. 3) What exactly is a psychological logic? If it is a logic whose principles are furnished by psychology, then the charge of psychologism is understandable. Yet it is not clear what such principles would be. Would the feminine mode of rationality propose different standards of evaluation? Different principles of criticism? For example, would the feminine mode endorse the ad hominem as a legitimate mode of argumentation? Perhaps it would because the ad hominem fallacy depends on the acceptance of a separation between the arguer (and his or her voice) and the argument. Perhaps feminists are unwilling to grant the legitimacy of this kind of separation and so would argue that ad hominem argumentation is perfectly legitimate. My own view is that such an approach is open to very serious objection if it is intended to function within the realm of argumentation. Without some guidance from Orr, the claim that there is this alternative style of rationality (which presumably has its own logic) that informal logic must embrace to supplement the current masculine style remains underdeveloped. Nye on Logic I cannot here do justice to the forceful challenge to logic that Nye (1990) has mounted, yet, perhaps in Nye's critique of logic and its limits, we find a clearer idea of what Orr was driving at.

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Nye's analysis contrasts the moves that one learns to make in logic with those that go with reading. In the concluding chapter of her book, she referred to the 1988 U.S. presidential campaign to illustrate the difference between these two skills. Nye observed that two elements were decisive in the success of the Bush campaign. One was Bush's continual mention of the fact that Dukakis had vetoed a bill in Massachusetts that made it mandatory for teachers to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. The other was more image than ideathe use of Willie Horton to flag the issue of providing furloughs to prisoners. She wrote: The logic of these messages according to Bush was simple. Saluting the flag is the mark of loyalty to the United States, therefore if you are against it you are disloyal. Criminals are dangerous, therefore there should be no furlough program. By the necessity of this "logic", both men and women were convinced. (p. 183) The reference to logic is important for Nye's case because she was about to ask: "What might have helped them to a better understanding of what was being said to them?" She suggested that had these men and women been better at reading and perhaps less logical, less under the sway of conventional logic, they would not have been hoodwinked. So I want to ask: Did she do justice to logic? It is important to distinguish two senses of the term "logic." In one sense, the logic of something is its rationale. Thus, the rationale of the Bush ad was to attempt to paint Dukakis as soft on crime. Let me assume that the strategy was as outlined by Nye. These ads were successful with some? many? Americans. To that degree, the logic of these ads was successfulin this sense of logic. In the other sense of the term "logic," in which it means the logical adequacy of the argumentation, these ads were atrocious argumentsas almost anyone with a modicum of logical sense would have seen. Both formal and informal logic can be used to expose their flaws. The formal logician would point out that the first argument, although valid, is unsound because the premise is questionable. The formal logician would find the second argument invalid. The conclusion does not follow from the premise. Hence, neither argument is sound. How would an informal logician approach these arguments? Take the argument that revolves around the case of Willie Horton. An astute critic would question the sufficiency of this premise to justify the intended conclusion, would challenge how representative this instance is, would ask for base-rate data, or would question the stereotype at work. More to the point, a critic would want to know what arguments and evidence favor of the furlough program and what is wrong with those arguments? In other words,

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the informal logician has a variety of options available to critique this argument. Nevertheless, my instinct would be to question whether this discourse warrants being classified as argument at all. There is what appears to be an illative core: a reason being given in support of another point. But that is not sufficient to distinguish it from other types of reasoning. Here the structural view washes out and I need to examine not just the structure but also the purpose of this discourse. The text does not appear to be part of a dialectical situation. Why? Because this text is taken from a political advertisement that, like other forms of advertising, has a different telos than argumentation. The point is not to get at the truth but to install the candidate's message in the mind of the recipient. In other words, if I approach the Bush advertisement with an enriched conception of argument, I will question whether it is properly interpreted as an argument at all. Nye continued with her analysis: Was it more sophisticated logic that would cleverly tangle the question further: the missing premise, the principle that an exception does not disprove the rule . . . ? Or were there other more important skills that were lacking, and that could be learned and taught, the skills of readings: attention, listening, understanding, responding? (p. 183) In my view, all of theseattention, listening, understanding, and respondingare inescapably valued by the process of arguing. The Other must pay attention to what the arguer says and means, must listen carefully, must understand before engaging in criticism, and of course must respond. It is therefore surprising to read Nye's claim that: "These are not the same as the skills of logic; in many ways there are antithetical. If logic teaches us to ignore the circumstances in which something is said, reading asks us to consider it carefully" (p. 183). But logic teaches no such thingneither formal nor informalunless by circumstances she meant the person of the arguer, which is generally not relevant to the evaluation and criticism of the argument, although it may well be crucial for the understanding. Informal logicians have stressed the importance of the context in understanding the argument; some have gone so far as to assert that the context determines the standards that will be used. Furthermore, when it comes to the criterion of acceptability, circumstances and context are crucial. When it comes to determining whether an ad hominem fallacy has been committed, one must look at the circumstances. Nye's understanding of logic appears suspect here: In the case of the black criminal who went amok on furlough from prison, another even more difficult skill was needed, the skill to reflect on ourselves as we read, and to be aware of the deep-seated emotions and responses, in

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this case racist, that color our reading. Can logic or critical thinking, based on logic, teach these skills? (p. 183) The answer is a qualified yes. Some element of self-awareness is necessary for those who engage in the process of argumentation. (See Johnson & Blair, 1993, chapter 7.) To summarize both this brief discussion of Nye and the longer discussion of Orr, there appears to be some legitimacy to the charge of sexism against both traditional and informal logic. My response is that such a charge can be rendered unnecessary by the adoption of the approach to argumentation developed in this book. Conclusion In this chapter, I reviewed a number of objections to the informal logic enterprise. Most of these objections were reductivist in the sense that the objection attempted to reduce informal logic to some other discipline: whether rhetoric, formal logic, or epistemology. I argued that the informal logic enterprise can handle these objections and that it has its own distinctive contribution to make to argumentation and the theory of argument. That said, it is not to be denied that informal logic has points of contact and overlap with these other disciplines or inquiries. From rhetoric, informal logic has adopted the importance of context and audience in developing any adequate theory of argumentation. From epistemology, it has received the notions of epistemic authority, justification, and good reasons; reasonable belief; and the distinction between belief and acceptance. From formal logic, it has received the theory of implication. From feminist theory, it has taken an appreciation of argumentation as a cooperative rather than adversarial enterprise. All of these have a contribution to make to the understanding of the process of argumentation and so, also, to informal logic. Having reviewed some of the prominent objections to informal logic, I want to look at alternative theoretical approaches. I turn to that task in the next chapter.

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Chapter 10 Alternative Theories of Argument In this chapter, I examine several alterative theories of argument, with special emphasis on the theory of appraisal. Several such types exist. I discuss dialogue logics briefly in the next section. Toulmin-type theories hold that the significant standards are field-dependent. I examine three forms of field theory. Another well-developed alternative theory that bears examination is the Pragma-dialectical approach of van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1992), which does not represent itself as a logical approach but that clearly intends to be a theory of argumentation. Last, I want to look, only briefly, at Willard's (1989) theory of argumenta very different approach to argument coming out of the disciplines of rhetoric and speech communication. Why do I choose these three theories from the multiplicity of theories of argumentation? Field theories demand attention because of their attractiveness and popularity with argumentation theorists. Pragma-dialectics is of interest because of its emphasis on the process of arguing. Willard's theory is of interest because it approaches argumentation from a wider perspective, seeing it as a form of communication rather than rational persuasion. What theories have been omitted in this survey? The principal alternative that I have not covered in detail here is dialogue logic. So let me say a few words about that approach next. Dialogue Logics A brief history of dialogue logic can be found in Walton (1984b). He distinguished four different strands of development of dialogue logic. The first is the logical study of communication, initiated by Harrah (1963). A second

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strand emanates from Hamblin, where he offered a criticism of the ideal of soundness for arguments (a sound argument has true premises and is deductively valid), which led him to stress the importance of dialectical criteria (as distinguished from both alethic and epistemic criteria) for the evaluation of argumentation. A third strand is the work of Lorenzen (1978) and his strip rules for logical constants. A fourth strand is represented by the research of Hintikka on information seeking dialogues (1976, 1979), which Walton regarded as the most promising development. Another valuable resource for those interested the emergence of dialogue logic are Barth (1986, 1992). In the latter, Barth situated the emergence of dialogue logic within the wider philosophical context and traced its role in the development of the theory of argumentation. Barth saw the emergence of dialogue logic as a result of the rejection of foundationalism connected with the DeductiveNomological Paradigm, according to which logic was to be the science that would serve mathematicians in the analysis of strengths and weaknesses of deductivenomological systems. According to Barth, "One can easily distinguish three post-fundamentalist postphilosophical steps and three corresponding stages of argumentation theory. Only its second and third stages fall under dialogical philosophy" (p. 667). Those stages are: first, from fundament to justification; second, the justification is related to the specific concessions of an audience; third, the justification itself essentially contains also the verbal reactions of the audience. Dialogue logicians seek to present and justify rules according to which a dialogue can be carried on in a rational fashion. Some make use of formal2 and mathematical models and, in that respect, dialogue logic and informal logic part company. Still, to the degree that texts and conversations in natural language can be represented once as an argument, then as a dialogue, it appears that dialogue logic and informal logic are different approaches, each largely governed by a normative interest. Dialogue logicians assign to logic the task of prescribing rights and duties in the transaction of a rational dialogue. The informal logician assigns to logic the task of developing the criteria or standards for use in the evaluation and criticism of arguments. From the perspective of the theory of argumentation, it is possible to see dialogue logic as having its focus on the process of arguing, whereas informal logic is focused on the product. Hence, there is some reason to believe that these are not really alternatives so much as they are complementary approaches. Field Theories Several theories of argument emanate from Toulmin's work, all characterized by the view that the important standards for argument are essentially field dependent. To put it differently, these authors claim there are no (interest-

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ing, significant) field-invariant standards (criteria, principles) for the evaluation (appraisal, criticism) of arguments (inference, reasoning). I begin with a discussion of the mother of all such theories: Toulmin's theory. Then I discuss McPeck's position (which takes off from some material from the last chapter) and finally Weinstein's ecological approach. Toulmin's Theory of Field Dependence Toulmin's work has already been discussed in several chapters. In chapter 2, I discussed Toulmin's role in shaping the inquiry known as the theory of argument and some limitations in his choice of a jurisprudential model. Later in chapter 5, I discussed aspects of his model, particularly his theory of analysis. Here, the spotlight will be on Toulmin's theory of appraisal. Toulmin presented his theory of argument (1958). His view was that although the force of the standards for arguments is field-invariant, the standards themselves are field-dependent. Here is how Toulmin set up the issue: We are now in a position to see the answer to our first major question. When one sets out and criticises arguments and conclusions in different fields, what feature of the procedure we adopt and of the concepts we employ will be field-invariant and what features will be field-dependent? (p. 36) Note to begin with that this way of phrasing the question predisposes us to a certain kind of answer. That is, if there truly are different fields of argument (and much will depend here on Toulmin's ability to successfully articulate this notion of a field), then was Toulmin not (by this wording) loading the question in favor of at least a significant measure of field-dependency? It seems obvious on the face of it that different fields must have at least some important differences in standards. The real question is whether there are standards (or criteria or principles) that hold across fields (or disciplines). There is some reason to think that there could be. FDL gives us at least some reason to think that an affirmative answer is possible. The standard of validitywhich I see as a standard for appraising implications rather than argumentsis not fielddependent.1 Validity thus differs from a standard like acceptability that, as I have argued, is audience-driven and that therefore may be expected to vary in substantive ways from one field to the next. Here is Toulmin's answer to the question: 1 To be sure, the ability to deploy the standard requires background knowledge.

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For impossibilities and improprieties, we saw the answer was clear enough. The force of the conclusion ''It cannot be the case that" or "it is impossible" is the same regardless of fields; the criteria or sort of ground required to justify such a conclusion vary from field to field. (p.36) The things we must point to in showing that something is possible will depend entirely on whether we are concerned with a problem in pure mathematics, a problem of team-selection, a problem in aesthetics, or what; . . . The form that makes a man a possibility for the Davis Cup is one thing; the explanatory power that makes Professor Fröhlich's theory a possible explanation of superconductivity is another thing; the features of Piero's painting of the Resurrection which make it possibly the finest picture ever painted are a third; there is no question of weighing these possibilities all in the same scale. (p. 37) The gist of the reasoning here is that the criteria or standards will be field-dependent. Thus, Toulmin said: "Can" and "possible" are, accordingly, like "cannot" and "impossible" in having field-invariant force and fielddependent standards. This result can be generalized: all the canons for the criticism and assessment of arguments, I conclude, are in practice field-dependent, while our terms of assessment are invariant in their force. (p. 38) Toulmin's claim that "the result can be generalized" strikes me as hasty. I do not think he had done enough to justify this claim. He examined three closely related concepts that he took to be crucial for the appraisal of argument: "impossible," "possible," and "can."2 Toulmin concluded for what looked like good reasons that in the case of these three terms, their force is field-invariant but the standards themselves are field-dependent. How did Toulmin know that this result can be generalized to cover the canons (as he called them) of criticism for all fields? Don't we have to have some way of specifying those canons and then seeing whether the same holds true of them? Don't we need some form of justification (a warrant, perhaps) about fields and their textures to move from the data Toulmin provided to this categorical conclusion? Suppose, for example, that one of the standards were to turn out to be validity? Do standards of validity change from one field to the next? Are the standards for a valid argument in economics different from the standards for a valid argument in philosophy? The answers here seem clear. Validity is the same for all, both in meaning and in force. But Toulmin can spike this 2 That just these concepts emerge as crucial for the question of evaluation is an important fact about the provenance of Toulmin's theory; that is, FDL is in the background here, and this provides some confirmation for Weinstein's (1993) complaint about the origin of informal logic's nascent theorizing.

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objection by pointing to the close connection between validity and the geometrical model he was attempting to transcend. What about truth? Is the standard of truth different in chemistry than in physics? In order for this argument to go through, Toulmin must have, first of all, identified the other standards that will be involved in the appraisal of arguments and then showed that these other canons (or standards) are like the three he examined in all relevant respects. Because he did not do that, I find his argument for field-dependence incomplete. One final point: The strongest argument to shore up this position, it seems to me, would be to place before us the standards of argument appraisal from physics, those from chemistry, those from history, and so on and then show, by empirical examination, that there are no field-invariant standards. But so far as I know, no field theorist has ever developed the details that such an argument requires. I discuss this option in more detail later this chapter. I turn now to a notion that is crucial to Toulmin's position and for every field theoristthe notion of a field of argument. Toulmin presented this as a technical term: For the sake of brevity, it will be convenient to introduce a technical term: let us accordingly talk of a field of arguments. Two arguments will be said to belong to the same field when the data and conclusions in each of the two arguments are, respectively, of the same logical type; they will be said to come form different fields when the backing or the conclusions in each of the two arguments are not the same logical type. (p. 14) Two observations are in order here. First, this distinction could have been drawn more tightly. In defining "same field," Toulmin used data and conclusion, whereas in defining "different field," he used the terms ''backing or conclusion." I suspect this was just carelessness on his part. Second, Toulmin's definition of "field" is heavily dependent of the notion of "logical type," a notion that orignates in the geometrical model Toulmin was criticizing. To see the force of this point, recall that Toulmin was attempting to break free of the tradition of logic that has been constructed according to the mathematical model. His alternative approach to understanding the structure of argument is an important step along that path. But if the notion of a field of argument is crucial to Toulmin's theory of argument, and if it now turns out that the notion of field is dependent on the notion of a logical typewhich is one of the defining notions of FDL that itself is under the strongest possible influence of the mathematical modelthen his break with tradition will be far from clean. With that caveat in mind, let me have a look at his illustrations:

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The proofs in Euclid's Elements, for example, belong to one field [Geometry, we presume] the calculations performed in preparing an issue of the National Almanac belong to another [which is what?]. The argument, "Harry's hair is not black, since I know for a fact that it is red" belongs to a third and rather special field [i.e.?] though one might perhaps question whether it really was an argument at all, or rather, a counter-assertion [Correct]. The argument, "Petersen is a Swede, so he is presumably not a Roman Catholic" belongs to a fourth field [i.e.?] . . . (pp. 1415). If you thought that a field might be equated with a discipline, then you were wrong, as the third example shows. Still Toulmin frequently used disciplines to illustrate, as this passage indicates: Within a field of arguments, questions about comparative stringency and looseness may certainly arise: we may, for example, compare the standards of rigour recognized by pure mathematicians at different stages in the history of the subject, by Newton, Euler, Gauss or Weierstrass. How far, on the other hand, it makes sense to compare the mathematical rigour of Gauss or Weierstrass with the judicial rigour of Lord Chief Justice Goddard is another matter . . . (p. 15) Mathematics is a discipline; but will we locate the judicial rigor of the Chief Justice within a discipline? It seems that every discipline constitutes a field, but there are fields that do not constitute disciplines. If the term "field" is going to do the kind of work in his theory of argument that it seems it is being called on to do, then at the least Toulmin owed us a more careful treatment of it as well as some idea of how the notion of a logical type is to be rendered.3 Earlier, I expressed concern that Toulmin's way of putting the issue loads the die in favor of the field-dependent view. An entirely different way of framing the issue is found in Govier (1987), who instead referred to the realm of ordinary argumentation.4 In my view, one of the crucial problems facing the theory of argument, generally, and informal logic, specifically, is this duality of focus. Should my focus be, as Govier suggested, the realm of ordinary argumentation (however it is characterized), or should it be the more stylized mode of argumentation found in the disciplines, as Weinstein (1990) urged? It is easy enough to suggest that it must be both. But I need to think about this suggestion, which I do in chapter 11. For the moment, I want to note that Toulmin's theory can make some claim to have been the progenitor of both views. 3 Clearly if Toulmin is to succeed, his explication of this crucial concept must be independent of FDL, or what he calls the geometrical approach. 4 See Govier (1987). I do not mean to suggest that her expression was without its own share of problems.

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There is a further crucial question for the theory of argument: Is there any way that I can keep the theory of analysis separate from the theory of appraisal? I thought that the answer to this must be "yes," and I criticized Hamblin for proceeding in the reverse direction. But maybe he was right after all. I want to come back to this, also, in chapter 11. For now, let me explain how Toulmin developed the rest of his case: We must ask how far the formal character of sound arguments can be thought of more geometrico, as a matter of their having the right sorts of shape, and how far it needs to be thought of, rather, in procedural terms, as a matter of their conforming to the formalities which must be observed if any rational assessment of arguments is to be possible. (p. 43) There is a long and a short way of arguing the case that the standards are field-dependent. The short way is what Toulmin took. He provided a limited basis for the claim and then inferred or generalized to his conclusion. This way is, I believe, ultimately unsatisfactory. A better approach would be to inventory the various disciplines and fields, identify their respective standards of evaluation, and then compare them. (I elsewhere characterized this approach as dustbin empiricism.) Such an empirical inspection will reveal whether there are any standards that cross the borders, or whetheras this theory predictsthey are all field-specific. McPeck approximated this longer routeso I have a chance to consider it in greater detail in the next section. McPeck on Field-Dependence As I argued in the last chapter, part of McPeck's objection to informal logic was based on his endorsement of the Toulmin model. McPeck's reasoning here depends on Toulmin's view that significant standards are field-dependent, and so it seems appropriate to take up this part of his case after examining Toulmin. To pick up the thread again, recall that McPeck identified two articles of faith he attributed to informal logic. The first onethe implicit assumption that for every bit of reasoning there must be some principle to justify itwas discussed in the last chapter. The second principle required of a general theory of argument is: A principle in one area must also apply in another area. Suppose we take it that by "principle," McPeck meant "principle of reasoning," and suppose we then substitute "principle of argument" for that. The appropriately revamped article of faith would be that a principle of argumentation in one area must also apply in another area. Many informal logicians appear to accept some such claim. I suspect the most charitable reading of McPeck is to attribute to him the view that the important standards of argumentation are field-dependent. He argued:

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Just as the rules of a particular game do not necessarily apply to other games, so certain principles of reason apply within some spheres of human experience but not in others. A principle of reason in business or law, for example, might be fallacious in science or ethics. (p. 72) His point is clear even if the analogy is unfortunate. It is obvious that the rules of one game almost never apply to another and it seems pointless to say so. However, the next claim is anything but pointless and anything but obvious, and it intrigued me sufficiently to take issue with it (Johnson, personal communication, September, 1986): Whatever prima facie validity this conjecture may possess seems to fade as one looks for examples of, say, a principle of reason which is valid in law but not in science. Is it, for example, legitimate to attack the person rather than his or her position in the field of business but not legitimate in science? Short of being presented with examples of this conjecture, I am not inclined to take it as much of a threat. What I am looking for is a principle of argument that is valid in law but not applicable to science and so, in that very broad sense, not valid. What would be interesting is a principle applicable to and valid in law and applicable to but invalid or fallacious in science. McPeck responded (personal communication, November, 1986): I could produce a long list of such examples, but I would find that tedious. The list might begin by pointing out that in law it is legitimate and proper to support arguments by appealing to "precedents" [the whole basis of Case Law] but it would not be Kosher or valid to argue this way in science. Can you imagine a scientist trying to support a hypothesis on the sole basis that some previous scientist had thought that way also? However, a lawyer might very well argue along such lines; indeed it is the strongest line of reasoning that lawyers can pursue in case law. In legal reasoning to argue from precedents is a fundamental principle of reasoning; but to argue this way in science would be to misunderstand the nature of science. His example is the appeal to precedent that he said holds in law (McPeck called it the strongest line of reasoning that lawyers can pursue in case law) but not in science. McPeck was right, but his argument did not prove what he thought it did. Let me explain. My understanding of the appeal to precedent is that it works like this: In Brown vs. Topeka School Board et al., the United States Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal is not equal. The present case is similar in all relevant respects [i.e., in all matters of fact] to that one; hence, in this case, the defendant should be found guilty.

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If I am right, then when we probe below the surface, we find that the deeper principles involved in the appeal to precedent are, first, the drawing of an analogy between two cases; and, second, the recognition that legal decisions should be bound by the principle of justice that says that similar cases should be treated similarly. But neither the argument from analogy nor the appeal to consistency is peculiar to law. Indeed, it is hard to imagine any field in which inconsistency in argumentation would not be regarded as a flaw. As for the appeal to analogy, its strength depends on whether the analogy holds in the relevant respects. I find it difficult to imagine any field in which an appeal to analogy would not be defused by pointing to relevant differences. Hence, it turns out that the appeal to precedent in law depends on deeper principles (analogy and consistency), both of which appear to apply to all fields where the practice of argumentation plays a role. Thus, McPeck's first illustration fails. McPeck (1986) was right when he asked (rhetorically), "Can you imagine a scientist trying to support a hypothesis in science on the sole basis that some previous scientist had thought this way also?" No, I cannot. But what does this show? The appeal to precedent in law does not function as part of an attempt to establish the truth of some proposition except in a vacuous sense of true. The work of science is largely bound up with the development of theories that are supposed to show us what is true, so I would not expect that precedent would play the kind of role in science that it does in law. (It does not follow that precedent plays no role in scientific thinking.) The work of science is that of advancing and testing theories, laws, and hypotheses. However, theory construction and argumentation are different intellectual enterprises. No matter how much we want to be concessive and include within the sphere of argumentation, broadly considered, such activities as hypothesizing and theorizing, in the final analysis they are different intellectual activities that it does no good to assimilate too closely to argumentation.5 Hence, McPeck's example fails to illustrate the point it was intended to. For it to work, it must be assumed that the standard intellectual work of scientists can be described as argumentation. I question whether this is an accurate descriptor. This raises the issue to be dealt with in chapter 11 of the role of argumentation in the disciplines. Argumentation theorists concede that there are substantive differences between various disciplines, and all will agree that the way to achieve competence in a discipline is by mastery of its vocabulary, standards, and protocols. What some informal logicians hold is that there are generic principles of argumentation that hold across and between disciplines. I myself located these generic elements in the criteria of appraisal (chap. 7) 5 This raises the issue to be dealt with in the next chapter concerning the role of argumentation in the disciplines.

