The Ethics of Argumentation

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-041-07342-0
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 212 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy

This book offers a new approach to the theory of argumentation that conceptualizes argumentation as a fundamentally ethical activity whose norms are grounded in, and must be selected according to, moral reasons.

Current normative approaches to argumentation do not treat ethics as an integral part of argumentation theory. This is at least in part due to a methodological commitment not to address internal states of the arguers, such as intentions and beliefs, which makes moral theorizing about argumentation difficult. This book presents three arguments for why ethics ought to be a central element in normative theorizing about argumentation. First, it shows that ethics is needed for providing normative argumentation theory with its foundation and for offering arguers reliable guidance for decision-making both about which norms ought to govern their arguing and how they should shape each argument they make. Second, it addresses some of the most persistent problems faced by currently dominant normative approaches to argumentation, most notably that they are only reliable under the assumption that unrealistic background conditions are fulfilled. Finally, it provides the groundwork for a systematic ethics of argumentation. It does so by showing how a function of argumentation can be justified via moral reasons and by providing the outlines for both an applied ethics of (meta-level) normative argument design and an applied role-ethics of object-level arguing.

The Ethics of Argumentation is essential reading for researchers and graduate students in a wide range of disciplines—including philosophy, communication studies, linguistics, and rhetoric—who are interested in argumentation, critical thinking and social epistemology.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Stevens, Katharina

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprechwissenschaft, Rhetorik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction 1. Function Claims as the Foundation for Normative Argumentation Theory 2. A Moral Foundation for Normative Argumentation Theory 3. Single-Set Theories of Argumentation and the Ideal Theory Problem 4. A Multi-Set Normative Theory of Argumentation With an Applied Ethics of Normative Argument Design 5. The Impossible Procedure of the Opening Stage 6. An Applied Role-Ethics for Object-Level Arguing Conclusion: One Last Argument Regarding Critical Thinking Education

Über Autor(innen)

Katharina Stevens is a philosopher and argumentation theorist working at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. She is one of the editors of the journal Informal Logic and one of the Directors of the Critical Thinking and Citizen Engagement Lab at the University of Lethbridge.