Fallacies and Judgments of Reasonableness

by Van Eemeren, Frans; Garssen, Bart; Meuffels, Bert

• ISBN13: 9789048126132
• ISBN10: 9048126134
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-09-03
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

In Judgments on Fallacies, Frans H. van Eemeren, Bart Garssen and Bert Meuffels report, as announced in the subtitle of this volume, on their Systematic Empirical Research of the Conventional Validity of the Pragma-Dialectical Discussion Rules. The experimental studies they carried out during more than ten years start from the pragma-dialectical theory of argumentation developed at the University of Amsterdam, their home university. In these studies they test methodically the intersubjective acceptability of the rules for critical discussion proposed in this theory by confronting ordinary arguers who have not received any special education in argumentation and fallacies with discussion fragments containing both fallacious and non-fallacious argumentative moves. The research covers a wide range of informal fallacies. In this way, the authors create a basis for comparing the theoretical reasonableness conception of pragma-dialectics with the norms for judging argumentative moves prevailing in argumentative practice. Judgments on Fallacies provides a unique insight into theoretical and practical conceptions of reasonableness, supported by unique empirical material gained by means of unique and sophisticated experimental research.