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and the principles of criticism (chap. 8) and that leads me to consider the next point of McPeck's response, "Secondly, in law it is often necessary to attack the character and or veracity of a witness, but to do so in science might correctly be regarded as an ad hominem fallacy" (p. 4). This is a better and more interesting (because more challenging) example than the earlier one, yet I have several problems with this counterexample. First, what is the principle of reason(ing) that this example is supposed to show as invalid? Attacks on the individual are not permissible. I would certainly not defend such a broad formulation because there are occasions when it is legitimate to attack the person in order to attack his argument. Therefore, it would be better to formulate the principle rather like this: If an arguer has put forth an argument, then the other is under a prima facie [logical] obligation to critique the argument and not the arguer, unless consideration of the arguer is relevant to determination of the merits of his argument. If this principle is accepted, then two consequences follow. First, violations of this principle are instances of the ad hominem fallacy. Second, the cases cited by McPeck do not contradict this principle. In scientific reasoning, there is no reason whatever to attack the person; such attacks are always irrelevant. It is difficult to think of an example where this principle has been violated in scientific discourse itself. (Bypass, for this purpose, what takes place in popularizations and the popular press, where you might find one scientist attacking the character of another. These are not, it seems to me, the best illustrations of scientific reasoning or argumentation.) When we turn to legal reasoning, the proposed counterexample has more force. If a witness has put forward as true statements that depend on her credibility, then it is legitimate to question her credibility and thereby to question the truth or the acceptability of the statements. However, and here I have a conceptual disagreement with McPeck, attacking the character or veracity of a witness is not a case of the ad hominem fallacy: It is not a case of attacking the person instead of attacking the argument but rather attacking the person as a means of questioning his credibility. Moreover, I would argue that the principle just cited holds across the various disciplines: that is, when a political scientist argues for a particular conclusion, the economist argues for a particular view about the development of third world economies, or when a theologian argues that the historical Jesus did not think of himself as God. In each of these cases, the appropriate critical response is to argue against the argument, not against the arguer.6 6 This reasoning depends on the supposition that, in some cases, the reasoning in these disciplines can properly be represented as argument in the sense I am discussing it here.

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McPeck continued: For example in business, if you could show that a certain line of argument would result in the arguer standing to gain huge sums of money (for his/her personal financial gain) by accepting a certain line of argument (and others may lose money) then that consideration has a kind of relevance, and poignancy [sic], which would not effect the assessment of the validity or truth of a scientific argument. What is relevant and important in the one case (i.e., possible financial gain and loss), is not so in the other. (p. 2) There are problems with this counterexample also. Suppose a business executive argues that her company should get into the business of producing rock videos and suppose it is clear that if the company does so, this executive is going to benefit from that decision. Is that going to have much relevance or poignancy? Or suppose that an account executive with Young and Rubicam argues that the firm should attempt to lure the Chrysler account away from Leo Burnett and suppose it is clear that the exec stands to gain huge sums of money from this move. Is that any reason to disqualify his line of reasoning? The answer here is not so evident. The best scenario for McPeck's objection might run like this: Suppose that a nutritionist argues that there is no real evidence that sugar cereals are a health hazard. When it is learned that this individual is not an impartial researcher but rather is employed as a consultant by Kellogg's, is that fact relevant to the assessment of his argument? It places him in a conflict of interest, which means that his credibility is diminished. It does not follow from this that his claims are wrong; it follows only that his credibility is impaired. Hence, any claims in his argument that depend on authority or credibility will be vulnerable to criticism. I accept what I take to be the general point that McPeck was making: Whenever a person stands to profit from the acceptance of a theory or a proposition of which he or she is the advocate, others may reasonably wonder whether the reasons for advancing the idea are dictated by the desire to improve a personal economic well-being rather than by a reading of the evidence. When someone has a vested interest in the truth of a particular position, critics may reasonably question whether the review of the evidence was fair and open-minded. That strikes me as a good general principle of reasoning that holds across the board. That is why it is expected that judges disqualify themselves in law cases if they have a conflict of interest, why politicians put their finances in blind trust, and why people do not necessarily trust that fella over there with the five-o'clock shadow who wants to sell us this used car! It begins to look like there is yet another universal principle of reasoning. To sum up, McPeck's counterexamples seem to me to run into serious problems. From this, I do not conclude that there are not important differ-

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ences in how the disciplines go about their intellectual work. Philosophers do not do experiments; they argue. Mathematicians do not argue; they construct proofs. Scientists construct and test theories and conduct experiments; argumentation plays at best a secondary role. Still McPeck's position that informal logic rests on this second article of faith seems to me not a strong one. Not only does it encounter all of the difficulties of Toulmin-type theories but it is weighted down with freight of its own. Weinstein's Ecological Approach Weinstein developed an important variation on the Toulmin model, on which his theory depends heavily but that it also supplements in important ways. I want now to consider this variation that Weinstein called an ecological approach. If I understand ecology as the study of organisms in their environments, the application to argumentation is clear: Weinstein proposed the study of arguments in their disciplinary environments as the proper way to proceed. In effect, his argument is that informal logicians and disciplinary theorists should work together. This has not happened because informal logicians have been preoccupied with success in the market place. (He also accused informal logicians of being philosophical imperialists.) Weinstein's broad concern is educational reform. He believed that critical thinking as an educational ideal is a serviceable construct for the purpose of educational reform but that critical thinking should be seen within the context of the disciplines. Informal logic likewise has something to contribute to this enterprise but not in its present state. Weinstein (1993) referred to: My deep commitment to the ideal of educational reform through critical thinking, and to my conviction that informal logic has the potential to afford a theory that can ground the rational practices in the disciplines and in their application to the complex and subtle issues of human affairs. It is therefore a plea to Scriven that he use his justified preeminence to reform the practices of philosophers among others, so as to begin the dialogue with our colleagues from all academic fields. We informal logicians have much to learn from them, and if I am correct, informal logic has the potential to inform and radically change their self-understanding of their own practices. (p. 5) Weinstein (1990) combined the ToulminMcPeck thesis about field dependency with the position (reviewed in the last chapter) that standards have a broadly epistemological character. According to Weinstein's ecological approach, the standards are furnished by the epistemology of the discipline; such epistemology is of course discipline specific; hence, the standards are field specific. Weinstein wrote, "Argumentation seen in relation to an enhousing domain and discourse community exhibits differing and characteristic styles of argument, specific 'inference tickets' (warrants) particular

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epistemologies (backing) and individual requirements for closure. This for me is the insight Toulmin's position affords" (p. 125). However, Weinstein's notion of the way epistemology enters into the picture is different from those considered in the last chapter. His argument here is complex, involving not only his own sense of what applied epistemology is but also involving his commitment to Toulmin's theory of argument, a Carnap-driven approach to missing premises, reflections on language, undergraduate education and cognitive psychology, the theory of inquiry, and finally his views on philosophical argument. Throughout the article, his concern was to show that informal logicians must extend and broaden their grasp if they wish to realize the promise inherent in their approach. A crucial premise in Weinstein's argument is the takeover from Toulmin that, in some significant sense, the norms or standards of argumentation are discipline driven. At bottom, what worried Weinstein was the a prioristic and imperialist stance he found in the work of informal logicians. What he called for is not domination but cooperation; he wanted informal logicians to work with rather than legislate to other disciplines. Before going further, I want to pause to consider a well-known objection to field theories and Weinstein's response. The Standard Objection There is a standard objection to this theory of argument. It was first raised by Paul (1985) against McPeck (1985), but Weinstein had his own way of responding. The objection is that such a theory of argument overlooks the fact that many arguments are not housed in any particular domain but borrow elements from several domains. Here is how Paul (1985) raised a similar objection against McPeck: But it is well to remember that we cannot ask computers multi-categorical questions, especially about those kinds that cut across the disciplines in such a way as to require reasoned perspective on the data from a global point of view. Such questions . . . are typically dialectical, settled, that is, by general canons of argument, by objection (from one point of view) and reply (from another), by case and counter-case, by debate not only about the answer to the question but also about the very logic of the question itself. (p. 37) I take the latter point to mean that the critic will typically point to an assumption that lies behind the arguer's ways of setting up the issue and his resolution of it. Paul sounded a similar challenge later when he asked: For example in what logical domain does the (technical?) concept of alcoholism solely belong: disease, addiction, crime, moral failing, cultural pattern,

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lifestyle choice, defect of socialization, self-comforting behaviour, personal weakness . . . ? How many points of view can be used to illuminate it? (p. 40) I might want to modify Paul's question to ask not about the concept but rather the issue: To what field does the issue of alcoholism fall? to psychology? sociology? religion? This is the first step in the objectionto point to issues and problems of the sort that are going to be the subject of argumentation but that do not belong to any one field. The next step in the objection occurs when Paul claimed that the very acts of conceptualization are themselves theoryladen and contentious: To place something said or thought into a category, from the perspective of which we intend to judge it, is to take a potentially contentious position with respect to it. There are no specialists who have the definitive taxonomy or undebatable means for so deciding. (p. 40) To put the matter slightly differently, the very act of assigning a particular argument (via its conclusion) to a particular domain is itself an argumentative maneuver and by its nature one that must transcend the individual disciplines. To decide that this particular argument is historical in character and hence belongs to history and should be judged by that epistemology is to make a potentially contentious movethe defense of which will necessarily take the arguer beyond that domain. Paul (1985) continued: Logical synthesis, cutting across categories, extracting metaphors from one domain and using them to organize others, arguing for or against the global metaphors of others are intellectual acts that are grounded ultimately not in the criteria and the skills of the specialist, not in some science or other or any combination thereof, but in the art of rationaldialecticalcritical thought, in the art of thinking of anything in its "right" relationship to things überhaupt. (p. 41) In other words, logical synthesis or what Paul called elsewhere "the ability to totalize our experience" is required. But what discipline confers this or helps us with this? The implied answer is that no one discipline can provide this ability. Thus, the objection as raised by Paul is that the attempt to fit all arguments into domains is mistaken and ill-advised because it fails to take account of the complexity of the issues that are typically faced. Weinstein's Response Weinstein responded more or less directly to this objection as follows:

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Seeing argumentation as occurring within particular domains does not, however, mean that a given argument need be limited to some particular domain. Many of Toulmin's critics appear to confuse the former view with the latter, and therefore see the unavailability of a uniquely identifiable domain for particular argument fragments as a problem for Toulmin. (p. 125) This is not quite the same as Paul's objection, but it is close enough. Weinstein continued: It is not. But, more importantly, such criticism has resulted in a pernicious non-sequitur that seems implicit in the views of many informal logicians and critical thinking theorists. That is, if no particular enhousing domain is identifiable, the argument needs to be assessed by the growing sub-discipline of philosophy, informal logic and critical thinking. (p. 125) I believe it is wrong to attribute to informal logicians the position that if an argument is not assignable to some unique domain for evaluation, then it should be evaluated by informal logic. Informal logic does not evaluate arguments any more than FDL evaluates implications. Informal logic provides a theory of evaluation for arguments that a critic may use. Moreover, informal logicians would argue (with Paul) that the knowledge and information and some of the procedures that are needed to evaluate many arguments will typically come from a variety of disciplines. This is not to deny that there are arguments that can and must be evaluated from within a particular discipline. But, even here, it is far from evident that the standards used will be that different from one discipline to the next. Weinstein continued: Arguments can be framed by many different kinds of considerations. Doubtful claims can be addressed from many disciplinary points of view and many combinations of disciplinary perspectives. The question is, which fields and which approach yields what kinds of success in analyzing and developing the salient aspects of the argument, finally, offering an adequate assessment of the various considerations put forward as arguments in respect of the points at issue. (p. 125) Here, presumably, is Weinstein's defense of the claim that the no-domain objection is not a serious problem for Toulmin. Let me examine whether it defuses that objection. I think I need to distinguish three different types of argument. 1. Arguments that take place within a discipline. Here I place those arguments that are clearly rooted in a discipline. Thus, for example, the question whether skepticism is refutable belongs to phi-

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losophy. The argument over the causes of World War II belongs to history. And so on. 2. Arguments that cross disciplinary boundaries. Here I place those arguments that are multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary in character: For example, the question whether the human mind is a computer falls in part to philosophy of mind, in part to artificial intelligence, and in part to cognitive science. The issue of whether to allow capital punishment would fall partly to moral philosophy, partly to psychology and sociology, perhaps partly to history, and so on. 3. Arguments within ordinary social discourse. Here I place arguments like those with which I began chapter 2. Here I locate the argument over whether Windsor is like Detroit in respect of grime, the argument about whether affirmative action programs are justified, and so on. These are arguments that do not appear to be assignable to any discipline or domain, nor yet to any combination of them. (It does not follow that disciplinary knowledge and information are not relevant to such arguments.) There is no widely accepted term that has emerged to characterize this realm of argumentation. Let's assume that disciplinary arguments will be assessed within the relevant discipline, so there is no problem here. Now we select an argument, A*, which ex hypothesi is to be addressed from various disciplines that we will abbreviate: D1, D2, D3. It is important to observe that each discipline must be one in which argument plays a nonnegligible role. I identify this as a potential problem because it is not clear to me that argumentation plays a formal role in mathematics or in physics. I understand that physicists and mathematicians argue among themselves but the role that argument plays there is informal. And it is far from clear that mathematical criteria or standards would have any appreciable role to play in such argument. Proofs in mathematics are deductive, but that would not preclude mathematicians from using induction when they argue among themselves. Now, Weinstein's scenario goes like this: Let D1 evaluate A*, yielding E1. Let D2 evaluate A*, yielding E2. Let D3 evaluate A*, yielding E3. Weinstein (and Paul seemed to agree here) said it needs to be asked, which of the threeE1, E2, E3has best analyzed A*, offering an adequate assess-

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ment? Before we proceed, I want to pause for a moment so that we may appreciate how complex this question is. In order to answer this question, the evaluator will have to go through a series of steps, invoking each standard's disciplines: Let D1S1, D1S2, D1S3 . . . be the normative standards set by D1 for the evaluation of arguments; let D2S1, D2S2, D2S3 . . . be the normative standards as set by D2 . . . and so on. I can now distinguish five positions about the standards. Position 1. All standards are discipline specific. That is, the standards by which historians judge arguments are specific to history and different from those that philosophers use to evaluate their arguments. This looks like Toulmin's view. Position 2. No standards are discipline specific. All standards are general. That is, the standards of a good argument are exactly the same in history as in philosophy, and so forth. I am not sure who holds this position. Position 3. All significant standards are discipline specific. That is, aside from some general and unimportant ones, the standards of good argument are discipline specific. (This is the same as Position 1, except that significant standard replaces standard.) This is McPeck's (1981) view; he allowed that some standards are general, namely those of formal logic; but these are trivial. I suspect that this is also Weinstein's view. Position 4. All significant standards are general or discipline invariant. (No significant standards are discipline specific.) I am not sure that anyone holds this view; possibly Paul does. Position 5. Some significant standards for the evaluation of argument are discipline specific; some are general. This is the view of Siegel (1988); I tend to agree with this view, although I develop it differently than does Siegel. Which of these possibilities is actually correct, I do not know. The point of interest here is that in order for Weinstein to establish his view (Position 3), heor rather the evaluatorneeds to be able to make sense of and compare the three resulting evaluations: E1, E2, and E3. That is, it will have to be shown that E1 (the evaluation using the standards from D1) is better and more successful as an evaluation than E2. But this step raises a significant problem for Position 3. To what (transdisciplinary) standards will the evaluator appeal to decide this matter? What standards will be used to make this overarching judgement? Indeed, what kind of question is this? From whose perspective will this meta-evaluative question be asked? There are no easy answers to these questions.

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On the other hand, if we take the view that there are general, field-invariant standards, this question has an answer: We should use those field-invariant standards. This does not mean that we do not need to make use of the knowledge and information special to each field. I agree with Weinstein when he wrote: Further we maintain that information from the fields includes methodological principles, principles of epistemological and logical relevance that are drawn from the practice of the disciplines and are not available in the general characterizations of methodology developed by philosophers in abstraction from practice. (p. 126) In Weinstein's view, no discipline, certainly not philosophy, enjoys methodological pride of place: The issue is still from whose practice is epistemological warrant to be drawn, and in which cases. Is the a priori practice of the philosophers to be the model, or is it rather the hermeneutic analysis of literary theorists; is it the narrative explanations of historians, or the descriptive and analytic offerings of sociologists, the axiomatic practice of mathematicians, the theory bound derivations of physicists, or is it perhaps the inductively generated account common in the social sciences? Which of these, and in which combination, in respect of what aspects, and on which particular occasions? (p. 126) In asking where to look for the epistemological warrant, Weinstein asked where to find the appropriate justification for the claims under scrutiny. But notice how the focus has changed. No longer are we discussing arguments but hermeneutic analyses from literary theory, the explanations of historians, the deductive theories of the formal sciences, and the inductive theories of the social sciences. In other words, Weinstein was really asking a much broader question: Which model, or combination of models, is to be imposed on a given specimen of reasoning? Should there be one overarching model for all inquiry? The question that I am pursuing is a much narrower question: Are there, or are there not, field-invariant standards of argumentation? If there are not, and if there is to be the kind of meta-evaluative comparison envisaged by Weinstein, then the problem is simply: By what standards is that meta-evaluative task to be undertaken? Weinstein's position about multidisciplinary arguments runs into important difficulties chiefly in that it seems to require that there be a metadisciplinary standpoint from which to compare and contrast competing evaluations and methods by practitioners from different disciplines. This standpoint does not, according to Weinstein, exist. If, on the other hand, we allow that there are field-invariant standards, then we have a basis on which to make comparisons.

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But that is only part of the story. What about the third type of argumentordinary arguments? These can be found any night in your local newspaper, where people try to influence one another on matters of concern. A recent sample of my local paper revealed the following issues: an argument that the litter problem was getting out of control, an argument challenging the federal health minister's attack on cigarette smoking, an argument that the casino that was being built would cause more problems than it would solve, and a letter praising a reporter for doing a good job. Exclude the last item as not really being an argument. Can we realistically hope to reduce the other three arguments in such fashion that they fall into a discipline, or into a bunch of them? To me and to others like Paul, this hope seems unrealistic and unlikely to be satisfied. It is not at all clear how Weinstein's ecological approach extends to this important realm of argumentation. Concluding Reflections on Weinstein In the final analysis, Weinstein's program for reform stands or falls with the idea of renewal of education by instilling critical thinking through the disciplines. Informal logic is seen as a tool for achieving that. For informal logic to develop, informal logicians need to quit writing texts dispensing aseptic principles that make grandiose promises that cannot be delivered. They need to begin to take seriously the task of constructing a theory of argumentation informed by a real understanding of the various disciplines and their norms and practices. Weinstein posed a strong challenge to informal logicians. At bottom, Weinstein believed in the promise of informal logic while being critical of its focus on textbooks and mundane arguments at the expense of deeper involvement with the disciplines. It seems to me that Weinstein's challenge is reasonable and timely and that informal logicians can, with profit, focus on what he called ''stylized arguments." Moreover, such a focus will involve informal logicians to some degree in the empirical study of argumentation that will help to combat the tendency to a priorism that Weinstein, it seems to me, rightly identified. However, there are problems with his challenge. In the first place, Weinstein endorsed Toulmin's model, although he could not be unaware that this model is itself largely a prioristic in character. Toulmin did not arrive at his model by coming to understand what the individual disciplines do when they argue; he was unsatisfied with the geometrical model and he looked for an alternative that he found in jurisprudence. Second, Weinstein's position requires that argumentation in fact plays a significant role in all disciplines, and that is problematic. Third, as I have shown, there are problems for his position both in connection to its application to mundane arguments and his position on stylized arguments. However, a research

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project of some magnitude emerges here and it should be considered seriously by informal logicians. That project would require informal logicians working together with disciplinary specialists to: 1. investigate the role that argumentation plays with that discipline; 2. identify the standards of argumentation for that discipline; 3. compare the results and see what kind of theory of argumentation emerges. Having recognized this formidable challenge posed by Weinstein's ecological approach, I leave field theories behind and turn to quite different approachPragma-dialetics. The Pragma-Dialectical Approach The Pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation theory was developed by van Eemeren and Grootendorst. This theory has its basis in linguistics (Speech Act Theory) but borrows also from the work of logicians like Hamblin and Toulmin, linguistic philosophers like Austin and Searle, and the work of dialogue logicians like Barth. Van Eemeren and Grootendorst have given two systematic expositions of their theory: Speech acts in argumentative discussions (1987), and Argumentation, communication and fallacies (1992). I have chosen the more recent articulation for discussion here. I do not here attempt to provide a thorough analysis of their theory but rather an overview that will bring to the fore some of the salient similarities and differences between their approach and the one developed here. Rather than focusing on argument as product, as I have in my theory, van Eemeren and Grootendorst chose a processoriented approach, approaching argumentation through the lens of what they called a critical discussion for which they attempted to establish an appropriate set of rules. They described it as "a code of conduct for rational discussants." According to their theory, a critical discussion goes through four stages: a confrontation stage in which the issue and the thesis are declared; an opening stage, in which the discussants stake out their positions; an argumentation stage, in which the discussants set forth their arguments; and a concluding stage, in which the discussants come to some agreement. They presented and justified 10 rules that the discussants must follow. After they presented and argued for these rules, van Eemeren and Grootendorst showed how what are traditionally called fallacies can be incorporated into the Pragma-dialectical approach. A couple of points are worth making at the outset. First, van Eemeren and Grootendorst did not offer this as an empirical model, nor did they hold

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that actual discussions will take place in quite this way. They called it an "ideal model" yet they argued that it is not a naive one and it is capable of being empirically validated. Second, they presumably held that a discussion that follows these 10 rules will, provided other conditions are satisfied, be a critical discussion and that any discussion in which these rules are violated is not a critical discussion. In other words, the 10 rules provide necessary and sufficient conditions for a critical discussion. The 10 Rules of Pragma-Dialectics I now present the 10 rules as presented and, in each case, indicate what, if any, parallel is to be found in the approach of informal logic. I refer to the two discussants as The Pope (the proponent) and Olga (the opponent),7 and I use "IL" to stand for informal logic, and "PD" to stand for pragma-dialectics. Rule 1. Parties must not prevent each other from advancing or casting doubt on standpoints. The Pope may not attempt to prevent Olga from raising doubts about his argument. He may not say, "I am the Pope and therefore you must accept the legitimacy of my argument." To do so is precisely uncritical. In my approach, Rule I is covered by the principle of vulnerability discussed in chapter 8. Other approaches to informal logic might claim that the force of this rule is imbedded in the practice of argumentation. Rule 2. A party that advances a standpoint is obliged to defend it if the other party asks him to do so. In Pragmadialectics, the burden of proof is initially assigned to the respondent. The Pope can assert whatever he pleases and is only obliged to give reasons if Olga requests them. In my approach, the arguer is obligatedby the criterion of acceptabilityto provide reasons for any assertion he makes, unless there is some contextual reason for not doing so. I discuss this difference later. Rule 3. A party's attack on a standpoint must relate to the standpoint that has indeed been advanced by the other party. If the Pope mischaracterizes or distorts Olga's position, he has violated this rule. In IL, this is covered by the relevance criterion. If the arguer does not properly address the position, he will be guilty of the fallacy of straw person. Rule 4. A party may defend his standpoint only by advancing argumentation relating to that standpoint. This rule is meant to preclude other ways of de7 In the 1992 formulation, van Eemeren and Grootendorst removed the adversarial language that marked earlier formulations.

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fending a standpoint, such as some form of trickery or force. Thus, the Pope would violate this rule if he attempted to defend his standpoint by saying, "Olga, don't you know who I am. I am the Pope." In some versions of IL, there are fallacies such as the appeal to force or fear that rule out their use in establishing the conclusion of an argument. In my approach, no such fallacy is needed because the prohibition against such maneuvers is built into my understanding of the very practice of argumentation; namely, that reasons and reasons only are what may be appealed to. Anyone who attempted to prevail by trickery or force would, by that very attempt, reveal that he or she was not a good-faith participant in the practice. Rule 5. A party may not falsely present something as a premise that has been left unexpressed by the other party or deny a premise that has been left implicit by that party. Suppose the Pope argues, "The Gospel message is directed to the soul and hence we need not consider its applicability to animals, only humans." Olga may challenge the Pope's assumption that only humans have souls. The Pope is accountable for this premise, even though it has not been articulated. (How and why this is so is discussed in great detail by van Eemeren and Grootendorst, 1992.) In IL, the force of this rule is contained in the recognition that an argument may be criticized by formulating and criticizing its missing premises. Here there is very little divergence between the two approaches. Rule 6. A party may not falsely present a premise as an accepted starting point nor deny a premise representing an accepted starting point. This means that Olga and the Pope must reach agreement that certain statements are permissable without the need for their being defended. These are the accepted starting points. In IL, this is embodied in the requirement of acceptability; that is, that those premises not defended by the arguer must be such that they are acceptable to the audience. However, as I have argued, there are problems with the acceptability requirement, both as to what it means and with its consequences. The advantage of PD here is that it contains a procedure for indexing these propositions. The question, "How does one determine whether a proposition is acceptable?" has a simple answer in PD: Check the list of mutually accepted propositions (van Eemeren and Grootendorst, 1987). However, I see difficulties, principally this one: How are the participants to know in advance how their discussion will develop? How are they to know in advance which of the propositions they believe they should put forward for inclusion on the Index? This rule must somehow be amended or so understood as to allow for the development of this index in a continuous way throughout the critical discussion.

