The Uses of Argument

@book{citeulike:235638, abstract = {{This reissue of the modern classic on the study of argumentation features a new Introduction by the author.} {A central theme throughout the impressive series of philosophical books and articles Stephen Toulmin has published since 1948 is the way in which assertions and opinions concerning all sorts of topics, brought up in everyday life or in academic research, can be rationally justified. Is there one universal system of norms, by which all sorts of arguments in all sorts of fields must be judged, or must each sort of argument be judged according to its own norms? In The Uses of Argument (1958) Toulmin sets out his views on these questions for the first time. In spite of initial criticisms from logicians and fellow philosophers, The Uses of Argument has been an enduring source of inspiration and discussion to students of argumentation from all kinds of disciplinary background for more than forty years.}}, author = {Toulmin, Stephen E.}, citeulike-article-id = {235638}, comment = {"Books are like children.They leave home, make new friends, but rarely call home, even collect.Y ou find out what they have been up to only by chance.A man at a party turns out to be one of those new friends.'So you are George's father? – Imagine that!' So has been the relation between The Uses of Argument and its author. When I wrote it, my aim was strictly philosophical: to criticize the assumption, made by most Anglo-American academic philosophers, that any significant argument can be put in formal terms: not just as a syllogism, since for Aristotle himself any inference can be called a 'syllogism' or 'linking of statements', but a rigidly demonstrative deduction of the kind to be found in Euclidean geometry.Thus was created the Platonic tradition that, some two millennia later, was revived by Ren´ e Descartes.Readers of Cosmopolis, ormy more recent Return to Reason, will be familiar with this general view of mine. In no way had I set out to expound a theory of rhetoric or argumentation: my concern was with twentieth-century epistemology, not informal logic.Still less had I in mind an analytical model like that which, among scholars of Communication, came to be called 'the Toulmin model'. Many readers in fact gave me an historical background that consigned me to a premature death.When my fianc´ ee was reading Law, for instance, a fellow-student remarked on her unusual surname: his girlfriend [he explained] had come across it in one of her textbooks, but when he reported that Donna was marrying the author, she replied, 'That's impossible: He's dead!'"}, howpublished = {Paperback}, isbn = {0521534836}, keywords = {argument, argumentation, logic}, month = {July}, posted-at = {2006-04-03 01:27:28}, priority = {2}, publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}}, title = {The Uses of Argument}, url = {http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike07-20&path=ASIN/0521534836}, year = {2003} }

TY - BOOK ID - citeulike:235638 L3 - citeulike-article-id:235638 N2 - {This reissue of the modern classic on the study of argumentation features a new Introduction by the author.} {A central theme throughout the impressive series of philosophical books and articles Stephen Toulmin has published since 1948 is the way in which assertions and opinions concerning all sorts of topics, brought up in everyday life or in academic research, can be rationally justified. Is there one universal system of norms, by which all sorts of arguments in all sorts of fields must be judged, or must each sort of argument be judged according to its own norms? In The Uses of Argument (1958) Toulmin sets out his views on these questions for the first time. In spite of initial criticisms from logicians and fellow philosophers, The Uses of Argument has been an enduring source of inspiration and discussion to students of argumentation from all kinds of disciplinary background for more than forty years.} SN - 0521534836 TI - The Uses of Argument PB - {Cambridge University Press} KW - argument KW - argumentation KW - logic N1 - "Books are like children.They leave home, make new friends, but rarely call home, even collect.Y ou find out what they have been up to only by chance.A man at a party turns out to be one of those new friends.‘So you are George’s father? – Imagine that!’ So has been the relation between The Uses of Argument and its author. When I wrote it, my aim was strictly philosophical: to criticize the assumption, made by most Anglo-American academic philosophers, that any significant argument can be put in formal terms: not just as a syllogism, since for Aristotle himself any inference can be called a ‘syllogism’ or ‘linking of statements’, but a rigidly demonstrative deduction of the kind to be found in Euclidean geometry.Thus was created the Platonic tradition that, some two millennia later, was revived by Ren´ e Descartes.Readers of Cosmopolis, ormy more recent Return to Reason, will be familiar with this general view of mine. In no way had I set out to expound a theory of rhetoric or argumentation: my concern was with twentieth-century epistemology, not informal logic.Still less had I in mind an analytical model like that which, among scholars of Communication, came to be called ‘the Toulmin model’. Many readers in fact gave me an historical background that consigned me to a premature death.When my fianc´ ee was reading Law, for instance, a fellow-student remarked on her unusual surname: his girlfriend [he explained] had come across it in one of her textbooks, but when he reported that Donna was marrying the author, she replied, ‘That’s impossible: He’s dead!’" AU - Toulmin, Stephen PY - 2003/07/07/ UR - http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike09-20&path=ASIN/0521534836 ER -