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Rule 7. A party may not regard a standpoint as conclusively defended if the defense does not take place by means of an appropriate argumentation scheme that is correctly applied. This means that Olga and the Pope must have some agreement on the ways of arguing that both accept. In IL, the force of this rule is built into the criteria for good arguments, and negatively, into the recognition that certain common ways of argumentcall them fallaciesare not acceptable. If we look at Rules 6 and 7, their provenance is not hard to discern. The background for these rules is furnished by FDL and the ideal of soundness that requires that the arguer begin with true premises and then preserve truth by using a valid argument form. The conclusion will then be true and its truth will be an outgrowth of the argument. Instead of truth, which criterion PD altogether abandonsit appears nowhere in the rulesPD has premises that belong to an agreed-on and indexed set of propositions. Instead of validity, which is related to deductive argumentation, PD (wisely, it seems to me) invokes "a appropriate argumentation scheme that is correctly applied." This does not preclude the use of validity but it does leave open other possibilities. There are problems with this rule. However, I postpone discussion of them until later. Note finally that both of these rules suppose that a proposition that has been conclusively defendeda supposition at odds with the principle of vulnerability. One might claim that a standpoint has been conclusively defended just in case the Opponent concedes that it has been conclusively defended. But if this is to be a rational undertaking, there should be some way of spelling out just what is required for a standpoint to have been conclusively defended. However, no such articulation exists, so far as I am aware. Rule 8. In argumentation, a party may only use arguments that are valid or capable of being logically validated by making explicit one or more unexpressed premises. This means that if the Pope presents an argument (P1,P2,P3C), then that argument must be valid or it must be capable of being validated by the addition of a missing premise. Rule 8 appears to take back the ground that was given in Rule 7; it appears to restrict the argumentation schemes to those that are valid or capable of being validated. Further, Rule 8 seems to house a commitment to deductivism, and I showed in chapter 3 what some of the problems associated with deductivism are. Rule 8 has no counterpart in IL. I have more to say about this later this chapter. Rule 9. A failed defense must result in the retraction of the standpoint by party that put it forward and a conclusive defense with the other party retracting his doubt about the standpoint. In other words, if the Pope's defense of his

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standpoint fails, he must withdraw the standpoint. If he successfully parries Olga's doubt, she should withdraw her doubt. The parallel in IL is that if the arguer cannot meet the criticisms of the critic, then the arguer is obligatedunder the constraints of rationality at work hereto withdraw the argument. On the other hand, if the criticisms are satisfied, then the critic is obligated to withdraw them. Rule 10. A party must not use formulations that are insufficiently clear or confusingly ambiguous and must interpret the other party's formulations as carefully as possible. Vagueness and ambiguity are covered by IL in the criterion of acceptability. The principle of charity requires accuracy of interpretation and has been amply discussed in informal logic. In summary, it seems that there is significant congruence between PD and IL. Each of the 10 rules, with the possible exceptions of Rules 6, 7, and 8, seems to have a counterpart in IL. Apart from what appear to be some slight differences, one may well suspect that IL and PD are simply different routes to the same goal, as Fig. 10.1 suggests. The main differences between Pragma-dialectics and the theory developed in this book appear to fall into three categories: 1. Focus. PD explicitly targets the process of spoken discourse and relies heavily on a speech act approach to discourse, whereas my approach focuses on texts as products or outcomes and draws more heavily on logic for its analytic and normative apparatus. 2. Type. PD focuses explicitly on what the authors called a critical discussion, whereas IL focuses on arguments. These are clearly related. Indeed, it is even said that critical discussions will typically contain arguments as parts. I may also suspect that arguments typically grow out of critical discussions. Still, the criteria that determine whether or not a discussion is rational are not in themselves going to yield a verdict whether a particular argument is a good one. The reverse is also true. 3. Evaluative apparatus. PD is formulated in terms of rules of procedure that govern the process; IL makes use of standards or criteria that apply to

medium focus normative apparatus

INFORMAL LOGIC

PRAGMA-DIALECTICS

written

spoken

product = argument

process = critical discussion

criteria

rules

Fig. 10.1 Some differences between Pragma-dialectics and informal logic.

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the product. Rules are appropriate normative considerations for a process; criteria are appropriate normative considerations for a product. If product and process are interdependent, as they are here, there is some reason to think that the normative force of the rules will be comparable to the normative force of the criteria. That is, my intuition is that some sort of convergence ought to occur in roughly the following way: Good processes yield good products and good products are the result of good processes. The interesting and important theoretical issue raised here is how to verify and justify this judgment about whether such convergence is a hope or a reality. How, precisely, does one go about comparing the two approaches? This issue seems an important one for the theory of argument. I do not attempt to deal with that issue here (although I return to it in the next chapter) and instead proceed with some further comments about PD from the perspective of the theory developed here. Some Problems with the Pragma-Dialectical Approach There are a number of additional problems with these as a set of rules to guide critical discussion. In the first place, although the rules purport to be rules for rational discussion, van Eemeren and Grootendorst borrowed heavily from concepts and criteria developed by logicians in their attempt to develop a theory of argument evaluation. That is, it appears that their theory in some ways presupposes or leans on a theory of argument that focuses on the product. Thus, Rule 5 makes reference to missing premises. This concept has a natural home in the theory of argument, as I showed in chapter 2, but how does the concept of a premise (never mind that of a missing premise) fit the idea of a critical discussion? Similarly, the idea of validity seems to originate from theories that aim to assess arguments as products rather than the process of arguing. Having made those general comments, I now discuss some problems with their Rules 7 and 8. Rule 7 places heavy emphasis on the notion of an appropriately applied argumentation scheme and further requires that we be able to tell when such a scheme is commonly accepted and when correctly applied.8 Here is an area where the two approaches meet because both have an interest in the study of argumentation schemes. However, it should be noted that there may be a tension between this rule and Rule 8 because Rule 7 would allow Olga and the Pope to make use of inductive argumentation, which Rule 8 seems to prohibit. That is, Rule 8 8 For thoughts on the problems connected with this task, see Blair and Johnson (1993).

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seems to take back the ground that was given in Rule 7. Rule 8 appears to restrict the argumentation schemes to those that are valid or a capable of being validated. This rule would seem to prohibit Olga and the Pope from using an inductive method like sampling because the conclusion drawn from a properly constituted sample follows only with some degree of probability and is not valid in the usual sense. I say "would seem" because van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1992) wanted to avoid equating validity with deductive validity. They said, "we do not want to take a specific and definitive stance on the question of exactly what kind of logical validity criterion is to be preferred" (p. 60). They appeared to reject Rescher's idea that an inductive inference is a failed deductive one and they were sensitive to Govier's critique of deductivism. Yet in their treatment of unexpressed premises, they committed themselves to propositional logic and first-order predicate logic as the vehicles for fleshing out missing premises. What, then, are PD's options regarding validity? I see only four. 1. PD can retain validity (as a necessary consequence) as a necessary condition for good argument. This is the view of the formalist, but van Eemeren and Grootendorst seem to have ruled it out. 2. PD can retain validity (as a necessary consequence) as one among several criteria. They might, for example, take the view that there are various genres of argument; and that for deductive arguments, validity is the appropriate criterion; for inductive inference, strength is the appropriate criterion; and so on, perhaps to embracing even conductive argument. 3. PD can retain validity but reinterpret it so that it becomes a matter of degree. Thomas (1973, 1984) adopted this approach, as did Berg (1992). 4. PD can abandon validity. Most informal logicians (myself included) advocate this move. I have argued (Johnson, 1992) that validity is an appropriate standard for implications, which must be distinguished from arguments, even if they are occasionally part of arguments. My suggestion would be that van Eemeren and Grootendorst abandon validity. It seems to me that the main reason they had for introducing validity was to handle the problem of missing premises. The irony is that the problem of missing premises may well be a bogus problem.9 The problem arises most acutely for text-driven approaches of the syllogistic and 9 Perhaps I should say a problem only if one assumes a deductivist stance in one's theory of argument. See Govier (1987).

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propositional sort. The reason one has to fill in missing premises or an unexpressed premise is that the arguer has, apparently, failed to do so and is not present to aid the interlocutor in discovering what is missing. But if the arguer is present as an interlocutor, as ex hypothesi will be the case in a critical discussion, then Olga can simply observe that there is a kind of gap in what the Pope has just said and ask the arguer how the Pope proposes to fill it. Thus, if the Pope has argued, "Angie is a real woman; therefore Angie is nosy," then Olga may simply ask, "But how do you get from that premise to that conclusion?" The Pope will respond, most likely, "Because all real women are nosy." The point is that Olga does not need to figure out what the missing premise is; she can ask the Pope to provide it. They may disagree as to what the Pope is committed to, but that is a separate matter. It is unfortunate that PD has made use of a standard (validity) that appears both superfluous in the context of a critical discussion and also to be a central element in the logico-centric approach (which they reject). Thus far, I have discussed some of the differences that appear when one looks at the IL approach from the direction of the 10 rules. I have shown that they have different approaches to the question of the burden of proof, to the acceptability of premises, and the role of validity. I want now to look at PD from the perspective of IL. In the IL approach as I have developed it here, the arguer is obligated within the course of the argument to address at least some of the objections to the standpoint presented, if there are suchand there almost always are. This material constitutes the dialectical tier. There does not seem to be any similar requirement in PD. The only objections that the proponent must deal with are those raised by the opponent. That seems to me to be a problem. Suppose that Olga and the Pope are arguing and the Pope puts forward a standpoint and proceeds to defend it in accordance with the rules. And let me further suppose that the Pope knows of a very serious objection (call it The Cardinal Objection) to his standpoint and that Olga is not aware of this Cardinal objection and consequently does not bring it up as a challenge anywhere in the dispute between them. The Pope has satisfactorily met all of Olga's challenges and so, according to Rule 9, she must withdraw her challenge. The Pope wins. Something seems amiss here. I believe that the Pope is under a rational obligation to meet that objection, although nothing in the PD's 10 rules require him to do so. Why do I say this? Suppose that the next day, Olga is strolling along the Via Negativa, she encounters the Cardinal, and they get to talking about her encounter with the Pope. Olga tells the Cardinal that she lost the dispute because she was not able to persuade the Pope rationally to withdraw his thesis. When she is done, the Cardinal says, "Of course,

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you confronted him with the objection that . . . ?" Olga says that she has not heard of that objection. The Cardinal assures her that the objection is a fairly standard one that, in fact, derives from his own thinking and that the Pope surely knows it, for he himself has raised it and the Pope did not have an adequate reply! What will Olga think? Will she not think (with some justification) that she has been, to some degree, hoodwinked by the Pope? Olga might well wonder whether the resolution of their dispute was rational. From her current perspective, it will certainly not appear to have been rational.10 Whether approached from the perspective of PD or IL, rationality is an evident characteristic of argument. Both arguments and critical discussions are rational products; both also exhibit rationality. Here is what van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1987) said about the norm of rationality: A language user taking part in an argumentative discussion is a rational language user if in the course of the discussion he performs only speech acts which accord with a system of rules acceptable to all discussants which furthers the creation of a dialectic which can lead to a resolution of the dispute at the centre of the discussion. (p. 18) This makes the rationality of argumentation a function of the participants' adherence to a set of rules characterised as (a) acceptable to all discussants; or (b) furthering the creation of dialectic, which can lead to a resolution of the dispute at the center. Still, a person might violate one of the rules and yet be rational. For example, an arguer might well refuse to follow Rule 8 in a reconstruction of someone's argument. Would that mean that this person was not a rational language user? If that is what the norm entails, then it seems much too restrictive. So I see a problem with their articulation of the norm of rationality. However the requirement of rationality is to be phrased, it will not be enough. The resolution must not only accord with the demands of rationality, however these are understood. The resolution must also appear rational to participants and onlookers. If, then, I am to appreciate the true nature of 10 There are at least two ways that a Pragma-dialectician might attempt to meet this objection. Pinto has suggested that Olga has not done her homework and so would not have any basis for rational complaint. There is value in this observation, although whether it is sufficient to dislodge the objection I am raising here is not clear to me. The theoretical issue that it raises for me is just this: It is clear that the arguer is under an obligation to discharge some dialectical obligations; that is, answer objections, anticipate criticisms, and so on. Clearly, the arguer cannot be expected to deal with all of the possible and or actual objections. So how does one specify which ones? This is The Specification Problem, which I discuss in chapter 11. Jacobs suggested that the Pope has violated one of the sincerity conditions. This claim, if true, might allow PD to override this objection.

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argumentation, its real genius, as it were, I must understand it as not only characterized by rationality, but also by manifest rationality. Argumentation as understood by IL can satisfy this requirement; I argued this in chapter 5. I am not sure that the same can be said for PD. Indeed, I have given two reasons to think otherwise. The first is that its position on the burden of proof does not square with the requirements of manifest rationality. It would seem more in accordance with the idea of manifest rationality that the one who makes an assertion be responsible for supporting it if it is at all controversial. The assertor, who is ex hypothesi rational, must realize that if it is controversial and not defended, the interlocutor will (or should) ask for that defense. So what could be the point in waiting for someone to ask for something that should be furnished in the first place? Such reluctance is difficult to comprehend and certainly does not appear rational to me. The second reason that argumentation as understood by PD may fall short of meeting the requirement of manifest rationality is its position on handling objections and other dialectical material. It may be argued that the absence of any rule requiring the Pope to deal with objections is still within the norm of rationality (as set forth previously), although I have doubts. It is a much harder argument to make that the absence of such a rule preserves the requirement of manifest rationality. How can it appear rational not to entertain objections to a standpoint where any rational antagonist or participant will know that there are such? Here, I find another substantial difference between PD and IL. Concluding Reflections This is not the place to attempt a full assessment of the Pragma-dialectical approach. That would require a detailed discussion of its merits as a programmatic approach to the theory of argumentation, as well as its limitations. I have compared the Pragma-dialectical approach to the approach outlined here. In many ways, PD and IL are perhaps not so much rival theories as alternative approaches to the same end. Earlier, I said that they are focused on different aspects of the practice of argumentation; that is, that IL is more concerned with establishing criteria for the evaluation of the argument considered as product, whereas Pragma-dialectics is more concerned with formulating rules for the proper conduct of the process of arguing. There is, as I have shown, much overlap between the two. Both are committed to certain basic conditions as necessary for the practice of argumentation; PD calls them higher-order conditions. Both are committed to the need to theorize about argumentation in a dialectical and teleological context; both are committed to the idea of argumentation as a rational

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engagement. Both retain the traditional notion of premiseconclusion structure; both see a role for fallacies in the process of evaluation, although they understand this concept in different ways. Both are committed to the idea that there are normative issues that are universal in character rather than subject specific. The criteria used by IL bear interesting resemblance to the rules of PD, although the metatheoretical issue of how one compares such different systems is a crucial and, thus far, unanswered one. Both IL and PD make use of relevance and some form of acceptability. Sufficiency is not mentioned specifically by PD, although one may take it that some such criterion would emerge in detailed treatments of Rule 7 or 8. The main difference is that PD abandons any reference to truth, whereas I have argued that IL should embrace a truth requirement. With that much in common, where are the significant differences? Some differences have emerged in the discussion of the 10 rules put forth by PD. One significant difference appears to be the type of logic theory that will be employed. Informal logic is committed to the centrality of logic in any account of the normative issues surrounding argumentation, whereas PD is a more wide-ranging theory and in its attitude toward logic, it is more ambivalent. Although both IL and PD are critical of the logical tradition (what I have characterized as FDL, van Eemeren and Grootendorst referred to as ''the logico-centric approach"), PD seems to remain under the influence of the traditional logic chiefly in its reliance on the conception of validity. It is true that van Eemeren and Grootendorst attempted to disengage from the formal concept of validity, but they did not provide an analysis of this broader conception of validity, and their system is heavily dependent on their providing some such. Moreover, when van Eemeren and Grootendorst mentioned "appropriate argumentation schemes," the question that will naturally arise is: Is there a taxonomy of argumentation schemes? They discuss argument forms like the argumentum ad populum, and argumentum ad verecundiam, which leads to the suspicion that what they called argumentation schemes are closely related to fallacies and the related argument forms or patterns. The question then becomes what sort of logical theory can be used to generate the notion of validity and to shore up the notion of argumentation schemes. One final point. The crucial concept of a critical discussion is never analyzed, although descriptions and characterisations of its features are offered. The question occurs: How does a critical discussion differ from a rational discussion? In my view, a critical discussion would be characterized by each participant's ability to see the strengths and weaknesses in the arguments as presented. There is nothing in the rules that ensures that this will occur. Moreover, one might ask whether these rules really are sufficient (along with what they call higher-order conditions) to capture the ideal of a critical discussion? On what grounds can it be said that there are not other

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rules? To approach the same concern from a slightly different angle, is it possible for a discussant to violate one of these rules and yet have that discussion still be considered a rational or critical one? No less than for the theory I advocate here, there are important unanswered questions for the Pragma-dialectical approach. Willard's Theory of Argumentation Communication Theories and Argument Argumentation has been the subject of study not only in logic and epistemology and linguistics, but also in the disciplines of speech communication and rhetoric. Many theorists from these disciplines have developed approaches to argumentation, among them Ehninger (1974), Wenzel (1987), and Jackson and Jacobs (1980), to name just a few. One of the most recent attempts to develop a systematic approach argumentation from an alternative theoretical point of view is that of Willard (1989). In this section, I want to have a brief look at this approach. The thesis that Willard defended in his theory of argument is that argument is best understood not as a kind of logic but as a processa kind of communication; in fact, a conversation between two persons who disagree. In some respects, then, Willard's theory resembles dialogical theories. It differs in several important respects, one of them the role Willard assigned to dissensus. The theory of communication, rather than logic or linguistic theory, provides the crucial insights for the theory of argumentation. In developing this theory, Willard made use of a number of theories of communication, including symbolic interactionism, personal construct theory, constructivism, and most especially O'Keefe's (1986) Message Design Logic. Willard's view that communication theory provides the optimum context for a theory of argument runs counter to the claim of this work, that informal logic provides the optimum context. Ultimately, I question Willard's proposal that communication theory, rather than logic, provides the best foundation, not denying that Willard's theory makes important and complementary contributions. Some idea of the range and the breadth of Willard's theory is indicated in this quote: At first blush, the theory may seem to be little more than Aristotle's dialectic gussied up in modern communication terms. But Aristotle's dialectic uses a serial predicate sense of argumentordinary argument being elided syllogisms, things, units of proof and serial predications. . . . The theory defended here . . . defines argument in terms of encounters based on dissensus . . . (p. 8)

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Willard's theory of argument differs from others (perhaps less so from PD) in its theory of analysis. According to Willard, the problem with logically driven theories of argument is that their conception of argument is impoverished. This echoes my own complaint. Willard addressed several audiences, those like van Eemeren and Grootendorst, who believed that Speech Act Theory is the proper theoretical framework for approaching argumentation. He likewise addressed those who believe that logic is the proper vehicle and who therefore see argument primarily as a set of propositions, whether this is understood in a formalist or informalist way. It is important likewise to recall, as was mentioned previously, that Willard saw his publication as part of a sequence of works, the others of which are mentioned in the preface. It is the successor to Argumentation and the Social Grounds of Knowledge, in which Willard (1983) elaborated in detail the thesis that argumentation aims at dissensus rather than consensus. It is a prelude to other books to come. Hence, Willard presented us with a theory in process. Willard's Theory of Argument Willard's theory of argument is the focus of the first section of the book. The main thesis here is that argument is a type of communication. Chapter 1 is devoted to an exploration of the theoretical bases. In chapter 2, Willard discussed argument as interaction. In chapter 3, he looked at argument as emergent action and in chapter 4, he viewed argument as utterance. In chapter 5, he looked at the epistemic aspect of argument and, in chapter 6, argument as personal influence. Just from the mention of these topics, it is apparent that Willard's focus was on a much broader conception of argument than the one offered here. I want now to double back and pick up a few threads in this conception of argument. The view that argument is a form of interaction yields a harvest of characteristics. It means that argument is a cooperative activity and an intentional one involving speakers who mean to say particular things; it is also creative and strategic communication in which the arguer adapts the communication to persons and situations. Willard then presented his definition of argument and then unpacks its contents. The definition is: "[A]rgument is a kind of interaction in which two or more people maintain what they construe to be incompatible positions" (p. 42). This definition is intended to capture at least three different levels of argumentative activity: (a) naturally occurring argument, (b) epistemic (justificatory, deliberative argument), and finally, (c) disciplined discourse. Because each of these levels of activity is one that I have focused on, the scope of Willard's definition and the scope of the definition offered in this work are roughly the same.

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Willard further developed his theory by focusing on the fact that arguments are scenes that develop over time. They are not fixed in the way that formal, and perhaps informal, logicians have often construed them. He said, "Arguments are 'emergent'; we make them us as we go along. We improvise, change course, and adapt to developments" (p. 67). Seeing argument as emergent cuts against three ways of regarding themseeing them as speech acts, as situated, and as utterance. Each of these aspects, although indispensable to my understanding of argument, is, if not carefully handled, capable of obscuring the emergent character of arguments. Willard did not deny that arguments also have a serial and structured dimension. They are sequential, ordered serially according to conventional principles. They are heavily reliant on talk. Their continuity arises from topical coherence, adaption to situation, and procedural etiquettes. The importance of seeing arguments as emergent is that it gives full value to the fact that ambiguities can be resolved and that claims can change meaning and, finally, that revisions can readily be accommodated within this framework but not so readily in a text driven model. Willard looked at argument as utterance. Willard's point was not to convince anyone to abandon or subordinate particular views about argument, but to prove that the issue of defining argument utterance and marking it off from other modes of speech is less important than is commonly thought. In the final analysis, then, Willard advocated a pluralism that stops at the door of the overt reasons view of argument. Willard went on to discuss the epistemic effects of argument, finding them to be somewhat exaggerated. Argumentation is fragile and easily subverted. What is not clear to me is whether the practice of argumentation as he described it is really so easily subverted. Willard then investigated two claims: (a) that ethos is a pivotal component of the logic of assent and (b) that ethos is inextricably tied to rational argument. He discussed the role of authority and individualism and its role here. Finally, Willard looked at argumentation's place in a family of terms, some of which are rationality and freedom. He presented that Argumentation should be treated as a Discipline, a recommendation I take up in chapter 12. Thoughts about Willard's Theory This is only a sketch of Willard's theory, a proper exposition of which would take much more space than can be allotted here. I focus on Willard's conception of argument.

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To get some sense of the difference between Willard's approach and mine, consider the following specimen from his book: Two academics are discussing a proposed newcomer to their department: C: An FTE is an FTE. T: [Whines; shakes head; sour facial expression] Noooooooooo. C: Look, we ain't gonna get any more lines anytime soon; this is yer classic bird in the hand. T: [Shakes head; whines; repeats facial expression] Noooo. C: I can't lose sight of a whole FTE. Man! A whole line. T: [Whining] An FTE is not an FTE. [Shakes head; holds hands to head as if suffering from a headache] C: We can get the guy to teach some things for us. T: What things? What can he do for us? T: He can teach the baby course. T: [Whines] Ohhh. We don't neeeeed it. C: Look, man, law of the jungle: expand or die. T: Expand and die. Bloated. (p. 93) Here is Willard's analysis of this text: The text is too sparse for logical analysis. One cannot formally assess "an FTE is an FTE" without knowing what C means. One can say that C's reason is weak, but it is unclear from the text whether the reason is produced to support "an FTE is an FTE" or some other claim that is taken for granted. . . . T gives no explicit reasons, but his whines and grimaces are pivotal to the conversation's progress. He is participating in the argument whether or not his utterances fit anybody's criteria for "making an argument." Like any language user, T depends upon C's memory of past conversations to give sense to T's utterancesan assumption typical of enthymematic speech. The substitution of paralinguistic cues for serial predication is an economy measure available to arguers with mature relationships. The relationship's history permits a shorthand that yields the benefits of dissensus with its costs in time. (p. 94) From this example and Willard's analysis, we get some sense for both what Willard is interested in and how he approached his subject. He was interested in argumentation as an interaction between persons, an interaction based around disagreement, in which the parties contest. For Willard, the focal point is the process of argument as an emergent event. An argument is, above all else, a conversation. Willard's paramount concern was to understand the dynamics of such exchanges, to understand how the speaker's moves contribute to the ongoing interchange. Thus, Willard wrote, "He is

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participating in the argument whether or not his criteria fit anybody's criteria for 'making an argument'" (p. 94). I would interpret this claim in the following way: T is certainly engaged in the process of arguing, but T has not formulated his position as an argument in the sense discussed in this book. T may not ever need or intend to do so. We certainly want theories of communication that will help us to understand the process of arguing as an important form of human interaction. We also need theories of argument that will help us to understand and evaluate the products of such interchanges when the arguer takes the time to codify themregarding them, if you willand prettying them up for a wider audience. Willard's theory of argumentation is focused on the former, whereas mine is focused on the latter. Our purposes are largely complementary, although I believe there are fundamental disagreements, particularly on whether or not it makes sense to attempt to constitute Argumentation as a Discipline. That is a discussion for chapter 12. Conclusion In this chapter, I discussed several alternative theories and, in each case, attempted to show where and how the theory in question differs from the theory proposed here, as well as what their relative strengths and weaknesses are. It is possible that those who advocate some form of field theory are right and that the significant standards of argument are field-dependent. But I do not believe that a compelling case has been made by any field theorist, certainly not by Toulmin. The strongest case, it seems to me, would be to show that the standards for a good argument in history are S1, S2, and S3, whereas the standards for a good argument in philosophy are S4, S5, and S6. To the best of my knowledge, no one has yet produced the evidence that would be required to show this. Nor do I think it likely. Here is why: The role that argument plays in the disciplines in which it figures prominently is similar to the role that theory plays in the sciences. Both are attempts to get at the truth using reasoning and reasoning alone; both produce results that are likely to be criticized and found wanting. In the case of scientific theory, there is not, so far as I know, one set of standards for evaluating theories in physics, another for theories in chemistry, and a third for theory in biology. Hence, I am inclined to think that field theories are false. With respect to dialogical approaches, in particular Pragma-dialectics, what the discussion seems to me to bring to the fore is that in the final analysis, a theory of argument is best constructed on argument as product. To put it as straightforwardly as possible, any process-based theory will

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ultimately find itself having recourse to the results delivered by product-oriented theories. I do not think an argument can be made for the reverse; that is, that product-based theories will require supplementation from process-based theories. In the next chapter, I want to pick up a number of loose threads: problems that I have postponed dealing with and also the development of a research agenda for informal logic, for the theory of argument and also for the theory of reasoning.

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Chapter 11 Outstanding Issues and the Research Agenda During the course of this book, problems of different types have emerged. In this chapter, I want to catalog those problems and, where possible, suggest possible solutions or avenues of approach. On the basis of that discussion, I also hope to set forth research agendas for the theory of argument in general and, in particular, for informal logic. The problems that have emerged in the course of this book belong to four different categories. First, there are problems specific to my theory: The Specification Problem, The Completeness Problem, The Integration Problem and The Application Problem. I want to present a possible resolution of those problems. Second, I look at those problems that belong on a research agenda for informal logic. Third, there are problems that belong on a research agenda for the theory of argument. Fourth, there are problems that point to the need for a theory of reasoning; they will be dealt with in the next chapter. Possible Solutions to Outstanding Problems In chapter 6, The Specification Problem emerged. Briefly, it is this: If the arguer is required by the nature of argument to deal with objections and criticisms, how are we to specify which ones? (This problem reappeared in chap. 8 during the discussion of the principle of vulnerability.) In chapter 7, where I presented my theory of evaluation, three problems emerged in connection with criteria proposed there for the illative core of

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a good argument. Recall that those criteria were relevance, sufficiency, acceptability, and truth. Several problems have accumulated around this theory of evaluation. First, there was the problem of whether the proposed criteria for evaluation constituted a complete set of criteria. I called this The Completeness Problem. There are three distinct aspects of this problem. The first is whether the criteria proposed for the illative core are complete. I refer to this as Completeness1. The second issue is whether the criteria for the dialectical tier form a complete set. I refer to this as Completeness2. The third issue is whether there is justification for thinking that the criteria for the illative core and the dialectical tier together are complete. Might an argument not satisfy the structural and the dialectical criteria and yet not be a good argument? I refer to this as Completeness3. Second, The Integration Problem stems from the tension in the criteria for the illative core. Specifically, there can be a conflict between the criteria of truth and acceptability. As I showed in chapter 10, a premise might be true (in some sense) but not acceptable. A premise might be acceptable but not true. Can I have a theory containing criteria that yield different verdicts regarding premise adequacy? Is there a way these criteria can be dovetailed? Finally, there is the more practical problem of how to apply the criteria for the illative core. I call this The Application Problem. These are the problems I plan to address, and I begin with The Specification Problem. The Specification Problem According to my theory of analysis, every argument should contain a dialectical tier. What are its contents? To develop this notion a bit further, let us say that a dialectical field takes shape around a certain issue: for example, the legitimacy of capital punishment. Suppose the arguer wishes to persuade that capital punishment should be forbidden. We may imagine this conclusion as a point in the center of a given field. The various positions on those issues (those who favor it for its deterrence value, those who favor it for its retributive value, those who oppose it absolutely, those who oppose it except for certain cases, and so on) can be represented as points in the neighborhood of the issue. From each of these locations, there will very likely be objections and criticisms directed at the argument. What will these objections look like? According to the theory I have advocated here, they will be of two sorts: There will be objections to the illative core and there will be objections to the dialectical tier. In what follows, I restrict attention to the former. (I do not believe that the particularities of the theory I have proposed affect the discussion of this issue.)

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An objection to the illative core will typically take one of the following forms: a challenge to the truth or acceptability of one (or more) of the premises in the core; a challenge to the inference from the premises to the conclusion (or, in my theory, a challenge to the relevance or sufficiency of the premises); a challenge to an unstated premise; a challenge to an implication or consequence, typically; or a challenge to the effect that a proposition in the core has not been clearly formulated. The question I wish to raise here as part of an effort to understand the contents of the dialectical tier is: How many and which objections must be dealt with in the dialectical tier, and how does the arguer determine which ones to deal with?1 I can think of four answers, none of which is entirely satisfactory by itself. I discuss them in what I take to be ascending order of their attractiveness and plausibility and then come up with what I believe is the best formulation of the arguer's obligations. Option 1. The arguer must address all possible and actual objections and criticisms. Option 2. The arguer should address all and only those objections that he or she knows how to defuse. Option 3. The arguer should address all those objections that the audience will want to see addressed. Option 4. The arguer should address The Standard Objections (TSO). There has been little discussion of this problem in the literature of logic and argumentation theory. One who has addressed it, although from a different angle, is Johnstone (1978), who made the following points, "I shall begin by remarking that it is commonly supposed that anyone who makes a philosophical statement is under some obligation to respond to the criticisms of those to whom the statement is addressed" (p. 14). In these re1 This is necessary but not, I think, sufficient. The arguer must also handle criticisms (which are a slightly different matter) and must handle alternative positions (again a slightly different matter). In thinking through these matters, I want to acknowledge the excellent and insightful criticisms raised by Govier (1998).

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marks, Johnstone was thinking specifically about philosophical argumentation, but I see no reason to think that this particular point cannot be generalized and considered applicable to all arguments. What is the nature of this obligation?2 One answer is provided by the approach I have advocated here and the characteristic features I have been stressing: that argumentation is an exercise in rational persuasion, and it is not enough for the arguer simply to provide the evidence for the thesis. The arguer must therefore deal with objections. The obligation stems, as I argued in chapter 6, from the very nature of the practice. In the remark quoted previously, it seems that Johnstone was suggesting an option that combines elements of both Option 2 and Option 4. But before I consider his suggestion, let me look at Option 1, which Johnstone eliminated by saying, ''He need not, of course, reply to all criticisms or questions" (p. 14). Johnstone did not say why the arguer need not reply to all criticisms (I shall say objections). It seems clear that Option 1 is wrong. To see why, let me suppose that I am concerned here with objection tokens rather than objection types. (I shall assume that the distinction between types and tokens is familiar and I do not need to work through the details. For clarification, see Martinich, 1996.) To clarify the distinction here, let me refer to the argument Ayer offered for the elimination of metaphysics. One objection type to Ayer's argument would be that there is no clear distinction between analytic and synthetic propositions. An objection token would be the claim that Ayer's formulation of the principle of verification suffers from being stated in terms of propositions.3 A possible objection token would be Quine's (1963) argument that there is no clear boundary between the two. This is possible because it had not yet been formulated (so far as I know) when Ayer put forth his argument in 1936; yet it is surely an objection that might have been put forth and could have been anticipated then. I do not think I can say that Ayer was under an obligation to have anticipated and dealt with the Quine objection. To suggest that Ayer's argument is incomplete because it does not take account of the Quine objection token seems excessive and places impossible demands on the arguer. The arguer cannot be obligated to know the future in that way. No one can know what objections future arguers may bring. Indeed, scholars are not always successful in anticipating the objections that their contemporaries might wish to press. 2 Hansen reminded me that Kant has distinguished between perfect and imperfect obligations. A perfect obligation is directed to a specific person, such as an obligation to be faithful to one's wife; an imperfect obligation is generic, such as the obligation to give to charity, which is not an obligation to any specific charity. It is not at all clear what sort of obligation the arguer has in the matter of handling objections. Perhaps it is a mixture of both. 3 Lazerowitz (1937) raises just such an objection. Ayer (1952) credits Lazerowitz with that objection.

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Here, we are up against the cognitive limitations of the arguer. Every arguer has limitations, both with respect to his knowledge base and powers of imagination. The arguer's dialectical obligations must be understood in light of those limitations. Indeed, we have here the best possible argument for the need for criticism from others. My experience has usually been that the very best criticisms or objections to my arguments are those about which I want to say, "I would never have thought of that objection." Given the limitations of the minds and imaginations of human arguers, it cannot be reasonable to expect the arguer to deal with all possible objections, whether type or token. The same conclusion follows even when we limit the requirement to what seems more reasonableto dealing with all actual objections. Here again it is clear that we must be thinking of types rather than tokens. The same objection can be expressed by different respondents on different occasions and in slightly different ways, and it makes no sense to require the arguer to deal with each and every such articulation because it would be impossible to garner them and, likewise, impossible to respond to each one of them. Moreover, some of these actual objection tokens will be either trivial or fairly obviously off. It is enough if the arguer deals with the gist of the objection: the objection type. Even this less onerous formulation of the requirement seems excessive. The arguer who is serious will have done a lot of homework and may be expected to know of and have thought about a wide range of actual objections, but to require that all such arguments be known seems to go beyond what is reasonable to expect. To put it differently, to charge that the arguer had failed to discharge the dialectical obligations because he or she failed to deal with one specific objection that could not reasonably be expected to have been knownthis would not be rational and it certainly would not appear rational. Thus, this way of specifying the arguer's dialectical obligations fails to meet the requirements discussed in chapter 6 of manifest rationality. Finally, if we consider an issue of any degree of complexity, which is the target zone for the theory of argument proposed here, there will be quite a number of objection types and even if the arguer were aware of all of them, the argument would become incredibly wordy if the arguer were to attempt to respond to each and every such objection. There are, then, both theoretical and practical reasons for rejecting the formulation that would require that the arguer deal with all possible and actual objections. We may reasonably eliminate Option 1. What about Option 2? The arguer should deal with those objections that (he or she believes) the argument can handle. By "objections," I mean to refer to predictable objection tokens. It seems clear that this option identi-

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fies a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition. It is necessary because the entire reason for the existence of the dialectical tier is that the arguer needs to show how to handle objections to his argument. But it cannot be sufficient. Suppose that there is an objection, call it O*, that the arguer is aware of but that he or she does not know how to deal with. Is it rational for the arguer to ignore or not respond to this objection? If the purpose of the endeavor was understood as mere persuasion, the answer seems obvious: "Of course." But I have assigned the goal of rational persuasion to argumentation and it does not seem to be in keeping with the spirit of the practice so construed to ignore or fail to mention that objection. If the Other is to be persuaded rationally, he or she will want to know how the arguer handles this objection. To ignore such an objection as O* would be dishonest and not in keeping with the practice. What, then, should the arguer do? There seem to be two possible situations regarding O*. Suppose that O* is, as it were, a lethal objection: that is, it is such a strong objection that it seems to seriously jeopardize the argument. In this case, it seems to me the arguer ought to withdraw the argument and think the matter over. If the arguer does not know how the argument can overcome this serious objection, then the arguer has no business putting it forth in the attempt to persuade others. On the other hand, it is possible that the arguer regards the objection as one that does not undermine the argument. In that case, the rational course would be for the arguer to include the objection in the dialectical tier and admit that it is not known how to handle it. The Other might still be persuaded of the merits of the argument, even with this negative, if the rest of the argument was strong enough to compensate. We can therefore reasonably eliminate Option 2 because it states a necessary but not a sufficient condition. What about Option 3? This option requires the arguer to deal with any objection or criticism he or she has reason to believe his audience will want to see dealt with. If so, then the arguer is required to have a read on what the audience's level of knowledge is and also what their expectations are, dialectically speaking. These requirements pose no problem, as they are presuppositions from the beginning anyway. There is little doubt that Option 3 also states a necessary condition. The problem would be if it were interpreted as a sufficient condition. About such an approach, Perkins (personal communication, March, 1994) said: Certainly the rhetorical solution of anticipating your audience's objections is a practical answer. From a communicational and persuasive standpoint it's the thing to do. The question left in my mind concerns whether this collapses the distinction between argument as a manipulative tool of persuasion (where you might not bring up telling objections you suspect your audience will not think of) and argument as a quest for truth (or some appropriately constructivist equivalent).

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Perkins's concern seems, to me, well expressed. Clearly, the arguer must deal with objections that he or she has reason to think the audience will want to hear about. But will that be enough? Suppose the arguer has, in the process of constructing an argument, come across a line of objection that has not been met with anywhere in the literature and so has reason to think the audience will not expect it to be dealt with. In my view, the constraint of rationality requires the arguer to deal with such an objection. Hence, I can set aside Option 3. So I come to Option 4, which Johnstone (1978) suggested when he wrote, "But associated with any philosophical statement is a class of criticisms and questions more or less relevant to the statement and with these he must deal. His critic is naturally under a similar obligation" (p.14). Thus, I come up with the idea that the arguer is expected to deal with what might be called The Standard Objections. But how shall we unpack this phrase? It is tempting to say that anyone familiar with the issue will also know the variety of positions and will have heard the various objections and criticisms, some of which will have achieved greater salience than others. The Standard Objections, then, would refer to that class of salient objections typically or frequently found in the neighborhood of the issue. For the arguer to fail to deal with, or to respond to, one of these standard objections is a failure at the dialectical level, a fault in the dialectical tier that can be every bit as serious as a problem in the illative core. In summary, it seems that the following can be said about the arguer's dialectical obligations. The arguer must deal with The Standard Objections. The question is how to specify these. In addition, the arguer is obliged to deal with any objections that the arguer knows the audience will expect that he or she deal with (if they are not included in TSO) and also those objections the arguer believes his or her position can handle (even if not included in TSO). Govier (1998) took the view that the arguer is obligated to handle dialectically significant objections. Govier proposed to unpack this notion in terms of what is taken seriously by the audience to whom the argument is addressed. That is, an objection is significant if it is taken seriously by the audience to whom the argument is addressed. My first instinct is to concede that this is a necessary but not a sufficient condition. There may be significant objections that are not taken seriously by the audience, and this can happen either for good reasons or bad ones. I want to delay that instinct and instead question whether this is a necessary condition. How is the arguer to make this determination? What tells him or her that an objection is taken seriously by the audience? Is it enough to know that one member of the audience takes it seriously? Is there a quantitative criterion here? Or is it a qualitative one? For example, if Tony Blair takes it seriously, then it is significant? These are matters that need to be worked out in the theory of argument.

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Govier's suggestion is not unlike one made by Hitchcock (1996), who suggested the following formulation: "The arguer is expected to deal with any objection which would reasonably be expected to raise a serious doubt about the cogency of the argument."4 Here I take "expected" to have some kind of audience reference. I am unhappy with any unpacking that relies heavily on the notion of audience for at least two reasons. First, audiences are notoriously heterogenous: Johnson took it seriously, Blair did not, Pinto was undecided. Second, there may be worthwhile objections that are not known to anyone in the audience. Hence, I am led to wonder if we don't have to find some other way to develop the idea of what it is for an objection to be significant. In any event, Hitchcock's proposal is at best a sufficient condition. It is not a necessary condition, however. I think we would expect to hear how an arguer handles a well-known objection, even if it is not likely to cast serious doubt on the cogency of the argument. My conclusion is that the whole issue of how to specify the arguer's dialectical obligations deserves further study. (See Johnson, 1999, for more on this issue.) The Completeness Problems Three issues about completeness have emerged in my discussion. The first is whether the criteria for the illative core are complete. Or are there possibly other criteria that have not been mentioned thus far? This is The Completeness1 Problem. The second is whether there are criteria for the dialectical tier that have not been mentioned thus far. This is the Completeness2 Problem. The third is whether there are criteria of another type. That is, are there criteria for a good argument over and above those for the illative core and the dialectical tier? This is the Completeness3 Problem. Before I deal with each of these, there is an objection that needs to be considered: The concern about completeness is a carryover from FDL and the desire to develop logistic systems and, hence, it is misplaced here. There is something to the objection. The metatheoretic concerns of consistency, completeness, and independence did emerge in the attempt to show that a logistic system had captured what it was supposed to capture. And although I see no role for independence as a metatheoretic concern for informal logic (because there are no axioms that might display this property), it seems foolish not to ask whether the criteria are mutually consistent (I have already seen and am about to deal with an issue driven by precisely this concern). Moreover, it seems rational to inquire about completenessthe question whether there are other important criteria not 4 Hitchcock made this suggestion during the discussion following a reading of my paper in 1996.

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mentioned by the theory. Not to ask these questions merely because they had counterparts in FDL would be shortsighted. Completeness1: The Illative Core The first question concerns the criteria for the illative core: relevance, sufficiency, acceptability, and truth. Is this a complete set of criteria? To answer this question, we may represent an argument as an intellectual force determined by three vectors. The first vector is determined by its direction, which goes from the premises to conclusion. Its magnitude is determined by the consideration of whether the premises are such that they provide good reasons for the conclusion. This is where the criteria of relevance and sufficiency enter the picture. The second vector is determined by its direction, which goes from the premises to the audience; its magnitude is determined by the consideration of whether the premises must be such that the audience can grant them rationally. This is where the criterion of acceptability enters the picture. The third vector is determined by the direction that goes from the premises of the argument to the world (at least in some instances). If the premises of the argument are about the affairs of the world, they must be correct, accurate where this is possible. Here the criterion of truth enters the picture. One way to test the supposition that the three vectors of Fig. 11.1 form a complete set would be to look at the criteria proposed by other theories to see whether they contain an additional criterion that could not be mapped along the lines of one of these vectors. Toulmin's theory comes to mind here. As I mentioned in the last chapter, Toulmin's theory of appraisal appears to contain no less than nine standards or criteria: sufficiency, appropriateness, relevance, reliability, applicability, consistency, validity, soundness, and weight. I say "appears to" because at no point did Toulmin explicitly set forth his criteria, but he did allude to all of them at some point or other in his various discussions about the criteria for argument evaluation.

Fig. 11.1 The three vectors of an argument.

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Clearly, Toulmin's evaluative apparatus is more complex than mine, and part of the reason, I suspect, is Toulmin's unique and more complex method of analysis. There is some overlap in our theories of evaluation. Both theories include relevance and sufficiency. There is also a salient difference: Toulmin's theory does not contain truth nor any synonymous criterion or standard, which suggests that the vector that relates the premises to the world is not represented in his theory. The point at issue here is whether any of the criteria mentioned by Toulmin suggest some other dimension than the three discussed previously. Validity, if interpreted in the standard way, would be about the relationship between premises and conclusion (and belongs to FDL). Soundness either is taken in its ordinary sense of being a good argument, in which case it suggests no new dimension, or in the sense of FDL, again in which case it suggests no new dimension. Consistency can be considered an offshoot of the vector relating the premises to the worldan argument with inconsistent premises cannot satisfy the truth requirement. That leaves appropriateness, reliability, applicability, and weight. Appropriateness and applicability are standards that derive from Toulmin's theory of analysis that, the reader will recall, sees argument structure in terms of warrants and backing. My view is that these can be mapped into the premiseconclusion vector; they are matters of how the warrantbacking relate to the groundwarrant. Reliability would seem to be a factor along the vector from the premise to the audience. Weight also would seem be a factor for the vector from the premises to the conclusion. Thus, I do not see in Toulmin's theory a criterion that could not be mapped into one of the three vectors mentioned earlier. The conclusion I draw, tentatively, is that the three vectors present a complete framework for dealing with the question of completeness at the illative core. I need to add one other comment. In the last chapter, I took note of Weinstein's insistence that informal logicians need to work more closely with the disciplines in this matter of standards and criteria. Whereas results from inquiries into the criteria of evaluation in the disciplines might well add criteria or standards, it would be surprising to me if arguments in any discipline did not involve the four criteria proposed by this theory for the illative core of the argument. Completeness2: The Dialectical Tier What about the criteria for the dialectical tier? My answer is that they can be accounted for in the vector from the premises to the audience, for among those in the audience are those individuals who may be presumed to raise objections, and so forth. The vector has two dimensions to it. There is the illative dimension: the acceptance by the audience of the undefended prem-

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ises in the illative core. There is also the dialectical dimension: the adequacy of the dialectical tier. If this is too cumbersome, the schema could be revised by adding another vector from the premises to the dialectical tier. As to the criteria for the dialectical tier, I make no claim for the completeness of the criteria I have offered. I regard this as an important agenda item for future research on informal logic. Completeness3: Other Criteria? There is still another type of completeness that needs to be considered. Compare two arguments, A and B, that have the same core structure; but B contains a dialectical tier and A does not. All things being equal, if B does a reasonable job of dealing with dialectical material according to the theory of evaluation proposed here, B will be a better argument. But now suppose that arguments A and B have both satisfied the criteria at the illative core and the dialectical level. Recall that we want the theory of argument to allow for the possibility of there being good arguments for and against a given conclusion. Is there anything else, from a logical point of view, that would result in A's being a better argument from a logical point of view than B? I may wish to appraise the argument for qualities like how well it is expressed in language and how well organized it is, but these are criteria that seem more appropriate to the rhetorical standpoint. I do not have a satisfactory answer to this question. Accordingly, I propose to put it on the agenda for informal logic. It does seem to me that we may want to provide for the possibility of other normative criteria to be applied to argument. I have in mind such qualities as originality, fertility, ingenuity, and so forth. Some may argue either that such qualities are not logical attributes but rather rhetorical or something else, or that they can be reduced to first-level properties. To the first, I only say that if they are not exactly logical, they are still normative. To the second, if such a reduction were possibleand that would have to be shownthat would support the view that the two sorts of criteria form a complete set. In any event, I propose to place this question on the research agenda for informal logic. The next unanswered question for my theory is this: How do the criteria already enunciated come together in the moment of evaluation? Specifically, how am I to put together two criteriatruth and acceptabilitythat may be in direct tension with one another? I called this The Integration Problem when it emerged in chapter 7. I turn to it next. The Integration Problem In chapter 7, and in Johnson (1992a), I urged that both acceptability and truth be included as criteria in normative theory. It is clear from the previous discussion that there need be no incompatibility between them. The truth

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criterion concerns the relationship between the premise and the state of affairs in the world. The acceptability criterion concerns the relationship between the premise and the audience. Hence, it is possible, in principle, for the premises of an argument to satisfy both. And I, for one, can think of no reason that anyone would not want the premises of arguments to satisfy both criteria. The problem arises when there is tension between them. In essence, the acceptability criterion (however it is finally to be understood) will always be applicable because there will always be an audience that will shape both the construction and evaluation of the argumentwhich premises to put into play, which of them must be defended, and so forth. On the other hand, the truth criterion may not always be applicable because there are situations where it is not applicable. In such cases, there would not be any tension between them because the truth criterion just does not apply. The problem occurs when there is a premise that brings these two criteria into conflict. This would happen when it is the determination that a given premise is true but not acceptable. It could also happen if it were the case that a premise were false but acceptable. The normative question here: How good is such an argument? What verdict should the theory deliver? Before I deal with this issue, I want to point out that this question is less important, in the long run, than the question of how this argument may be criticized. If my interest here is criticism rather than evaluation, the path is clear: I would point out that the argument has a premise that is true but unacceptable. Or that it contains a premise that is false but acceptable. It is conceivable that either situation could prove to be almost fatal. Whatever the case, I face this problem only when I focus on the question of evaluation, the need to assign an answer to the question, "Is this a good argument?" In chapter 10, I argued that Pinto's position came up against something very like this tension and that he resolved it in favor of the reasonable-to-believe requirement (his alternative to acceptability). That is, Pinto's instinct was to say that such an argument was a good one on the grounds that, although false, the premise was reasonable to believe (ceteris paribus). My instinct here is to judge that it is not a good argument because although the premise is reasonable to believe, it is false. Thus, I propose to solve the tension by resolving it in favor of the truth requirement. Which of these is the better approach? Is there some third possibility? My view is that the issue should be resolved by asking which position best accords with the theory and constraints put forth in this book. When there is tension between the truth requirement and the acceptability requirement, we should tend to resolve the issue in favor of the truth criterion. Why? Because, I will argue, such a resolution fits better with the idea of manifest rationality. How so? To see this, let's consider the two possible

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cases: Case (i): when Pi is false but acceptable, and Case (ii): when Pj is true but unacceptable. Case (i) Pi Is False but Acceptable I examine this situation first from the perspective of the arguer, then from the perspective of the evaluator. Suppose, then, that the arguer is considering whether to put in play a premise, Pi, that he regards as false but that the arguer believes would be acceptable to his audience. Here I think the answer is evident: The arguer may not put into play a premise that is known (or believed) to be false but that would be acceptable to the audience. This is precisely the orientation of the demagogue, the charlatan, and is opposed to the standpoint of those who participate in the practice of argumentation. I see no grounds the arguer could appeal to that would justify putting into an argument a premise that is regarded as false, even if it was acceptable to the audience. It may, of course, be rational for anyone to have been persuaded by an argument containing a premise that turns out to be false. But I take it that it is agreed that for the arguer to attempt to persuade by means of a premise that the arguer thinks is false and therefore does not himself accept is in some important way tantamount to abandoning the telos of rational persuasion in favor of all-out persuasion. Hence, it is clear that from this perspective, the conflict between truth and acceptability is to be resolved in favor of the truth requirement that enjoins the arguer to put into play only those premises that (to the best of his knowledge) are true and prohibits the arguer from putting into play (unless marked) premises that are known (or believed) to be false. Even if an argument constructed by means of such premises appeared to be rational, it would not be rational to attempt to persuade someone else using a belief that I know to be false and that I expect that someone to accept as true. So from the perspective of the arguer, the case in question is to be decided in favor of the truth requirement. Let me now examine this situation from the point of view of the evaluator. Here, we are supposing that the arguer has put forth an argument containing a premise that the evaluator takes to be false (we assume the arguer and the audience hold that it is true) but is also acceptable. Suppose the argument is otherwise impeccable. How good is this argument? I believe that the evaluator must deliver a negative verdict. If he or she believes the premise is false, the evaluator has a compelling reason for not accepting the premise, especially in the absence of any argument for itwhich was the case on the approach to acceptability taken in chapter 7. There is no problem for my theory of evaluation. In this case, the truth requirement outweighs the acceptability requirement and the evaluator must deliver a negative verdict on the premise.

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Such an argument (one with a false premise that is, however, acceptable to some Other) may succeed, in the moment, in achieving its goal because the audience may accept the false premise. It may be that the audience is justified in acceptance of the premise. (See Allen, 1998, for a strong defense of this view.) What this means is that people can be justified in accepting bad arguments. (This parallels the well-known epistemological result that a person may be justified in believing p even though p is false.) A bad argument does not, however, cease to be a bad argument just because it is an argument that some people may be justified in accepting. To conclude our discussion of Case (i), the verdict required by my theory is that the argument is not a good one because the truth requirement has been violated and, here, it takes precedence over the acceptability requirement. Case (ii): Pj Is True but Unacceptable5 Again let us first imagine this case first from the perspective of the arguer. Suppose the arguer had good reason to believe that the audience will not accept Pj although it is true. Here the arguer will find himself pulled in two directions: Because Pj is true, the arguer wants to put it in play; but because Pj is not going to be acceptable, it will not satisfy the acceptability requirement. The arguer will lose the audience it is hoped will be reached. The arguer cannot do both. Which path should the arguer take? If this were a rhetorically driven theory, the answer would probably be to resolve the tension in favor of the audience and not put the premise into play because it would not pass the acceptability requirement. One might well argue that this approach accords with the requirement that the argument increase rationality. How can an increase in rationality be expected when the audience will not accept the premise? However, if one were to pursue this line, the argument would violate the requirement of manifest rationality. The argument cannot appear to me to be rational, if it fails to include a premise that I believe to be both true and relevant simply because it is not in my judgment acceptable to my audience. The solution is simple and obvious: The arguer must provide adequate defense of the premise and thereby seek to render it acceptable. Next we examine this case from the perspective of the evaluator. Here I suppose that the premise Pj is such that the evaluator regards it as true but 5 Here I encounter the type of the juxtaposition similar to that discussed earlier in chapter 7 in connection with Hamblin's claim that a premise might be true but not known to be true; and again in chapter 10, where Pinto discussed the case of an argument where a premise is true but not reasonable to believe (therefore not acceptable), and false yet reasonable to believe (acceptable).

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refuses to accept it because it does not pass the acceptability requirement. This situation could occur only if the arguer has failed to defend Pj. Is this, then, a good argument? I think I have to conclude that it is not a good argument as it stands, for it contains a premise that, although true, is not acceptable because it requires defense. Hence, it cannot achieve the aim of rational persuasion. In this case, the acceptability requirement takes precedence over the truth requirement. So with this abstract discussion in mind, let us review the Hamblin argument discussed earlier: The argument that oranges are good for orangutans because they contain dietary supplements might or might not carry some weight in the second half of the twentieth century but would rightly carry none at all as between two ancient Romans who had never heard of vitamins. (p. 236) Here we are supposing that the argument was given to the Romans. Hamblin's position is that it would not be a good argument directed to the ancient Romans because even though the premise is true, it will not be acceptable to them because they knew nothing about dietary supplements. But that suggests to me that the problem with this argument is not properly described as a conflict between acceptability and truth but rather as a failure at the level of meaningfulness or coherence. It is not that the premise is unacceptable so much as that it is unintelligible. Of course, it will happen that an arguer introduces an incoherent premise that will usually be challenged on the grounds of being vague or meaningless. Indeed, this line of reflection reveals something slightly odd about this example, for it is not easy to explain how this particular incoherence would occur. Perhaps it is due to its being an artificial example. The Integration Problem is only a problem for those theories that include both truth and acceptability. I have shown that in one case, the truth requirement takes precedence and in the other case, the acceptability requirement takes precedence. No simple policy appears to be forthcoming. However, what allows the determination to be made is, ultimately, reference to the purpose of argumentation, rational persuasion, and also to the requirement of manifest rationality. For further discussion of this problem, see Allen (1998), Johnson (1998), and Freeman (1999). Finally, we have seen that this problem is slightly suspect in that it disappears altogether when the issue is situated on the context of argument criticism rather than evaluation. This, in turn, suggests that the perspective of the evaluator or judge is less revelatory of the normative stance than the perspective of the critic (or participant).

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The Application Problem Suppose that there are these four criteria for the evaluation of arguments: relevance, sufficiency, acceptability, and truth. Suppose that this is a situation in which all four standards have clear application. What is the best order of application of these standards (or criteria) to a specific argument? Is there a best order? Does it even matter? In any theory that has multiple standards of evaluation, this problem will exist. Hence, even if you do not happen to agree with my theory of evaluation, the process I use to think through The Application Problem here may prove instructive. In what order should these four criteria be applied? Before we can answer that question, we should ask: How are we to determine this? Why does it matter? The pragmatic question must come first. That question is: What is the purpose of the evaluation? If the purpose of the exercise is simple evaluation (i.e., determination of whether this is a good argument or not), then probably what is wanted is the most direct, quickest path. On the other hand, if the purpose is to produce criticism as a step in the dialectical process of argumentationthe point of view preferred in this bookthen the purpose of the effort is to locate potential areas of vulnerability in the argument. Thus, if the sole aim were evaluation, then one might first raise the sufficiency question. Sufficiency, after all, embraces relevance. If P1, P2, P3 satisfy the sufficiency requirement, then individually they must satisfy the relevance requirement. But, again, if the aim of the effort is to produce clear logical criticism, that would not be the place to begin because, as we have seen, an error in relevance may lie concealed beneath the sufficiency breakdown. In what follows, I assume that the current interest is criticism rather than evaluation. Another factor in choosing the order will be internal dependence. If any two of the criteria are such that we cannot apply Ci unless we have already applied Cj, then that would suggest that Cj should precede Ci. A last factor would be ease of determination. If Ci is easier to determine than Cj, then the application of Ci should precede the application of Cj. Thus, it seems then that factors to be considered in thinking about this would be: 1. The purpose of the process. Evaluation has an internal dynamic: The Other wishes to know whether the argument is a good argument. The Other should then begin by applying the most powerful criterion and work down to the less powerful. But criticism has an external and dialectical function. The critic wants to give the arguer the best possible feedback. In making the determination here, that order should be selected that best meets the needs of criticism.

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2. Internal dependence. If there is some order of dependence among the criteria, that order should be followed, ceteris paribus. It seems evident that there is something wrong with the order that would apply sufficiency first and then relevance because sufficiency presupposes relevance. Or to put the matter differently, if you are asking whether or not a set of premises is sufficient, you have already determined that each of them is individually relevant. What about sufficiency and truth? If I allow that the premises have satisfied the sufficiency criterion, then I seem to have admitted that they are true. That would suggest that application of the truth criterion should precede application of the sufficiency criterion. 3. Ease of determination. All things being equal, it seems sensible to apply the easier criteria before attempting to apply the more difficult ones. It would seem that the easiest determination is that of relevance; the hardest would be either truth or sufficiency. Let's look, then, at the twin issues of dependence and ease of application. We have already seen that sufficiency presupposes relevance, and, hence, the application of the relevance criterion will precede the application of the sufficiency criterion. Moreover, because the sufficiency criterion involves taking all premises jointly, it would seem, in some ways, to be the most difficult and, hence, to come last. Why? Because only when these premises are all in play does this criterion begin to apply. Now, if I look at ease of determination, it would seem that acceptability is relatively easy to determine, so it should come earlier.6 And because it seems easier to apply than either of the other two, I would suggest that it belongs at the top of the hierarchy, or at the beginning of the process. Thus we have: acceptability sufficiency There are only two ways to fill in the remaining slots that belong to relevance and truth. On the matter of the difficulty of application, these are both difficult, but it seems clear that generally it is easier to judge relevance than truth; that is, if Pi is offered as support for C, the judgment ''Pi is relevant to C" is easierepistemicallythan "Pi is true." (I may know that a given premise is relevant but not know whether it is true. I may also know that it is true but not know whether it is relevant.) Thus the following order thus suggests itself as the most efficient order of application: 6 But Allen (1998) raised some interesting questions and challenges to this view.

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acceptability relevance truth sufficiency (That order yields ARTS as a mnemonic.) To illustrate, suppose an argument has 5 premises: P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5. The policy recommended here is to first check to see whether the premises are individually acceptable because, in some ways, this is the easiest criterion to determine. Next would be relevance. Then truth (subject to the caveat discussed in the preceding section) and, finally, sufficiency. Suppose, for example, that P1 is irrelevant (or untrue, or unnacceptable)then P1 won't be allowed in the premiseset that I then check for sufficiency. In other words, because sufficiency is a global requirement, applying to all the premises taken together, it should not be applied until the premiseset is stabilized; that is, the set will have been inspected already for acceptability, truth, and relevance. This completes my discussion of the problems, some of them, that have emerged in the course of this book. Obviously, my proposals will not be satisfying to everyone, so these belong on the research agenda for informal logic, to a discussion of which I turn now. Research Agenda for Informal Logic I want to make it clear from the outset here that my concern in this section is to develop an agenda for informal logic specificallynot for the theory of argument generally. I propose such an agenda for the theory of argument in the next section. In drawing up this agenda for informal logic, I have relied on two sources. The first source is historical. I review briefly the agenda proposals formulated by Johnson and Blair (1980, 1985, 1987) and I also discuss Weinstein's proposals (1990, 1993) for the agenda. The second and more important source is the argument of this book in the course of which a number of problems and issues related to informal logic have emerged. I begin by putting on the agenda those problems that have emerged in the course of this book. The Nature of Informal Logic. This remains a problem because of the various and, in some cases, quite different conceptions of informal logic that are afoot. If informal logic is to stabilize as a subdiscipline of logic, some agreement about its nature and its tasks will have to be reached. I made

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my proposal about this in chapter 5. But it is clear that discussion about the nature of the inquiry will continue. The Conceptualization of Argument. It is apparent that, within the orbit of those who do informal logic, there are quite different conceptions of argument, as I explained in chapter 6. If it is true that how argument is conceived plays a determinant role in how it is evaluated and criticized, then progress in informal logic will be hampered severely unless this situation is addressed. My proposal is for a fortified conception of argument, one that is, in effect, more demanding that the traditional formal and informal notions. But here, again, alternatives exist. Both Willard (1989) and Gilbert (1997) offered much broader understandings of argument. Standards or Criteria for the Evaluation of Argument. In chapter 7, I proposed a theory of evaluation for informal logic, one that is more or less well rooted in its history. But there are other approaches, and the various strengths and weaknesses need to be discussed. Regarding my own theory, I have acknowledged the work that needs to be done to clarify the criteria I have proposed. Of particular importance is work on the criterion of relevance, with sufficiency not far behind. These problems pertain to the criteria for the illative core.7 There is also the issue of developing appropriate criteria for the dialectical tiera problem that remains largely untouched at this point. Evaluation Versus Criticism and the Theory of Criticism. In chapter 8, I distinguished between evaluation and criticism and argued that although our theories of evaluation have been quite well worked up, our theories of criticism lag behind. Whether or not others accept my way of making this distinction, I believe the problem of formulating and developing adequate justification for appropriate principles of argument criticism rewards a crucial task. The Relationship of Informal Logic to Other Disciplines. In chapters 9 and 10, the issue of the relationship between informal logic and other disciplines surfaced at several junctures. Clearly, informal logic stands to profit from exchanges with other areas of logic and philosophy. Further clarification of the relationship between informal logic and inductive and deductive logic as well as the various applied and deviant logics, is certainly an important issue. Informal logic has an agenda that will certainly call for con7 In his review of Johnson (1996), Hitchcock rightfully pointed out how underdeveloped is our understanding of these criteria. See Hitchcock (1999).

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tinuing discussion with epistemology, with those interested in the theory of rationality, and with semantics and pragmatics. Looking to other disciplines, informal logic has already profitted from discussions with rhetoric, which is likewise concerned with argumentation but from a different angle of approach. Perhaps informal logicians can succeed where their forbears have failed; that is, by developing a healthy relationship between rhetoric and logic, one in which rhetoric is conceived of as a full partner rather than a suspect interloper (this from the ancient Platonic prejudice). Very little work has been done on either the sociology or the psychology of argumentation, so many interesting possibilities exist. What can psychologists tell us about the process of arguing? Until very recently, there were very few studies of argument done from a psychologicalempirical perspective, probably because of the confusion of argument with inference, which has been much studied by psychologists. That appears to be changing. We have here to mention not only the work done by Perkins, Allen, and Haffner (1983), but Kuhn (1991). Work on the sociology of argumentation appears to be even less well developed. Just as scientific theories are worthy objects of attention for sociologists, so, too, is the practice of argumentation. What sorts of societies have supported this practice? These and other questions have yet to be asked, much less answered. In addition to these questions about the relationship of informal logic to the disciplines, there is also Weinstein's view that informal logic can realize its intellectual potential only if it abandons its a prioristic ways and enters into a respectful and open-ended working relationship with the special disciplines and takes seriously its own potential contribution to developing the appropriate methodology for the evaluation of what he called stylized argumentation. In addition to these items, there are carry-over items from previous attempts to formulate agendae for informal logic and I deal briefly with those now. Carry-Over Items Johnson and Blair's Agenda Proposals Johnson and Blair (1980) contains the first articulation of the informal logic approach to argumentation. They outlined the history of the subject and also proposed a research agenda. From the vantage point of their book, it appears that most of the items on that list have been picked up in the research and that progress has been made on most of them. Thus, for example, the issue of the principle of charity has been quite thoroughly discussed. (See Hansen, 1990.) The potential of fallacy and fallacy theory to sustain work on argumentation, the viability of the inductivedeductive distinction, the question of how to display the structureall of these have been discussed and we are now in a much better position.

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Other Johnson and Blair Formulations In 1985 and again in 1987, Johnson and Blair attempted to refine and update the 1980 formulation. The 1985 version of the agenda updates the 1980 publication while maintaining the same overall framework when it discusses research. One item that did not appear in the 1980 agenda and was added was argument construction. In the early years, the main focus of informal logic (and this is something it undoubtedly inherits from formal logic) was on argument evaluation and criticism. It is now widely recognized that the question of how to construct an argument has its own place on the agenda and that it cannot be assumed that the answer to this follows automatically from the theory of analysis and evaluation. The 1987 formulation of the agenda lists some 10 topics. The new items on that list are the connection between argument and rationality and the psychology of argumentation, both of which have already been placed on the current agenda. Weinstein's Agenda Proposals In two different articles, Weinstein (1990, 1993) made suggestions about the research agenda for informal logic. I want to look at each of his proposals. The discussion here will for the most part abstract from the earlier discussion of his work in chapters 10 and 11. Weinstein's 1990 Agenda Weinstein (1990) offered proposals for a research agenda for informal logic. This article is really an argument for what he called an ecological approach that is based on Toulmin's theory of argument, discussed in detail later this chapter. Weinstein argued that informal logicians need to co-operate with thinkers in other disciplines in transforming undergraduate educationa point that I took from him and have already incorporated in the agenda. But the nature of this co-operative endeavor needs to be carefully thought through. Consider this statement by Baltimore (1996), a professor of biology at MIT who won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1975. In this passage, he talked about some disagreements with fellow biologists: Maybe someday it was going to turn out that there was a wrong interpretation on the basis that Margot was suggesting, and maybe not. But you weren't going to answer the questions by arguing about them. You could only answer them with further research.8 8 See Kevles (1996).

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Weinstein's proposal fit nicely into the schema presented earlier, for it raised the following issues: 1. What is the appropriate theory of argument analysis? Weinstein opted, somewhat dogmatically it seems to me, for a Toulmin-type theory when it is far from evident that such a theory is superior to its competitors. Weinstein was certainly within his rights to hold that field-type theories of the sort proposed by Toulmin are, in the long run, the best hope for a viable theory of argument. But that remains a contentious issue within informal logic specifically and the theory of argument generally. 2. What is the best focus or target for informal logic? Suppose, that is, that one accepts the argument of this book that argument, rather than inference or implication, is the appropriate focus for informal logic. Is it the realm of mundane argumentation (as, for example, suggested by theoreticians like Govier and Scriven) or is it rather what Weinstein called the stylized discourse of the disciplines? Of course, any theory of argument coming out of informal logic must address both the needs of mundane and stylized argument. But it is not clear what is gained and what is lost if one or the other is taken as the dominant interest. 3. How are the appropriate standards for the evaluation of argument to be determined? In Weinstein's view, they are generated from within the discipline. But as I showed in chapter 10, this view is not without its problems and these problems must be addressed if theories like Weinstein's are to prevail. Thus, each of the issues raised by Weinstein already has a place on the agenda. Weinstein's 1993 Agenda Weinstein (1993) took issue with Scriven (and others), who believed that informal logic lies at the core of the critical thinking enterprise. Weinstein was continuing the exploration of his position that "informal logic is severely limited in its ability to support critical thinking in any significant sense" (p. 2). That position is supported by two lines of argument. The first distinguishes critical thinking from argument assessment (here he was following Paul and Siegel). The second traces the inadequacies of the standard conception of informal logic.9 In order to make this argument, Weinstein relied on an implicit research agenda for informal logic. It is that agenda that is of interest here. Weinstein claimed that there are four vexing theoretic problems confronting informal logicians and argued that informal logic "fails to satisfactorily resolve [them]" (p. 2). Nor, he argued, is it likely to solve them because 9 If there is such a thing as the standard conception of informal logic, Blair and I (1996) were not able to locate it.

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informal logicians appear to be intent on grabbing the lion's share of the critical thinking textbook market, and that requires theoretic difficulties be minimized. To the degree that they have paid attention to theoretic difficulties, they have been unable to free themselves from the constraints of formal logic; this, in turn, has kept them from seeing the standards of argument as closely tied to the epistemology of the discipline. Suffice to say that if informal logicians are only interested in making a buck, they will not be doing the theoretical work necessary to answer these questions. But as the present work itself indicates (with its multiple references to and dependence on serious theoretical work by theorists such as Govier, Siegel, Walton, Barth, Woods, and others), any such view of informal logic is a caricature. Whatever truth it had in times past, it has long since ceased to be applicable. Premise Acceptability Weinstein's position was that premises are not acceptable tout court. Rather, acceptability reflects the varying standards implicit in the practices of various fields of inquiry. This accords with his view that the task of developing the standards for the appraisal of argument falls to the special disciplines and is not the proper domain of informal logicians. The issue of premise acceptability is not a new agenda item. In chapter 7, I showed that the question is difficult. On the one hand, there are the problems regarding truth and acceptability (some of which I have already dealt with). On the other hand, there is the general problem of how to understand acceptability as a standard or criterion. All of this was made clear in chapter 7. Weinstein wrote, "Mathematicians and psychologists have widely varying policies on the availability and appropriateness of alternative conceptions" (p. 2). Let me, for the moment, bypass the issue of whether mathematicians would even recognize acceptability as a criterion. (My guess is that they would not; they will opt for truth.) Weinstein might have been right, but he owned answers to three questions. First, what is meant by alternative conceptions? Second, could he provide some sample cases where this is evident? Third, even if this is so, how does this bear on the question at hand: namely, whether or not there are standards of acceptability that outrun the discipline? In sum, the discussion of this criterion raises the vexing question of whether andor to what degree the standard of acceptability is discipline-specific that already occupies a place on the research agenda. Premise Relevance The next problem in Weinstein's 1993 agenda is premise relevance. Once again, this item is not new to the agenda and was discussed in detail in chapter 7. Weinstein wrote:

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Relevance is a function of the relation of a ground to the network of concepts that are constitutive of its warrants. Grounds can only be seen as relevant in terms of general warrants that support the connection of grounds to claims. Such warrants are found in the generalizations available within fields. (p. 2) Maybe so; this is a perfectly legitimate position to take. But it is not the only position, as my discussion of relevance in chapter 7 showed. Moreover, this position is formulated in Toulmin's terminology and thus begs important questions in the theory of analysis. For instance, any theory that does not subscribe to the Toulmin mode of analysis is automatically precluded from providing the kind of account of relevance discussed here. I would not readily accept Weinstein's way of formulating the problem of relevance. Weinstein enigmatically said, "inference tickets that license particular relationships of support by adducing acceptable principles" (p. 2). I am puzzled about the role of this comment here but also want to notice Weinstein's suggestion that the standard of relevance can be defined in terms of the standard of acceptability. This is an interesting theoretical view, but much more work is needed to support it. Argument Reconstruction of Missing Premises Here again I find an item that already exists on the agenda. Here is what Weinstein said: The possible missing premises available in support of a claim are, strictly speaking, infinite. The question is thus, how to choose among them. A sensible beginning is to grant as a missing premise any accepted proposition in the field within which the argument is put forward. (p. 2) I see two problems with this way of putting the proposal. First, it requires that we be able to assign every argument to some one field or some discipline. We have seen the difficulties that attend this view. Second, this approach is not going to be much help when it comes to choosing between two missing premises, both of which belong to the field in question. In other words, this policy is of little help. Weinstein said, "This seems to be the sum of the principle of charity. But then, reconstructing arguments requires substantive knowledge of domains of discourse" (p. 2). If Weinstein believed that his suggestion is "the sum of the principle of charity," then he had overlooked some important developments. As Govier (1987) discussed, it is a much more complex matter. First, the principle is not limited to the problem of missing premises. Second, Govier gave a fairly compelling argument that the problem of missing premises is tied to deductivism. (Weinstein's instinct in that direction is probably what stands behind his assertion that there are an infinite number of missing premises; or put

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differently, it is understandable that a deductivist would make such a claim.) Third, anyone can reconstruct some arguments without a great deal of domain-specific knowledge, especially where those arguments are deductive in character and the person in question is familiar with deductive logic. However, it is clear that the issue of how to identify the missing premises to which the arguer is committed, if indeed this idea makes sense, is clearly a third item for our research agenda. Premise Sufficiency Regarding premise sufficiency, Weinstein wrote: Finally argument cogency requires, in addition to acceptable premises, acceptable standards of inference. These can range from deductive argument in the theoretic sciences to persuasive analogies in fields like politics and literary criticism. Without a sense of the levels of rigor appropriate to a dispute it is impossible to ascertain when an argument should be seen as compelling. (p. 2) Weinstein opted here for a form of the spectrum theory, and this option runs up against the problem posed by Govier: How is one to make sense of these less-than-deductive inferential relationships? Weinstein probably wanted to take the position that such inferential links are discipline specific; and perhaps his advice would have been that informal logicians should be pursuing the specific varieties of these links in the various disciplines. I showed the difficulties of this view in the last chapter. Summary To summarize, Weinstein (1993) correctly identified and took a position on some of the problems faced by informal logicians that, therefore, deserve to be placed on the research agenda. I conclude with three observations. First, Weinstein's agenda proposals do not add any item that was not previously included. (By the way, I do not say this as a criticism of his views; for it was not, it seems to me, his intention to add items to the research agenda.) Second, Weinstein's list is obviously incomplete. There are many other vexing theoretical problems that belong to informal logic as a theory of argument that Weinstein did not mentioned but that I have seen emerge in this inquiry. Thus, for example, the problem of differentiating between inference, implication, and argument. There is the issue of whether truth should be a criterion; Weinstein simply assumed (or appeared to) that truth is not among the appropriate criteria. There is also the issue of the status of fallacy theory as a theory of criticism; the difference between evaluation and criticism, the development of a proper typology of argument, the need for principles of criticism, and so on. None of these problems has Weinstein

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in any way touched. Clearly, his position requires a great deal more elaboration before it could be thought to be an adequate theory of argument. Third, his very formulation and classification of the issues shows the influence of informal logic; he seemed to have adopted the relevancesufficiencyacceptability framework common to many informal logicians and, to that degree, his proposals give some credence to that theoretical apparatus. Although Weinstein's views are both interesting and important in their own way and raise important issues, they do not contribute anything new to the research agenda for informal logic that I have proposed in this section. Having presented a basic research agenda for informal logic (with no claims for its completeness), in the next section, I broaden the focus and undertake to present a research agenda for the theory of argument. Research Agenda for the Theory of Argument In the course of this book, we have seen emerge a number of important issues that confront the theory of argument generically, not just the approach of informal logic specifically. I want to record them here. Problem 1 The Focus for the Theory Should my focus be, as Govier suggested, the realm of ordinary argumentation (however it is characterized),10 or should it be the more stylized mode of argumentation found in the disciplines, as Weinstein urges? It is easy enough to suggest that it must be both. (It is one indicator of the importance of Toulmin's theorizing that it manages to incorporate both.) The point I must consider is whether I can devise a theory that fits all. Whether, for example, any typology that might fit a particular discipline will apply to ordinary argumentation and vice-versa. And that takes me directly to the next agenda item. Problem 2 The Typology of Argument Related to the previous argument but different from it is the issue of typology. How many different types of argument are there and how is this to be decided? The old deductiveinductive typology appears to have exhausted itself, and I have argued that the addition of "conduction" is not going to solve the problem. Many informal logicians and argumentation theorists have adopted the convergentdivergentlinked distinction but it appears to 10 She also used the designations of "natural argument" and "naturally occurring argument."

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have its own problems. At another level, I distinguished between ordinary or mundane arguments and the stylized arguments that exist within the disciplines. There is also the typology from within; the argument from authority, from analogy, the tu quoque, and so forth. All of these proposed classifications or types are related to my understanding of the argumentative structure. (I put to one side the various rhetorical classifications, according to figures of speech, for example.) More broadly speaking, there is the matter of conceptualization and nomenclature. The notion of type has not really been clarified in argumentation theory the way that it was, more or less, for mathematical logic (a la Russell). The term ''modes" is probably as troublesome as "types." So what other terms are available? "Species?" It is difficult not to see this entire area as conceptual morass. Certainly, this is a problem that deserves the attention of argumentation theorists.11 Problem 3 The Issue of the Role of Argumentation in the Disciplines The earlier discussion of Weinstein's agenda proposals saw this question emerge. What is the role of argumentation in the various disciplines? Here, much depends on how I understand argument. Weinstein's urging that informal logicians (and argumentation theorists) pay more attention to and co-operate with the specific disciplines presupposes that argumentation plays a significant role within the disciplines. Whether one regards this presupposition as justified depends on how one conceives argument and how one relates it to other forms of reasoning such as explanation and theory construction. To be sure, inference, inference patterns, and implicature all play a role in the disciplines. But I have argued against any lingering tendency (from FDL) to equate these. Make the distinction and the assumption that argumentation has a significant role to play in the reasoning of the sciences, such as physics and biology, seems entirely problematic and at the very least in need of investigation. Problem 4 The Issue of the Derivation of Standards This problem first emerged in chapter 2 in our discussion of Hamblin. How are the standards, criteria, or principles for the evaluation of argument to be generated? By reflection? Reflection on what? By empirical research? Research into what? Both approaches have their adherents, both have their 11 Walton (1996) was released too late to be considered in detail. It certainly represents a significant contribution to the scholarly discussion of this issue.

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strengths and weaknesses. I have referred several times to the approach called dustbin empiricism and this evocative phrase suggests a very interesting research program that I comment on in chapter 12. Problem 5 The Relationship between Theory of Analysis and Theory of Appraisal There is a further crucial question for the theory of argument: Is there any way that we can keep the theory of analysis separate from the theory of appraisal? I have thought that the answer to this must be "yes," and I have criticized Hamblin for proceeding in the reverse direction. But this is not so clear and needs further work. Problem 6: The Issue of How to Compare Theories An interesting theoretical issue that has emerged at several junctures is how to compare two different approaches to the theory of argument: How to compare for example dialogical theories (that focus on the process) with theories that focus on the product. What sort of metatheoretical considerations will be necessary to guide the comparison? This issue seems an important one for the theory of argument. These six problems seem to me important ones that must be addressed by argumentation theorists. Conclusion In this chapter, I tried to accomplish three things. First, I attempted to show how some of the problems that emerged in chapter 7 might be dealt with. Second, I developed a research agenda for informal logic that was based on previous formulations and to which was added the problems that have accumulated in the course of this work. Third, I have presented a research agenda for the theory of argument. With the development of the agenda and attempt to dispatch dialectical obligations, the main work of the book is complete. In the next chapter, I want to summarize the argument of the book and look at its implication for future work. In chapter 4, the need for a theory of reasoning emerged. There, we brushed up against the problem of how to draw the distinction between implication, inference, and argument and we saw that it requires, for its solution, a perspective outside the theory of argument. A recurrent theme has been that the theory of argument ultimately requires completion by a theory of reasoning. That idea needs to be developed. I take up that issue in the next and final chapter.

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Chapter 12 Retrospect and Prospect In this book, I have been largely concerned with the theory of argument. In particular, I have been advocating an approach to argumentation that grows out of informal (rather than formal) logic. In the last chapter, I set forth my views concerning the agenda for both the theory of argument and for informal logic. In this chapter, I now want to ask this question: What is the best course of development for the theory of argument and informal logic? How can they best achieve solutions to the problems on their respective agendas? In the next section, I discuss lessons from the past that can help me chart the course of the future development of these inquiries. Then, I look at two suggestions about the course of development that I find particularly intriguing and I make my own suggestion about the best course of development. Finally, I discuss the significance of informal logic. The Gap between Theory and Practice: Some Reflections on Toulmin's Revolution In my mind, Toulmin (1958) had a clear read on the problems that beset the theory of argument. They stem from developments in logic in the 20th century in which logic became mathematicized: The ambition to cast logic into a mathematical form is as old as the subject itself. . . . Since the seventeenth century the subject has, if anything, tended to become more mathematical rather than less . . . (p. 177)

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. . . we must be careful before we allow any formal calculus to assume the title of "logic." There may be room to treat a limited range of problems mathematically in logic, as in physics; . . . Symbolic logic may accordingly claim to be a part of logicthough not so large a partas mathematical physics is of physics. But can it claim to be more? (p. 209) From what Toulmin said earlier, it is clear that it cannot: So far as formal logicians claim to say anything of relevance to arguments of other than analytic sorts, judgement must be pronounced against them: for the study of other types of argument fresh categories are needed, and current distinctionespecially the crude muddle commonly marked by the terms "deductive" and "inductive" must be set on one side. (p. 147) Clearly, then, a reordering is needed: If all were well (and clearly well) in philosophical logic, there would be no point in embarking on these investigations: our excuse lies in the conviction that a radical re-ordering of logical theory is needed in order to bring it more nearly into line with critical practice . . . (p. 253) Toulmin said "philosophical logic" but he really meant logic and, more likely, he meant something like the theory of argument. In effect, Toulmin called attention to the existence of a gap between theory and practice. His own work can be seen as one attempt to achieve the radical reordering needed to bring logical theory in line with practice.1 Toulmin's attempt at reordering has had a significant impact on thinking about arguments, but those effects have not yet been felt in Logical Theory.2 Toulmin's attempt to realign the two suffers from certain problems, however. I argue that Toulmin leaned too heavily on the side of theory and in his theory revision he was, malgré lui, wed to prior theory. I claim also that Toulmin did not pay sufficient attention to critical practice; he was not empirical enough. This is surprising because Toulmin believed he was basing his revision on practice: The question, "What sort of a science is logic?', leads us into an impasse: we cannot, accordingly, afford to get too involved with it at the very outset of our inquiries, but must put it on one side to be reconsidered later. . . . This 1 It is interesting that Toulmin assumes that the way to deal with the gap is to bring the theory in line with practice. I agree with him, but other prescriptions are not out of the question; namely, bring practice in line with theory. 2 David Hitchcock (1999) thinks Toulmin's idea of a warrant is "a major and valuable contribution to the understanding of the macrostructure of arguments . . . the most important contribution since Aristotle distinguished premises from conclusions."

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question is about about logical theory whereas the starting point of our studies will be logical practice. So let us begin by attempting to characterize the chief concepts we employ in logical practice. (p. 6) In a revealing passage, Toulmin wrote: In tackling our main problems about the assessment of arguments, it will be worthwhile clearing our minds of ideas derived from existing logical theory and seeing by direct inspection what are the categories in terms of which we actually express our assessment, and what precisely they mean to us. (pp. 67, emphasis added) There are two problems here. First, Toulmin thought we could clear our minds of the ideas derived from existing logical theory. Toulmin saw clearly enough that the old way of looking at arguments (as premises plus an inference to a conclusion) was inadequate and needed changing, and that is why he proposed a new model and a new layout. In spite of this, we shall find that Toulmin retained many elements of the geometrical model he sought to displace. For instance, in defining the notion of a field that is crucial for his position, Toulmin leaned very heavily on the notion of logical type.3 Other termsalso imported from the lexicon of the geometrical modelthat continue to loom large in Toulmin's scheme are "logical form," "logical possibility," and "validity.'' A second problematic aspect of Toulmin's approach is the idea that the appropriate categories can be obtained by direct inspection. Let me say something more about this point, which raises larger issues about how we are to go about revising our theories of argument. Descartes believed that by application of his methodical doubt, he would be able to erase all vestiges of the dubious ideas he had inherited, and that what remained would be the firm and indubitable foundation on which real science could be erected. There is reason to think that Descartes was mistaken. For example, he did not discard the distinction between formal and objective reality, to name but one. Nor did Descartes ever doubt that he knew what doubt is or what he knew of the meaning of the word "doubt."4 Descartes initiated a line of reasoning that has become common in philosophy since and that turns up again in Toulmin. It is the idea that we must start over and begin anew, and that we can do this by "clearing out minds of the ideas derived from existing theory." If the history of philosophy since 3 This was shown in chapter 10. 4 I am grateful to my mentor and former colleague, Dr. Harry A. Nielsen, Professor Emeritus, University of Windsor, for this pointand a great many other things, including introducing me to the work of Wittgenstein.

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Descartes demonstrates anything, it is how unlikely it is that anyone can pull this off. Any indexing of categories will owe some debt to existing (logical) theory. Thus, although Toulmin declared his intention to exclude terms like "logic," "logically necessary," "deductive," and "demonstrative"and was perhaps successful on that frontI have shown that terms such as ''logical form," "logical type," not to mention "argument," "premise," and "modal term" all continue to do heavy duty in Toulmin's scheme. These are all carryovers from the vocabulary of existing logical theory elements that Toulmin retainedmalgré lui. The lesson seems to be that the slate cannot just be wiped clean. At least Toulmin did not appear to have done so, even when we allow that his project is not necessarily to banish such terms altogether but rather to remove them from a substantive role in his theory. The lesson from modern philosophy, played out here, is that we will have to retain something of the tradition we wish to leave behind.5 If Toulmin was to retain some components of traditional vocabulary while casting out othersfor example, retain modal terms like "can" and cast out others, such as "premise," "deductive," and "validity," he needed to do two things, neither of which he did in any self-conscious fashion. First, he needed to acknowledge that this is in fact a reordering (as the text suggests) and not a wiping clean of the slate (as the text also suggests). Second, Toulmin should have had some policy to guide the process of selection, some way of answering the question of which elements of prior theory get selected for significant work in the new theory, which get pushed to the background, and which are to be eliminated altogetherelse the process appears rather ad hoc. Furthermore, the idea of a direct inspection to discover those categories that we do or should use in my theory is, whatever its appeal, fraught with difficulty. The one who carries out the inspection is looking for qualities that go into argument assessment. Now, either one has some exposure to the other (older) modelsif so, how does one keep that model from influencing the choices?or one does not, in which case, will the intuitions be helpful, enlightening, or worthy of being taken seriously? Toulmin was absolutely right to call attention to a gap between (logical) theory and practice. He attempted to bridge the gap by developing ab ovo a theory of argument.6 In this move, Toulmin came very close to the tantalizing idea that part of the problem lies in the conception of logic as an a 5 I attribute this insight to the pragmatic intervention, most particularly as it is evidenced in Peirce. 6 Not entirely ob ovo because Toulmin made the assumption that the gap can be bridged by substituting a jurisprudential model for the geometrical one.

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priori science; and that if the gap is to be closed, logic must shed its a prioristic skin and, as it were, become more empirical. It must "look and see" how things are.7 In a way, then, the problem is that Toulmin was not empirical enough. He retained, although without acknowledging it, large portions of traditional logical theory. As philosophical reflection has shown time and again, what there is to be seen is at least in part a function of what the conceptual frameworks, the theories, allow to be seen.8 Moreover, although his having adopted a jurisprudential model is certainly a move in the direction of a more empirically responsible theory, I argued in chapter 2 that there are problems with that model. From the failure of Toulmin's revolution, we can learn several important lessons. First, logic does need to become more empirical,9 but it cannot achieve this in the way that Toulmin thought. Toulmin failed precisely because he was not faithful to his own impulse; he leaned much too heavily on the geometrical tradition he claimed to be repudiating. More on what this might mean follows. Second, in revising our theories, it is simply not possible to make the Cartesian move of starting over. As the pragmatists, particularly Peirce, argued, we must make use of prior theory. And, when we go empirical, we must acknowledge the role of prior theory. What, then, is the alternative to starting over? How can better theories be devised? Much will depend on one's diagnosis of where the problems lie. Are the problems in the theory? If so, then the practices should be examined with a view to gaining insights into how to revise the theory. Are the problems rather in the practice that the theory seeks to illuminate? Then ways need to be found to bring the theory to bear on the practices. Regarding logic and the theory of argument, I have presented my own diagnosis: There exists a gap between theory and practice and, in this instance, the gap can only be bridged by significant alterations to the theory. In Part II of this book, I made clear what alterations I believe need to be made, both in the theory of analysis and the theory of appraisal. In Part III, I attempted to differentiate my approach from others. Most of the other theorists whose work I have discussed (Toulmin, Weinstein, van Eemeren and Grootendorst, Govier, and Walton) share the belief articulated by Govier (1987) that what is needed are better theories of argument. They disagreed on the shape of the required theory. When I think about future directions for argumentation theory and informal logic, there are at least several other suggestions I would like to take account of in the next section. 7 The reference here is to Toulmin's teacher, Wittgenstein. 8 Quine (1963). 9 Here one thinks of the work of contemporary logicians like Barth (1985), discussed later this chapter.

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Future Directions for the Theory of Argument If everyone agrees that we cannot, as it were, start over, and if everyone also agrees that our current theories need revision, then what alternatives await us? What are the prospects for informal logic and for the theory of argument? What course of development is the best to follow? We can, of course, continue on the present path, which might be described as a laissez faire approach: "Let a thousand flowers bloom." Argumentation theory has been approached from numerous disciplinary standpoints, and we have witnessed what might be thought of as the advent of various schools: the Pragma-dialectical school, informal logic, the discipline-specific approach, not to mention the many others that have only been briefly touched on here.10 We scholars are in a much better, more developed position today in the theory of argumentation than we were at mid-century. Still, a number of interesting programmatic proposals have been made that deserve at least brief consideration here. The first is Willard's proposal that argumentation should become a discipline. The second is Weinstein's contention that informal logic ally itself more closely to the disciplines. The third is the view that logic should become more empirical. The fourth is that dialectic should be revived. Argumentation as a Discipline One way in which argumentation theory might develop in the future is to redefine itself so as to take on the status of a discipline. This is the position that Willard developed. I can only comment on it briefly here. As I indicated in chapter 10, Willard approached argumentation mainly from the vantage point of the theory of communication that construes argumentation as a form of interaction that it seeks to understand. The counterpoint is the view of argument Willard associated with logic, where argument, so he thought, is understood primarily as a structure: a CRCa "claimsreasons" complex. Willard was out to broaden our view and that is largely what he attempted. He addressed the issue of what the best future for argumentation might be: . . . two different paths, might be taken: expansion or multiplication. The former involves expanding a single construct: Argument once meant "serial predication" but now also means "claiming and reasoning in general" and 10 For more complete coverage, the reader may wish to consult van Eemeren et al. (1996).

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"interaction" and so on, or shaping new elements to fit the single construct. The latter involves enlarging the sphere of relevance surrounding a construct, creating new or refined relevancies to other constructs, and in general redefining, or refining a discourse for describing a range of phenomena. (p. 205) Willard's own preference was for the multiplicationist route and it is in this context that Willard made his proposal that argumentation be construed as a discipline. He began with a full-scale treatment of the notion of a discipline. Yet it seems that Willard was less concerned with arguing for transforming argumentation into a discipline than he was with persuading his readers that "Argumentation should not attempt with the argument construct what informal logicians have attempted with the fallacy construct" (p. 256). This raises the issue of whether Williard's interpretation of informal logic passes muster. I do not think it does, but I cannot pursue that issue here. Willard did say, "As a social science, Argumentation studies the phenomena relevant to the empirical processes of argument, no matter how untidy and fuzzy the resultant package may be" (p. 256). But does this mean that if argumentation were to become a discipline, it would take on the form of a social science rather than, say, a formal science? Willard's proposal is in line with Toulmin's incipient awareness of the need for logic to become more empirical, but if Willard was suggesting that logic can completely abandon its formal character (remembering the various senses of the term "formal''), then I think his proposal will fail, and for many of the same reasons that Toulmin's fails. Still, the suggestion that argumentation might take on the status of a discipline is an interesting one. In some respects, the study of argumentation can be compared to women's studies (or, as I prefer to say, gender studies). In this case, a particular topic (womengender) that was of interest to a great many disciplines (philosophy, sociology, psychology, religious studies, literary theory) has gradually taken on the status of a discipline so that there are now departments and journals devoted to women's studies, men's studies, and gender studies. The same future might well be a possibility for argumentation. One would want to weigh the pros and con of such a course of development, but that discussion is for another time and place. Informal Logic Tied to the Disciplines An alternative picture of the future of argumentation theory and informal logic is that presented by Weinstein (1990), according to which informal logic is the general study of warrantsa study that must be carried out not

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from the philosopher's perch on the tree of knowledge but rather from the earth on the grounds of disciplinary methodology. That is, things are far from becoming a discipline in the way that Willard seemed to suggest. Weinstein seemed to want the future of informal logic and the theory of argument to become enmeshed with the specific disciplines. Informal logicians must come down off their a prioristic high horses and get down and dirty with those who are actually engaged in argumentation and reasoning in the pursuit of human knowledge. Because I already dedicated a fair amount of space to Weinstein's proposal in chapter 11, I say nothing more about it here. Logic Should Become More Empirical In line with Weinstein's suggestion but potentially moving off in a different direction is the notion, which also derives from Toulmin (1958), that logic should become more empirical. I want to explore a little further what exactly this might mean. For Toulmin, it meant setting aside the traditional theory that emphasized logic as an a priori science seeking eternal and necessary truths and coming closer to seeing logic as an inquiry into argumentation as a real-world practice. For Weinstein, following Toulmin, it meant that logic should abandon its interest in developing aseptic, a priori principles based on arm-chair speculation and, rather, attach itself to the special disciplines. Finocchiaro (1992) defined empirical logic as, "the empirical study of reasoning. To be more exact, I mean the attempt to formulate, to test, to clarify and to systematize concepts and principles for the interpretation, the evaluation and the sound practice of reasoning" (p. 22). This definition is identical to the definition Finocchiaro (1984) offered of the theory of reasoning and, as he pointed out, so construed that it has affinity with "a number of recent movements and proposals that go under such names as informal logic, probative logic, natural logic, ordinary logic and naturalized logic" (p. 22). In the next section, and in the spirit of Finocchiaro's proposal, I develop my own recipe for the future of logic and the theory of argument. Last, but perhaps most worthy of mention, is Barth's proposal. Barth suggested empirical approaches to logic as early as 1985, in which "no attempt will be made here to stipulate a definition of "empirical logic" (p. 15). What is clear is that Barth saw empirical logic as an alternative to philosophical logic that, in her view, has been dominated by rationalistic impulses and too far removed from the "Lifeworld." She offered the notion of a dialectical field11 and said that "empirical logic needs empirical meth11 For a fuller treatment of this, see Johnson (1993).

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ods," by which she meant, "inquiry and interview methods taken from the social sciences" and "methods of synchronic historical analysis." To some degree, Finocchiaro (1980) already began this inquiry. One final project that might be undertaken in connection with empirical logic is what I have referred to as "dustbin empiricism." The project might proceed like this: Identify a number of arguments that one believes (on intuitive grounds) are good arguments. Ask what qualities these arguments display. See what emerges at the end of this process. This might be said to be an empirical approach to the question of how to generate standards for the evaluation of argument. In doing this, however, one must be cognizant of the role of prior theory that will undoubtedly make its presence felt in the intuitions used to identify good arguments. So far as I know, this project has never been carried out, although Perkins (1983) undertook a project similar to this. Revive Dialectic One final suggestion for a future course of development emerges from reflection on the traditional Aristotelian triad: logic, dialectic, and rhetoric. Both logic and rhetoric have, in the latter part of the 20th century, been revitalized. I am thinking here most especially but not exclusively of informal logic and of the new rhetoric. Hamblin showed how dialectic might be revised but that suggestion seems now to have moved in the direction of dialogue logic. Dialectic has, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. Perhaps it needs to be revived.12 Each of these proposals for the future of our study has merit. However, the course that I propose is different from any, and yet, I think, compatible with each of them. The Theory of Reasoning In this book, I have sought chiefly to accomplish three things. First, I attempted to give better shape and definition to the theory of argument. Second, I wanted to make clear the nature of informal logic, how it approaches the theory of argument, and what it has to offer. Third, from within the scope of logic, I have argued for a pragmatic approach to argument, one that emphasizes arguments as occurrences within the practice of argumentation. I have argued for changes in how the very nature of argument is 12 Hansen (personal communication) saw this as a fruitful route. See also Walton and Brinton (1997).

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understood and I have also argued for changes in the approach to evaluation and criticism of arguments. In working toward these tasks, I have often had occasion to point to the need for a theory of reasoning and have claimed that a theory of argument can only go so far before it encounters questions that, although pertinent to the inquiry, lie beyond its scope. Thus, one of the significant conclusions that emerges from this book is that the theory of argument requires supplementation by the theory of reasoning. While dealing with issues in the theory of argument, we have repeatedly run into questions and problems that outrun that theory and require solution from the perspective of a higherlevel theory: the theory of reasoning. In the section that follows, I collect those various references together so that we can see what they indicate for the theory of reasoning. In chapter 6, when I discussed the history of argumentation, I wrote: In sum, although I agree with Finocchiaro about the usefulness of studying reasoning and argumentation empirically; that is, historically; the way in which the empirical and conceptual strands come together here presents the investigator with considerable challenges. Such challenges are the material with which a theory of reasoning must reckon, and it is one of the contentions of this book that just such a theory is needed. Indeed, my belief (for which I later provide some reasoning) is that a theory of argument requires supplementation by a theory of reasoning. These were the problems that I encountered that seem to require the intervention of the theory of reasoning. The Network Problem In the Introduction, the need for a theory of reasoning emerged when we encountered what I call The Network Problem. This problem derives from the fact that the term "reasoning" belongs to a network of terms; in fact, to two such networks. It seems that if we want to be clear about what argument is, we must see it in relationship to other aspects of our cognitive lives to which it bears close relationship: thinking, intelligence, rationality, and reasoning. When we were discussing the relationship between epistemology and informal logic, we encountered the question of the relationship between knowledge and argumentanother dimension of The Network Problem. In my view, one function of the theory of reasoning is to answer such questions. It also seems clear that the theory of reasoning can also contribute much to such questions as how critical thinking relates to problem solving and how these, in turn, relate to metacognition and informal logic. Thus in my view, the future of the theory of argument, in no small measure, depends

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on developing appropriate solutions to The Network Problem. That is a job for the theory of reasoning. Adequacy Conditions for a Theory of Argument In chapter 2, I asked the question: "What are the adequacy conditions that the theory of argument must meet?" I answered that question there to the best of my ability, but this question seems more appropriately raised within the context of the theory of reasoning, where a fuller understanding of argument as distinguished from and related to its cognates can be had. The Distinction Between Reasoning and Argument In chapter 3, during discussion of reconstructive deductivism, the issue arose as to whether reasoning that occurs in, for example, physics is properly construed as argument. I think the answer to this question depends not only on how one understands "argument" but also how one understands other forms of reasoning in their relationship to argument. Hence, this question also seems to be one whose solution must await developments within the theory of reasoning. The Distinction Between Inference, Implication, and Argument In chapter 4, when I was discussing spectrum theory, the importance of the distinction between implication, inference, and argument came to the fore. In my opinion, this distinction is crucial to a properly developed theory of argument and it outruns the theory of argument. This issue is clearly related to The Network Problem (Second Form) and, hence, one of the chief tasks for the theory of reasoning. Also, the distinction between argument and explanation emerged as yet another item for the theory of reasoning. In chapter 5, in discussing the development of informal logic, the need for a distinction between argument and inference emerged again. In the critique of current definitions of argument in chapter 6, I confronted the issue of distinguishing argument from inference, implication, and other forms of reasoning. The Nature of Reasoning When I was discussing Walton's (1990b) views about argument and reasoning in chapter 6, the issue of how to understand and define reasoning arose yet again. I argued there that Walton was committed to an inferentialist account, although it is far from evident that such an account is warranted. In any event, it raised the question yet again: "What is reasoning?" This question seems to be a central one and forms the core of a theory of

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reasoning. In chapter 4, I had occasion to discuss Walton's views about reasoning. In chapter 9, where I discussed the peremptory objection to informal logic, and particularly Hintikka's formulation of it, there was evidence that Hintikka also took an inferentialist view of reasoning. The issue of the nature of reasoning came up again in the discussion of McPeck's position that informal logic is really rhetoric. Conclusion If we are looking to the future of argumentation as a practice and specifically to the theory of argument as an area of inquiry, the conclusion I come to is that a better theory of argument must await further developments in the theory of reasoning. Specifically, two things are needed. First, we need a clearer understanding of the nature of reasoning. What is reasoning and how is it most profitably understood? Second, we need a better grasp of the relationship between reasoning and other forms of cognition such as argument, implication, inference, and so forth. I argued that one of the things that has impeded the development of the theory of argument and informal logic both has been the failure to be clear on the differences between argument, implication, and inference. Again, it is clear that progress in the theory of argument (particularly on the conceptual front) will be hampered until we come up with a solution to The Network Problem (here I am thinking mainly of the second form of The Network Problem). The Significance of Informal Logic I come now to discuss the significance of informal logic and do so under two headings: first, the relationship between theory and practice; second, the traditional distinction between syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Before that, however, I would like to review briefly what Scriven said on this issue. Scriven On the Significance of Informal Logic Scriven (1980) discussed the philosophical and pedagogical significance of informal logic. I am here mainly concerned with his view of the former. For Scriven, informal logic was significant because it represented an alternative to formal logic, "To begin with, the emergence of informal logic marks the end of the reign of formal logic. Not by any means the end of the subject, just its relegation to its proper place in the academic zoo" (p. 147). Informal logic was significant to Scriven because "it represents a turning back to the proper task of philosophy in general and logic in particular, namely the study of argument" (p. 149). Here Scriven and I are in agreement, at least verbally. (I say this because I suspect we have some differences in how we understand the term "argument".) But shortly after, Scriven asked:

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Is it not indicative of the absurdity of standard philosophy that the informal logic movement should find much of its opposition amongst the ordinary-language establishment? They came to adopt formal logic, perhaps because they were taught it, without so to speak looking at it, without noticing that it is the enemy. (pp. 148149) It seems that Scriven saw informal logic and formal logic as adversarial. Although this view accurately represents the views of many at the time Scriven delivered this peroration, few continue to see the two as adversarial. Rather, most now see them as complementary. Theory and Practice Dewey on Theory and Practice Dewey (1966) offered us some interesting thoughts about methods of philosophizing. In the present context, this is important because I have noticed a gap between logic as the theory of argument and practice, and Dewey's reflections, although not specifically targeting this gap, can perhaps help me make sense of it. Dewey wrote, "The charge that is brought against the non-empirical method of philosophizing is not that it depends on theorizing, but that it fails to use refined, secondary products as a path pointing and leading back to something in primary experience" (p. 169). Applied to logic, I would say that prior theories of logic, particularly those stemming from FDL, did not use their secondary products (the concepts of logical theory) to explore the world of primary experience (the practice of arguers). Dewey said: The objects of reflection in philosophy being reached by methods that seem to those who employ them rationally mandatory are to be "real" in and of themselvesand supremely real. Then it becomes an insoluble problem why the things of gross, primary experience, should be what they are, or indeed why they should be at all. (p. 169) Dewey thus proposed a test for the value of any philosophy: Does it end in conclusions which when referred back to ordinary-life experience and their predicaments, render them more significant, more luminous to us, and make our dealing with them more fruitful? Or does it terminate in rendering the things of ordinary experience more opaque than they were before? . . . and are philosophic concepts left to dwell in separation in some technical realm of their own? (p. 170) The separation I am concerned with is what I called the gap. Certainly, logic in the 20th century has become increasingly more technical, increasingly remote from the things of ordinary experience (and sometimes one suspects

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logic glories in this separation). I do not say this to demean in any way those rarified objects of reflection that have emerged in the development of logic in the 20th century.13 One way of understanding the significance of informal logic is that it can be seen as an attempt to meet Dewey's test, by developing a theory more applicable to the ordinary life experience and that sought to illuminate rather than deprecate that realm, "The serious matter is that philosophies have denied that common experience is capable of developing from within itself methods which will secure direction for itself and will create inherent standards of judgement and value" (p. 170). Here, Dewey seemed to suggest that we could generate, from within our experience of argumentation and reflection on it, the necessary standards and values for its appraisal. In some ways, this might be said to be an empirical approach. Informal logic may be seen as one attempt, admittedly imperfect, to pursue this direction. On the Relationship between Theory and Practice For reasons that I discussed in chapter 4, there developed a gap between theory (logic) and practice (the best practices). To some degree, the recent development of informal logic represents not only a noticing of this gap but also one way of attempting to bridge it. Instead of attempting to force the practices of arguers into a theory that was not devised with those practices in mind, informal logic may be seen as an attempt to work the opposite direction: to modify or develop theory out of insights into the practices. In other words, the real significance of informal logic can best be understood against Massey's (1981) claim about the relationship between theory and practice. Recall that Massey claimed that "textbooks are parasitic on journals and scholarly tomes, and properly so. Cut off from their natural source of nourishment, textbooks are likely to suffer from conceptual malnutrition" (p. 490). I take this to be, in fact, the standard view of the relationship between theory and practice. The theory is developed in scholarly tomes and journals and from there it trickles down to the textbooks. Woods (1992) represented this standpoint when he said, "Get the theory right first, then take care (if you know how) of instructional routines" (p. 44). As we have seen, formal deductive logic in this century developed in close proximitynot to the practice of argumentation but rather to certain issues in the foundations of mathematics and logic. Logic was the theory; it was what scholars wrote about in their scholarly tomes (such as Principia Mathematica) and journal articles. It is what later became incorporated in textbooks: see Stebbing (1931), Quine (1940), and Church (1956). 13 I do think that Dewey may well be right in saying, "I cannot calculate how much of current cynicism, indifference and pessimism is due to these causes in the deflection of intelligence they have brought about" (p. 171).

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The question how this theory becomes a theory of argument is an interesting one that I can only speculate on briefly. I believe a crucial factor was the emerging tendency to view argument, inference, and implication as more or less identical. Now, because logic provides us with a theory of implication, because logic provides a normative account of implication and because implication is (so the thinking runs) at the core of argument, it will follow that logic is for all intents and purposes a theory of argument (even though it was never devised for that purpose). It is at this point that informal logic enters the scene. What it notices almost immediately is that the instances of argument featured by FDL are at best remote cousins to the real life arguments that people encounter in their day-to-day lives. The second thing that informal logic notices is how difficult it is to apply the techniques of FDL to an ordinary or mundane argument. The third thing is that once such an application has been made, the result tends to be unilluminating. That is, one decides that the argument as it stands is invalid or one can reconstruct it as valid. But then the missing premises become questionable. (All this was discussed in chapter 3.) For these reasons, informal logic drew the conclusion that FDL is not an adequate theory of argument. With one eye riveted on argumentative practices, informal logic began the process of attempting to develop a better theory. In this way, informal logic illustrates a pattern of development that is the very reverse of that proposed by both Massey and Woods. In informal logic, the theory develops out of the practice. The significance of informal logic lies, in part, in its attempt to bridge the gap from the side of practice rather than theory; to build theory out of practice. But we informal logicians were hamstrung in our efforts by having adopted the ways of our forbears, as Weinstein astutely observed. Many informal logicians rejected the theory of evaluation (the ideal of soundness) while retaining large portions of the theory of analysis: the idea of premise, conclusion structure, the idea of inference as a link between premise and conclusion (the P + I conception) and the notion of missing premise. Moreover, we retained the idea that logic is more concerned with evaluation than criticism, that argument is essentially inference from premise to conclusion, and that we could achieve the reordering by entering more from the side of theory than critical practice. In short, like Toulmin, we, too, underestimated the degree to which our project was beholden to prior logical theory. Syntax, Semantic, and Pragmatics A second lens through which to view the development of informal logic is through the traditional distinction, due to Morris, of semiotics into semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. Here, syntax is taken as the study of language in a formal and structural mode and symbols and their relationship to each

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other. Semantics is taken as the study of language that seeks to provide an interpretation and extra-linguistic meaning for those symbols. Pragmatics is taken to be the study of symbols in relationship to the users of those symbols. In the 20th century, logic began with issues that were largely syntactical: the question of whether or not, for example, mathematics is reducible to logicthe classic logicist thesisis, in large measure, part of a syntactical issue. The attempts to develop various forms of logistic systems and questions of consistency completeness and independence of axiom systemsthese are all syntactical. A great deal of wind was taken out of these sails by the Gödel Incompleteness Theorem (1931) and about this time, the beginning of a perceptible shift occurs in logical theory in the direction of semantics. Perhaps the most significant development here was the completeness theorem for modal logics developed by Kripke (1959). However, in the last few decades, the focus appears to have shifted yet againthis time in the direction of pragmatics where attention must be paid not only to the symbol and its meanings but also to its relationship to its users, to notions like context. Scriven (1980) made this very point in his assessment of the informal logic movement. He said, "It has long been obvious that the concept of explanation, in science or elsewhere, is neither syntactic nor semantic but essentially pragmatic (to use a traditional set of terms that are themselves somewhat contaminated by formalism)" (p.150). Thus, for example, the question of how to provide missing premises is a pragmatic issue. Likewise, the whole notion of a dialectical tier outruns (I believe) any attempt at syntactical or semantical analysis and lands squarely in the territory of pragmatics. I have frequently used the term "pragmatic" to characterize my own approach to informal logic, and others have also (Walton, 1990b). Thus, informal logic is significant because it exemplifies the most recent stage in the ongoing development of logic in this century. Conclusion Against Toulmin's proposal to start over, I find myself attracted to the views of the pragmatists, whose position is that there is such a close connection between concepts and percepts that the idea of direction inspection of the given, unaided by any conceptualization, makes little sense. Following Neurath's (1973) metaphor, a latter-day pragmatist might say that even if the judgment is that the ship has sprung a leak, the ship cannot be picked up out of the water for repairs. What must be done is repairs, plank by plank if necessary, while the journey continues. In making those repairs, how to proceed? In another context, Quine (1963) said, "Each man is given a scientific heritage plus a continuing barrage of

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sensory stimulation; and the considerations which guide him in warping his scientific heritage to fit the continuing sensory promptings are, where rational, pragmatic'' (p. 46). In the present context, I propose the following adaptation of Quine's formulation: Each logical theorist is given a logical heritage plus a continuing barrage of phenomena (in the form of critical practice). The considerations that guide him in warping his logical heritage to fit the continuing barrage of data (or vice versa) are, where rational, pragmatic. In this work, I have sought to show that informal logic, not as historically constituted but as reconstructed in ways I have indicated, can provide many of the planks needed to rebuild the ship that will take us to the destination Govier announced more than 10 years agoa better theory of argument.

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Martinich, A. P. (1996). The philosophy of language (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Massey, G. (1981). The fallacy behind fallacies. Midwest Studies of Philosophy, 6, 489500. Maxwell, W. (Ed.). (1982). Thinking: The expanding frontier. Philadelphia: The Franklin Press. McPeck, J. (1981). Critical thinking and education. New York: St. Martin's Press. McPeck, J. (1985). Paul's critique of Critical Thinking and Education. Informal Logic, 7, 4554. Meiland, J. (1980). College thinking: How to get the best out of College. New York: MentorThe New American Library. Menssen, S. (1993). Do men and women use different logics? A reply to Carol Gilligan and Deborah Orr. Informal Logic, 14, 123138. Moore, B. N., & Parker, R. (1992). Critical thinking (3rd ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Moore, G. E. (1956). Principia ethica. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Morris, C. W. (1938). Foundations of the theory of signs. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Naess, A. (1966). Communication and argument: Elements of applied semantics (A. Hannay, Trans.). Oslo: Allen & Unwin. Neurath, O. (1973). Empiricism and sociology. In M. Neurath & R. S. Cohen (Eds.), Vienna circle collection (Vol. 1). Dordrecht: Reidel. Nickerson, R. S. (1986). Reflections on reasoning. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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Nickerson, R. S., Perkins, D. N., & Smith, E. (1985). The teaching of thinking. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Nietzsche, F. (1976). Twilight of the idols. In W. Kaufmann (Ed.), The portable Nietzsche (pp. 463563). New York: Penguin Books. Nietzsche, F. (1969). Ecce Homo (W. Kaufmann, Ed. & Trans.). New York: Vintage Books. Nisbett, R., & Ross, L. (1980). Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgement. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Nosich, G. (1982). Reasons and arguments. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Nye, A. (1990). Words of power: A feminist reading of the history of logic. New York: Routledge. Orr, D. (1989). Just the facts, ma'am. Windsor, ON: Informal Logic. O'Keefe, B. (1988). The logic of message design: Evidence for individual differences in reasoning about communication. Communication in Monographs, 55, 80103. O'Keefe, D. (1977). Two concepts of argument. Journal of the American Forensic Association, 13, 121128. O'Keefe, D. (1982). Two concepts of argument and arguing. In J. R. Cox & C. A. Willard (Eds.), Advances in argumentation theory and research (pp. 323). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Paul, R. (1985). (1985). McPeck's mistakes. Informal Logic, 7, 3543. Peirce, C. S. (1955). The fixation of belief. In M. H. Fisch (Ed.), Classic American philosophers (pp. 5470). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Perelman, C., & Tyteca, L. O. (1969). The new rhetoric: A treatise on argumentation (J. Wilkinson & P. Weaver, Trans.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. (Original work published 1958) Perkins, D., Allen, R., & Haffner, J. (1983). Difficulties in everyday reasoning. In W. Maxwell (Ed.), Thinking: An interdisciplinary report (pp. 177190). Philadelphia: The Franklin Institute Press. Pinto, R. C. (1994). Logic, epistemology and argument appraisal. In R. H. Johnson & J. A. Blair (Eds.), New essays in informal logic (pp. 116124). Windsor, ON: Informal Logic. Postman, N. (1979). Teaching as a conserving activity. New York: Delacorte Press. Prior, A. N. (1962). Formal logic. Oxford, UK: Clarendon. Quine, W. V. O. (1940). Mathematical logic. New York: Harper & Row. Quine, W. V. O. (1944). Introduction to mathematical logic. New York: Harper. Quine, W. V. O. (1952). Methods of logic. London: Routledge & Keegan Paul. Quine, W. V. O. (Ed.). (1963). Two dogmas of empiricism. From a logical point of view. New York: Harper Torchbooks. Rawls, J. (1993). Political liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.

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Resnick, L. (1987). Education and learning to think. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Rescher, N. (1976). Plausible reasoning: An introduction to the theory and practice of plausible inference. Assen: Van Gorcum. Rescher, N. (1977). Dialectics: A controversy-oriented approach to the theory of knowledge. Albany: State University of New York Press. Revlin, R., & Mayer, R. E. (1978). Human reasoning. Washington DC: V. H. Winston. Rowland, R. (1987). On defining argument. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 20, 140159. Russell, B. (1969). Our knowledge of the external world. New York: Mentor Books. Russell, B. (1956). The philosophy of logical atomism. In R. Marsh (Ed.), Logic and knowledge: Essays 19011950 (pp. 175281). London: G. Allen & Unwin. Russell, B., & Whitehead, A. N. (1962). Principia mathematica. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Ryle, G. (1954). Dilemmas. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Schwarz, S. (1994). Fundamentals of reasoning. New York: Macmillan. Scriven, M. (1976). Reasoning. New York: McGraw-Hill. Scriven, M. (1980). The philosophical significance of informal logic. In J. A. Blair & R. H. Johnson (Eds.), Informal logic: The first international symposium (pp. 147160). Inverness, CA: Edgepress.

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Scriven, M. (1987). Probative logic. In F. H. van Eemeren, R. Grootendorst, J. A. Blair, & C. Willard (Eds.), Argumentation: Across the lines of discipline (pp. 732). Dordrecht: Foris. Scriven, M. (1991). Evaluation thesaurus (4th ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Searle, J. R. (1970). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Seech, Z. (1987). Logic in everyday life: Practical reasoning skills. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Seech, Z. (1992). Logic in everyday life: Practical reasoning skills (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Siegel, H. (1988). Educating reason: Rationality, critical thinking and education. New York: Routledge. Snoeck Henkemans, A. F. (1992). Analyzing complex argumentation. Amsterdam: Sic Sat. Solomon, R. (1989). Introducing philosophy. New York: Harcourt Brace. Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1986). Relevance: Communication and cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Starkey, J. (1989, February). The defense of academic freedom is not a defense of the substance of any academic stance. Forum, 6, p. 2. Toronto: OCUFA. Stebbing, L. S. (1961). A modern introduction to logic. New York: Harper & Row. Stove, D. (1970). Deductivism. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 48, 7698. Tarski, A. (1944). The semantic conception of truth and the foundations of semantic. Philosophy & Phenomenological Research, 4, 341376. Thomas, S. N. (1973). Practical reasoning in natural language. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Toulmin, S. E. (1958). The uses of argument. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Toulmin, S. E., Reike, R., & Janik, A. (1979). An introduction to reasoning. New York: Macmillan. Toulmin, S. E., Reike, R., & Janik, A. (1984). An introduction to reasoning (2nd ed.). New York: Macmillan. Tindale, C. (1994). Contextual relevance in argumentation. In R. H. Johnson & J. A. Blair (Eds.), New essays in informal logic (pp. 6781). Windsor, ON: Informal Logic. Tully, R. (1995). Informal logic. In T. Honderich (Ed.), The Oxford companion to philosophy (p. 500). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Vincent, C. (1994, March 15). Nit picker, Rose dial the wrong number. Detroit Free Press, C1. Vorobej, M. (1994). The TRUE test of lingake. Informal Logic, 16, 147158. Voss, J. F., Perkins, D., & Segal, J. (Eds.). (1991). Informal reasoning and education. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Walton, D. N. (1982). Topical relevance in argumentation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

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Walton, D. N. (1984). Logical dialogue games and fallacies. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Walton, D. N. (1985a). Arguer's position: A pragmatic study of 'ad hominem' attack, criticism, refutation and fallacy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Walton, D. N. (1985b). New directions in the logic of dialogue. Synthese, 63, 259274. Walton, D. N. (1987). Informal fallacies: Towards a theory of argument criticisms. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Walton, D. N. (1989a). Informal logic: A handbook for critical argumentation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Walton, D. N. (1989b). Questionreply argumentation. New York: Greenwood Press. Walton, D. N. (1990a). Practical reasoning: Goal-driven, knowledge-based, action-guiding argumentation. Savage, MD: Rowan & Littlefield. Walton, D. N. (1990b). What is Reasoning? What is an Argument? The Journal of Philosophy, 87, 399419. Walton, D. N. (1992a). Plausible argument in everyday conversation. Albany: State University of New York Press. Walton, D. N. (1992b). The place of emotion in argument. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. Walton, D. N. (1995). Informal logic. In R. Audi (Ed.), Cambridge dictionary of philosophy (p. 76). New York: Cambridge University Press.

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Walton, D. N. (1996). Argument structure: A pragmatic theory. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Walton, D. N., & Brinton, A. (Eds.). (1997). Historical foundations of informal logic. Aldershot, England: Ashgate. Walton, D. N., & Krabbe, E. C. W. (1995). Commitment in dialogue. Albany: State University of New York Press. Wason, P. C. (1972). Psychology of reasoning: Structure and content. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Weinstein, M. (1990). Towards a research agenda for informal logic and critical thinking. Informal Logic, 12, 121143. Weinstein, M. (1993). Critical thinking and one-night stands: A reply to Scriven. CT News, 11, 13, 5. Weinstein, M. (1994). Informal logic and applied epistemology. In R. H. Johnson & J. A. Blair (Eds.), New essays in informal logic (pp. 140161). Windsor, ON: Informal Logic. Wellman, C. (1971). Challenge and response: Justification in ethics. Carbondale, IL: University of Illinois Press. Wenzel, J. (1987). The rhetorical perspective on argument: Exploring a paradigm. Argumentation, 1, 7388. Wenzel, J. (1998). The rhetoric of argument: A rejoinder. In H. V. Hansen, C. W. Tindale, & A. Colman (Eds.), Argumentation & Rhetoric [CD-Rom]. St. Catharines: OSSA. Will, G. (1994, February 14). McKinnon leads assault on free speech. Detroit Free Press, A9. Willard, C. (1983). Argumentation and the social grounds of knowledge. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. Willard, C. (1989). A theory of argumentation. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. Wittgenstein, L. (1922). Tractatus logico-philosophicus (D. F. Pears & B. F. McGuinness, Trans.). London: Routledge & Keegan Paul. Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical investigations (G. E. M. Amscombe, Trans.). New York: Macmillan. Wittgenstein, L. (1960). The blue and brown books. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell. Wittgenstein, L. (1961). Notebooks 19141916 (G. H. von Wright & G. E. M. Anscombe, Eds.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Wittenstein, L. (1964). Remarks on the foundations of mathematics (G. H. von Wright, R. Rhees, & G. E. M. Anscombe, Eds.; G. E. M. Anscombe, Trans.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Woods, J. (1980). What is informal logic? In J. A. Blair & R. H. Johnson (Eds.), Informal logic: The First International Symposium (pp. 5758). Point Reyes, CA: Edgepress. Woods, J. (1992). Who cares about the fallacies? In F. H. van Eemeren, R. Grootendorst, J. A. Blair, & C. Willard (Eds.), Argumentation illuminated (pp. 2348). Amsterdam: Sic Sat. Woods, J. (1994). Sunny prospects for relevance? In R. H. Johnson & J. A. Blair (Eds.), New essays in informal logic (pp. 8292). Windsor, ON: Informal Logic. Woods, J. (1995). Fearful symmetry. In H. V. Hansen & R. Pinto (Eds.), Fallacies, Classical and contemporary readings (pp. 181193). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. Woods, J., & Walton, D. N. (1989). Fallacies: Selected papers 197282. Dordrecht: Foris.

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Wreen, M. (1988a). Admit no force but argument. Informal Logic, 10, 8995. Wreen, M. (1988b). May the force be with you. Argumentation, 2, 425440. Yanal, R. J. (1991). Dependent and independent reasons. Informal Logic, 13, 137144. Yates, S. (1994, February). [Letter to the editor]. The Atlantic Monthly, pp. 8, 10.

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AUTHOR INDEX A Adler, J., 158n., 229 Allen, D., 38, 139, 171, 339, 340, 342n Anderson, A. R., 58, 111n Anscombre, J. C., 30 Ayer, A. J., 29, 329n Ayim, M., 285 B Barry, V., 137n, 146 Barth, E. M., 23, 30, 103, 105, 119, 120, 140, 143, 183, 259, 275, 291, 358n, 361 Bartley, W.W., 74n Beardsley, M., 128, 129 Belnap, N., 58, 63n Bennett, J., 12n Berg, J., 261, 315 Binkley, R., 161n, 241n, 280n Biro, J., 13, 191n, 271, 272-276 Black, M., 113, 114 Blair, J. A., 30, 47n, 113, 115, 118, 119, 119n, 124, 129, 131, 137, 137n, 139, 141, 148, 150, 165, 170, 171n, 189, 192, 196, 197, 199, 200, 202, 203, 237n, 239, 240n, 241, 263, 264, 268, 314n, 343, 345-347n Bochenski, J. M, 152n Bowles, G., 200, 202n Brinton, A., 112, 145, 362n C Carney, J., 117 file:///D:/=FIX/=CREATE%20PDFs%201=/Johnson,...LEA%202000)%200805821732/files/page_381.html (1 of 2) [5/30/2009 7:59:13 PM]

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Cederblom, J., 146 Church, A., 29, 239 Cohen, L. J., 192n Conway, D., 129n Copi, I., 113, 119, 146, 172, 240 Covey, P., 63n Cox, J. R., 30, 150n Cresswell, M. J., 111n D Damasio, A., 18n Damer, T. E., 137n Davidson, D., 116n Dewey, J., 366, 367, 367n Ducrot, O., 30 E van Eemeren, F. H., 1n, 30, 47n, 50n, 134n, 143, 144n, 176, 224, 237, 244, 290, 309-320, 355 Ehninger, D., 320 Ennis, R., 133 Evans, G. 164 F Finocchiaro, M. 42, 43, 95, 153, 219n, 222n, 361, 362 Fisher, A., 130, 131, 144n Flew, A., 225n Fogelin, R. J., 117, 124, 137, 224, 239 Foss, K. A., 268n Foss, S. K., 268n

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Freeman, J., 128, 130, 134, 137n, 141, 240, 340 Frege, G., 104n G Gilbert, M., 31, 32, 35, 38, 42-46, 57, 174, 189, 210, 344 Goldman, A., 252, 252n, 253 Govier, T., 26n, 36n, 37, 38, 41-44, 59-70, 74n, 81-88, 92, 120, 121, 125, 126, 127n, 133, 137n, 141, 147, 147n, 171, 189, 261, 262, 265, 267n, 279, 295, 295n, 315n, 328n, 332, 346, 358, Grice, H. P., 27, 98, 134, 199 Grize, J., 30 Groarke, L. 70-77, 78n, 137n, 240 Grootendorst, R., 1n, 30, 47n, 50n, 134n, 143, 144n, 176, 224, 237, 244, 290, 309-320, 355 Grunbaum, A., 59n H Habermas, J., 1, 4, 14, 155, 161n Hamblin, C. L., 29, 32, 41, 51-53, 98-102, 132, 148, 182-189, 192, 340 Hansen, H. V., 127, 132, 190n, 345, 362n Harman, G., 97, 256 Harrah, D., 290 Himmelfarb, G., 54 Hinderer, C., 146 Hintikka, J., 11n, 139, 255-259, 291 Hitchcock, D., 134, 189, 333, 344n, 355n Hofstadter, R., 17 Honderich, T., 148 Hughes, G., 111n J Jackson, S., 320

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Jacobs, S., 320 Johnson, R. H., 26n, 30, 35, 47n, 113, 115, 118, 119, 119n, 122n, 124, 129, 131, 137, 137n, 139, 141, 148, 154, 156, 167n, 170, 171n, 182n, 189, 192, 197, 227, 237n, 239, 240, 240n, 241, 241n, 253n, 254, 263, 268, 297, 314n, 315, 333, 336, 345, 346, 347n Johnson-Laird, P. N., 30 Johnstone, Jr., H.W., 221, 227, 236n, 328, 329, 332 Joseph, H. W. B., 112 K Kahane, H., 3, 4, 114, 123, 135, 240 Kalish, D., 123 Kasachkoff, T., 261 Kerrigan, W., 127 Kevles, D., 346 Kiel, F., 168n Kienpointner, M., 134n Kierkegaard, S., 18n Kingwell, M., 16 Kneale, M., 152n Kneale, W. C., 152n Krabbe, E. C. W., 119, 120, 140, 143, 259 Kripke, S., 369 Kruiger, T., 134n Kuhn, D., 30, 348 Kuhn, T., 171 L Langford, C. H., 111n Lasch, C., 24 Lazerowitz, M., 329n Lee, M., 221n Leo, J., 34 file:///D:/=FIX/=CREATE%20PDFs%201=/Johnson,...LEA%202000)%200805821732/files/page_382.html (2 of 3) [5/30/2009 7:59:14 PM]

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Lewis, C. I., 111n Lichter, S. R., 119 Lichter, L. S., 119 Little, J. F., 137n, 240 Lorenzen, P., 291

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M Martens, J. L., 30 Massey, G., 58, 63n, 116, 253, 254, 367 MacIntyre, A., 12, 155 MacKay, T., 254 Martinich, A., 116n, 329 Mayer, R. E., 96 McPeck, J., 30, 263-268, 271, 296-301, 302, 306 Meiland, J., 165 Mennsen, S., 284n Montague, R., 123 Moore, B., 240 Moore, G. E., 279, 279n N Neurath, O., 369 Nickerson, R., 2n, 21n, 148n Nietzsche, F., 248 Nisbett, R., 30, 93n Nosich, G., 62, 138 Nye, A., 152n, 283, 286-288 O-P O'Keefe, D., 12n, 154, 320 Orr, D., 283-286 Parker, R., 240 Paul, R., 302, 303 Peirce, C. S., 149n, 248 Perelman, Ch., 5, 32, 50, 51, 61, 150n, 192 file:///D:/=FIX/=CREATE%20PDFs%201=/Johnson,...LEA%202000)%200805821732/files/page_383.html (1 of 3) [5/30/2009 7:59:15 PM]

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Perkins, D., 2n, 21n, 331, 362 Pinto, R. C., 186n, 271, 276-283 Plantinga, A., 275 Postman, N., 19, 20 Prior, A. N., 152n Q Quine, W. V. O., 113, 145, 329, 358, 367, 369, 370 R Rawls, J., 24 Resnick, L., 2, 21 Revlin, R., 91 Ross, l., 30, 93n Rothman, S., 19 Rowland, R., 145, 146 Russell, B., 5, 22, 106 Ryle, G., 115 S Salmon, W., 59n Scheer, R., 117 Schwarz, N., 146 Scriven, M., 85n, 124, 124n, 128, 129, 131, 132, 136-138, 193, 219n, 241, 244n, 365, 366, 369 Searle, J., 235n Seech, Z., 137n Siegel, H., 13, 14 18, 19, 30, 161, 191n, 201, 220n, 262, 272-276, 271, 275 Smith, E., 2n, 21n Snoeck Henkemans, A. F., 30, 47n, 128, 134n Sperber, D., 199 Solomon, R., 165

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Starkey, J., 33, 34 Stebbing, L. S., 113, 317 Strawson, P. F., 2n T Tarski, A., 275 Thomas, S. N., 42, 43, 46, 123, 128, 129, 136, 315 Tindale, C., 137n, 200, 240 Toulmin, S. E., 5, 29, 36, 46-50, 46n, 61, 91, 91n, 128, 173, 174, 191, 195, 292-296, 354-358, 361 Trapp, R., 268 Tully, R., 122

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V Vincent, C., 220n Vorobej, M., 129n W Walton, D. N., 112, 120, 121, 128, 134n, 141, 143, 144n, 156, 157, 175-77, 290, 352n, 362, 364, 369 Wason, P. C., 30 Weinstein, M., 5n, 128, 260-262, 293n, 295, 301-308, 246-251, 360, 361 Wellman, C., 167 Will, G., 225n Willard, C., 30, 150, 260, 1290, 320-324, 344, 359, 360 Wilson, D., 199 Wittgenstein, L., 100n, 103n, 104, 116, 141, 145, 248, 259, 273n Woods, J., 97, 116, 119n, 199, 200, 202n, 254, 255, 259, 367 Wreen, M., 116, 145, 148, 268 Wright, J., von, 111n Y Yanal, R., 129n

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SUBJECT INDEX A Acceptance, 187, 188, 192-194, 272, 279 Acceptability, 137, 138, 142, 180, 185, 191-195, 272, 280, 292, 310, 311, 319, 334, 348 acceptability requirement, 194-195, 204, 310, 311, 334, 336-344 acceptability vs. acceptance, 191-195 Achilles and the Tortoise, 73-74 Adequacy, 52-54, 364 adequacy conditions, 32, 52-56, 78-81, 88, 101, 107, 123, 140, 213-216, 364 adequacy condition, 4, 61, 64, 65, 68, 77, 141, 208, 217, 240 premise, 139, 157, 187, 196, 197, 271, 278, 327 in ferential, Ad baculum, 311 Ad hominem, 51, 115, 136, 138, 139, 179, 208, 211, 248, 286-289, 298, 299 Ad ignorantium, 136 Ad populum, 319 Ad verecundiam, 115, 319 Agent, 12, 157-159 Alternative positions, 207, 208 Analysis, 125 theory of, 36, 40, 41, 43, 45, 52, 53, 57, 86, 87, 123, 127, 140-142, 154, 296, 353, 368 Ambiguity, 313 Appeal to force (see ad baculum) Application Problem, 191, 216, 327, 341-343 Appraisal,

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theory of, 36, 41, 45, 53-55, 59, 87-88, 135-142, 179, 180, 246, 290, 296, 357 Arguer, 12, 38, 157-159 Arguing process of, 12, 30, 154, 156, 157, 209, 210, 309-320 Argument, 13, 24, 94, 124, 124n, 125, 130, 132, 134, 135-137, 139, 142, 174, 294, 308, 312, 317, 321, 322, 324, 325 artificial, 118 as adversarial, 26, 49, 153, 366 as distinguished from inference/implication, 24-25, 59, 92-94, 100, 101, 102, 152, 179, 183, 223, 257, 265, 266, 350, 364, 368 as product, 12, 57, 209, 210 as process (see Arguing) conception of, 5, 6, 70, 75, 93, 98, 143, 172, 233, 315, 344 (P + I) conception (see P + I conception) conductive, 69, 70, 75, 82, 84, 93, 233, 315 conclusive, 229-237 construction, 35, 119 convergent, 82, 128, 129n, 351, 352 deductive, 60, 64, 84, 312, 315 defined, 53, 99, 123-125, 134, 146ff, 167, 168, 173, 176 dialectical nature of, 161, 226

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divergent, 128, 129n, 351, 352 evaluation, 121, 130, 131, 314 extended, 172 inductive, 84, 124, 233 linked, 128, 129n, 351, 352 model of, 5, 48-57 nature of, 38, 39, 140, 160 naturally occurring, 34, 61, 62, 67, 89, 92, 189, 351n purpose (function) of, 38, 39, 124, 146, 148, 149, 158, 159, 174 fundamental, 149, 158 as rational persuasion, 148, 150, 157, 158, 159, 160, 170, 174, 185-189, 192, 194, 221, 226, 269, 284, 322, 329, 331, 338 as inquiry, 149 probabilistic, 71 real, 18, 60, 67, 92, 101, 105, 121 realm of, 92, 347, 295, 351 schemes, 128, 312-314, 319 self-sealing, 224ff serial, 129 structure, 36, 46, 53, 73-75, 123, 128-131, 140, 141, 160, 203, 213, 270, 294 stylized, 295, 308, 345, 352 theory of, 1, 1n, 2, 4, 6, 31, 32, 37-48, 67, 70, 85-88, 90, 91, 94, 105, 118, 122, 123, 126, 140, 142, 205, 216, 256, 261, 264, 265, 266, 268, 273, 282, 289, 292, 294, 295, 314, 321, 324, 351-354, 358, 359, 364, 370 Aristotle, 4, 55, 59, 106, 112, 119, 150, 151, 152, 158, 255, 268 Argumentation, 11, 12, 14, 122, 291, 297, 298, 301, 303, 307, 308, 310, 311, 318, 320, 321 as dialectical, 160, 161, 165, 269, 281, 341 as teleological, 159-68, 269 as manifest rationality (see Manifest rationality)

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benefits of, 26, 27 conditions of, 15, 16 fundamental characteristics of, 159-164 fundamental principle of, 153 legal, 26, 153 practice of, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 144, 153-156, 367 scheme, 128, 312-314, 319 spoken vs. written, 35, 128, 156, 313 theory of, 1, 1n, 5, 6, 13, 28, 30, 31, 116, 248, 256, 258, 271, 290, 291, 309, 318, 324 Assumption, 11, 96, 116, 133, 136, 197, 198, 266 used vs. needed, 133 Audience, 272, 276, 291, 292, 311, 338 universal, 268 B Backing, 29, 47 Balance of considerations argument, 71, 72, 93, 129 Begging the question, 3, 138 Burden of proof, 194, 230, 310, 316, 318 C Case-by-case argumentation, 69, 84, 267 Charity, principle of (see Principle of charity) Completeness Problem, 191, 205, 209, 216, 327, 333-336 Communication theory, 320 Conclusion, 13, 100, 123, 124, 124n, 125, 126, 129-132, 136, 294, 315, 319 Conditional associated, 67 Conductive inference/conduction, 84-88, 94 Conductivism, 46, 57, 69, 84-88, 91, 92, 107, 134 Conflict management, 25 file:///D:/=FIX/=CREATE%20PDFs%201=/Johnson,...LEA%202000)%200805821732/files/page_386.html (2 of 3) [5/30/2009 7:59:17 PM]

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Conflict of interest, 211 Consistency, 193, 298, 334, 335 Convergent argument, 82, 128, 129, 351, 352 Co-operative principle, 134 Context Credibility, 268, 211 Critical, 221n critical discussion, 309-314, 319 critical thinking, 2, 14, 22-26, 37, 271, 301, 304, 308, 347, 363 Criteria (see also Standards) 36, 55, 119, 124n, 137, 142, 182, 291, 292, 293, 312, 313, 314, 315, 319, 335, 344 alethic, 138, 182-186, 277, 291 epistemic, 138, 183, 186, 187, 274, 291 dialectical, 183, 187-189, 185, 204 Criticism, 27, 36, 37, 119, 135, 136, 140, 157, 178, 179, 219, 242-244, 291, 292, 293, 300, 312, 337 criticism vs. evaluation, 6, 139, 178, 179, 217-228, 242-244, 334 legitimate, 226, 228, 230, 233, 234, 236 principles of (Chap. 8) responding to, 247, 248 theory of, 139, 180 strong, 216, 240, 241, 243, 248 substantive vs. logical, 237-239 Cultural environment, 14-21 D Deduction, 94, 119 Deductive, 84, 134, 136, 305, 357 argument (see entry under argument, deductive) chauvinism, 59 criteria, 137

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deductive nomological paradigm, 103, 291 deductive vs. inductive, 46, 61, 81, 82, 351 implication, 92, 20, 125 inference, 120, 257 logic, 137, 174, 255 reasoning, 61 Deductivism (see Chap. 3), 36, 37, 38n, 42, 54, 57, 58-81, 89, 93, 103, 107, 126, 312 literal deductivism, 61 pure deductivism (PD), 64, 66, 67 reconstructive deductivism (RD), 61, 65-67, 75 Definition stipulative, 22, 146, 175 Dialectic, 317, 318, 320n, 362 Dialectical field, 361 Dialectical tier, 152, 160, 164-173, 182, 186, 232, 233, 269, 270, 282, 316, 327, 331, 335, 336, 369 Dialectical obligations, 190, 251, 269-271, 322, 327-333, 352, 353 Dialogue logic, 210, 290, 291 Discipline, 260, 263, 295, 304-408, 335, 352, 360 argumentation as, 122, 260, 359, 360 Discrimination, principle of (see Principle of discrimination) Divergent arguments, 128, 129, 352 Dustbin empiricism, 362 E Empirical approach, 358, 361, 362, 367 Entailment, 6, 16, 27, 89, 116 Enthymemes, 132 Epistemic standards, 276ff Epistemology, 120, 271-283, 289, 301, 302 informal logic and, 281-283 file:///D:/=FIX/=CREATE%20PDFs%201=/Johnson,...LEA%202000)%200805821732/files/page_387.html (2 of 3) [5/30/2009 7:59:19 PM]

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Ethos, 269, 322 Evaluation, 36, 119, 198, 273, 274, 341 evaluation vs. criticism, 6, 139, 178, 179, 217, 218, 242-244, 341, 342, 344, 350 criteria, 271, 341-343

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theory of, 36, 138, 139, 180, 304 Explanation, 98-99, 113, 124 F Fallacy, 3, 4, 37, 43, 51, 67, 72, 73, 115, 119, 139, 198, 198n, 240, 253, 309, 312, 314, 319, 345 theory of, 3, 4, 41, 118, 136, 137, 139, 253-54, 345, 451 informal, 119, 121 FDL (see entry under Logic, formal) Feminst theory, 289 Field, 47, 294ff field dependence, 292, 294, 296, 301 field invariance, 292, 293, 294, 307 Field theories (see Chap. 10), 267, 290, 291-309, 324 Form, 119, 120 form-1, 119 form-2, 120, 259, 262, 264, 265 form-3, 120, 259, 262, 264, 265 Formal, 122, 265 Formalism, 124, 260-262, 369 Formalization, 149 Formal dialectic, 52, 101, 143 G Gender studies, 360 Gettier counterexample, 236 Geometrical model, 29, 48, 91, 126, 294, 357n Goodness in arguments (see Chap. 7), 4, 5, 40, 51, 53, 100, 134, 143, 181, 186, 190, 208, 276, 324 Godel Incompleteness Theorem, 369 H file:///D:/=FIX/=CREATE%20PDFs%201=/Johnson,...LEA%202000)%200805821732/files/page_388.html (1 of 3) [5/30/2009 7:59:20 PM]

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Hasty conclusion/generalization, 115, 136, 138 History of argumentation, 228ff, 363 I Ideal audience, 192 Illative core, 150, 152, 160, 164-167, 170, 182, 190, 206, 208, 326-328, 334, 335 Implication, 24, 25, 69, 94, 124n, 137, 142, 152, 183, 254, 255, 261, 315 theory of, 76, 93, 368 Inconsistency, 98, 197 Inductive argument/inference/ induction, 81-84, 231, 315 inductive vs. deductive, 46, 61, 81, 82, 351 Inductive reasoning, 124 Inference, 24, 25, 72, 74n, 92, 94, 95, 97, 122, 124, 124n., 129, 135, 136, 152, 167, 178, 182, 256, 266, 291 Inferential adequacy, 139, 183 Inferentialism, 96, 177, 365 Informal Informal-2, 140, 253 Informal-3, 253, 254 Informal logic (see Chaps. 5 & 10), 2, 4, 6, 11, 31, 32, 37, 38, 56, 57, 94, 108, 111, 112, 114-125, 127, 128, 130-135, 137, 140-142, 176, 179, 189, 205, 216, 242, 251-253, 258, 260, 263, 287, 289, 291, 294, 296, 297, 301, 302, 304, 308322, 325, 326, 343-351, 359, 360, 367, 370 significance of, 365-369 Informal logic movement, 1, 28, 115, 116, 168, 283, 369 Integration problem, 191, 216, 271, 278, 327, 336-340 Interpretátion, 36, 119, 123, 125-127, 140 Invalid, 117 Invalidity, 65, 253, 254 J Jurisprudential model, 5, 29, 46, 48-51, 167n, 273, 308, 357n, 358

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Justification, 275, 276, 307

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K-L Knowledge, 14, 23, 104, 121, 272-275, 280n, 281-283, 307, 361 Linguistics, 28, 30 Logic, 14, 16, 17, 28, 31, 63n, 96, 97, 111, 255, 260, 319, 362, 366 Aristotelian (syllogistic), 17, 58, 112, 264, 315 deductive, 114, 255, 256, 350 deontic, 111 dialogue, 210, 290, 291 empirical, 361, 362 epistemic, 111 Formal, 50, 116-118, 118n, 119-121, 123, 125, 127, 130, 131, 136, 140, 142, 306, 321, 348 FDL (formal, deductive logic), 31, 41, 56-58, 61, 66, 78-81, 88, 89, 92, 96, 100-103, 105-107, 111-114, 123-125, 127, 131, 135-138, 142, 170, 191, 255, 269, 285, 292, 293n, 294, 304, 312, 319, 333, 352, 367, 368, informal (see Informal logic) inductive, 72, 93, 94, 112, 114, 179, 182, 265, 266 mathematical, 113 modal, 58 natural, 361 predicate, 120 probative, 361 propositional, 58, 113, 120, 254, 315 practical, 121, 122 symbolic, 12, 17, 113-115 Logical form, 57, 106, 107, 128, 135 Logical neutrality (see Principle of logical neutrality) Logical theory, 335-338 Logical type, 294, 295 Logos, 269

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M Manifest rationality, 1, 144, 151, 163, 164ff, 175, 178, 210, 251, 227, 230, 239, 243, 244, 270, 318, 337, 339 Mathematical logic, 7, 104, 113 Mathematicization of logic, 27, 46, 91, 103, 104, 105, 144, 145, 152, 168, 354 Mediation, 25 Message design logic, 320 Missing premises, 36, 39, 62, 75, 131-133, 136, 183, 201, 311, 312, 314-316, 349-350 Model (see also jurisprudential model, geoterical model), 48, 245, 258, 269, 291, 307, 310 Model interlocutor, 192 Monistic theory, 42, 44, 58 Monolectical, 281 Monolithic theory, 42 Multivalent theory, 45, 46 N Natural language, 54, 60, 65, 114, 142, 291 Negotiation, 25 Network problem, 2, 21-24, 97, 275, 281, 284, 363-365 first form, 21-22, 97 second form, 22-24 Nit-picking, 242, 244 Normative conditions, 4, 5 for the practice, 212 for the product, 209 for the process, 209, 210 for the person, 210-212 Normative standards, 306 O Objection(s), 160, 206, 270, 276, 327

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The Standard Objections 166, 206, 328-33, token, 329 type, 329 Obligation, 207, 227, 329n, 353 Occam's Razor, 273 Other, the, 12, 13, 149, 150

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P Pathos, 269 (P + I) conception of argument, 75, 87, 164, 166, 167, 181, 184, 277, 368 Philosophy, 28, 29, 32n, 47, 158, 215, 267, 307, 365, 366 Plato, 4, 58, 61, 119, 150, 152, 158, 211, 269 Pluralism, 37, 42, 44-46, 84 Popularity, 198 Positivism, as a philosophical movement, 25, 28-29, 104 as a theory of argument, 31, 37, 42, 57, 81-84, 89, 91-93, 107 Practice, 12, 154, 155, 212 Pragma-dialectics, 30, 290, 309-321, 324 Pragmatic, 121, 122, 134, 140, 142, 149n, 204 approach, 149, 177-179, 209, 362, 369 property, 202, 204, 205 Pragmatics, 204, 365, 368, 369 Premise, 123, 124, 124n, 125-129, 132, 136, 139, 291, 301, 312, 314, 319 adequacy, 187 missing (see Missing premises) implicit (see Missing premises) Principle of charity, 87, 127, 128, 132, 134, 135, 241, 313, 345 Principle of discrimination, 140, 240-248, 274 Principle of falsifiability, 223, 224 Principle of logical neutrality, 188, 190, 237-240 Principle of parity, 236, 237 Principle of vulnerability, 223-237, 310, 312, 326 Problem solving, 2, 22, 25

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Proof, 183, 254, 255, 259 vs. argument, 231-32 Propositional calculus, 254, 282 Proto-argument, 170 Psychologism, 104, 286 Psychology, 30, 267, 286, 301, 345 Q Quantification theory, 106 Quarrelling, 25 R Rational discussion, 319ff Rationality, 1, 11, 12-15, 23, 50, 96, 97, 161-64, 239, 275, 283, 284, 317, 318 conceptions of, 284 feminine style of, 283ff manifest (see Manifest rationality) styles of, 283-86 Reasoning, 22, 23, 94, 95, 176, 177, 199, 257-258, 284, 291, 364 theory of, 7, 22-23, 70, 94, 95-98, 176, 255, 256, 258, 259, 265, 275, 325, 326, 353, 362-65 principles of, 298-301 by analogy, 113 causal, 113 mathematical, 113 Rebuttal, 47, 173, 174 Reconstruction, 38, 65, 76, 126 Relativism, 272, 272, 276, 278 Relevance, 137, 142, 180, 191n, 198, 272, 273, 276, 319 Relevance requirement, 4, 137, 138, 199-204, 208, 310, 334, 341-343, 348, 349 warrants, 203-04

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Research agenda, for informal logic, 343-51, 353 for the theory of argument, 351-353 for the theory of reasoning, 354 Rhetoric, 129, 163, 251, 256, 264, 265, 268, 270, 289, 290, 320, 362 informal logic and rhetoric, 265, 268-271 Rigor, 60, 105, 260

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S Semantics, 122, 204, 365, 368, 369 Sexism in logic, 283-289 Shotgunning, 242 Sociology, 345 Sound/ness, 3, 36, 39, 42, 57, 58, 61, 79, 100, 101, 119, 135, 291, 335, 368 Spectrum, 42, 43-46, 84, 89 Specification problem, 166, 207, 234 326, 327-337 Speech act theory, 30, 309, 321 Standards (see also Criteria,) 34, 38, 272, 277, 291-294, 296, 301, 305-308, 335, 347 Straw person, 138, 179, 207, 310, 352 Structuralist approach, 98, 99, 148, 177 Structure (see argument, structure) Sufficiency, 137, 142, 180, 191n, 201, 208, 272, 273 sufficiency requirement, 7, 138, 201, 204-206, 214, 334, 341-343, 350 Syllogism, 112, 151, 320n Syllogistic, 17, 58, 112, 315 theory (logic) 106, 113, 119, 132, 151 Syntax, 122, 126, 204, 365, 368, 369 T Television, 17-21 Thinking, 17, 18, 23 Theory vs. practice, 354-359, 367, 368 Truth, 272, 273, 275, 278-280, 294, 300, 319 conceptions of, 198 theories of, 196-198 truth-requirement, 59, 60, 61, 79, 184, 191, 195-198, 200, 208, 215, 271, 334, 336-340, 341-343 file:///D:/=FIX/=CREATE%20PDFs%201=/Johnson,...LEA%202000)%200805821732/files/page_391.html (1 of 2) [5/30/2009 7:59:23 PM]

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Types of argument, 35, 43, 44, 45, 83, 134 Typology, 42ff, 53, 61, 128, 351, 352 argument, 128 U-W Univalent theory, 45, 46 Vagueness, 313 Valid, 3, 62, 62n, 65, 100, 117, 297, 312 Validity, 58, 60, 61, 62, 106, 118, 119, 120, 138, 141, 142, 184, 186, 188, 195, 197, 274, 292, 293, 294, 300, 312, 314316, 319, 335, 357 validity-requirement, 59, 79, 184 Warrant, 29, 47, 203, 275, 293, 307, 335, 360, 361

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