Argumentation: The Key Concepts(Routledge Key Guides)

This book is an accessible reference guide to the key concepts associated with argumentation theory, criticism, and pedagogy.

Providing an encyclopedic‑style synthesis, the book defines and describes 175 essential concepts of argumentation, and provides discussion of the meaning, application, and impact, as well as offering suggestions for further reading. Readers are introduced to foundational reasoning methods—deductive, inductive, and abductive—as well as key argumentative models such as the Toulmin Model and Pragma‑Dialectics. The text delves into the identification and analysis of fallacies, the evaluation of evidence, and the crucial roles of context, audience adaptation, and argumentative style. It explores the ethical dimensions of argument, the impact of cognitive bias, and the influence of cultural and discourse communities.

The first of its kind and a key entry point to understanding the fundamental principles of the field, this guidebook is ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in argumentation, debate, rhetoric, and communication studies as well as other related disciplines. It will also be of interest to the general reader looking to improve their analytical and decision‑making abilities.

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Preface

1. Abduction (Abductive Reasoning)
2. Affirming a Disjunct (argument by dilemma)
3. Analogical reasoning
4. Antecedent
5. Argument
6. Argumentative pattern
7. Argumentative style
8. Argumentum ad baculum (appeal to force)
9. Argumentum ad hominem (fallacy)
10. Argumentum ad hominem (in philosophy)
11. Argumentum ad misericordium (appeal to pity)
12. Argumentum ad populum (bandwagon fallacy)
13. Argumentum ad rem (argument to the matter)
14. Argument diagramming
15. Argument evaluation
16. Argument from analogy
17. Argument from authority
18. Argument from ignorance
19. Argument metaphors
20. Argument reconstruction
21. Argument strength
22. Argumentation and advocacy
23. Argumentation ethics
24. Argumentative grammar
25. Argumentativity
26. Artificial Intelligence and argument
27. Audience adaptation
28. Axiom
29. Backing
30. Biconditionals
31. Bivalent logic
32. Burden of proof
33. Burden of rejoinder
34. Causal argument
35. Circular reasoning
36. Claim
37. Cogency
38. Cognitive biases
39. Cognitive research on argumentation
40. Commitment
41. Common knowledge (Sensus Communis)
42. Communicative Action Theory
43. Computational Models of Argument
44. Conclusion
45. Conjunction
46. Consensus
47. Consequent
48. Constructive argumentation
49. Constructive dilemma
50. Context
51. Contradiction
52. Controversy
53. Cooperative argument
54. Counterfactual
55. Counterplan
56. Critical Discourse Analysis
57. Critical thinking
58. Cultural norms of argumentation
59. Debate
60. Deductive reasoning
61. Defeasible reasoning
62. Definitions and definitional argument
63. Deliberative rhetoric
64. Destructive dilemma
65. Dialectic
66. Dialogical argumentation
67. Discourse community
68. Discovery and invention
69. Disjunctive reasoning
70. Doublespeak
71. Elaboration Likelihood Model
72. Embodiment
73. Emotive arguments
74. Enactment
75. Enthymeme
76. Eristic
77. Ethos
78. Evidence
79. Evidence-based reasoning
80. Explanatory arguments
81. Factual claims
82. Fallacies
83. Fallacy of relative privation
84. False cause (post hoc fallacy)
85. Feminine style
86. Feminist argument theory
87. Fields of argument
88. Formal logic
89. Framing analysis
90. Identity argument
91. Incommensurability
92. Inductive reasoning
93. Inference
94. Informal logic
95. Information seeking
96. Inquiry
97. Interpersonal argument
98. Justification
99. Lemma
100. Linguistic approaches to argument studies
101. Logical operators
102. Logical Positivism
103. Logos
104. Meta-argumentation
105. Metacognition
106. Misinformation
107. Modal logic
108. Modus ponens and modus tollens
109. Multimodal argument
110. Narrative argument
111. Natural argument
112. Negotiation
113. Non sequitor
114. Normative reasoning
115. Obligation Game
116. Parody and satire
117. Pathos
118. Personal sphere of argument
119. Persuasion
120. Policy claims
121. Pragma-Dialectics
122. Pragmatics
123. Predicate logic
124. Premise
125. Presumption
126. Proof
127. Proposition
128. Public sphere of argument
129. Qualifier
130. Quantifier
131. Quantitative reasoning
132. Racist argument
133. Radical argumentativism
134. Rationality
135. Reason
136. Rebuttal
137. Reconstructive analysis
138. Red herring
139. Reductio ad absurdum
140. Relevance
141. Rhetoric
142. Rhetorical analysis
143. Scientific rhetoric
144. Selfhood and argument
145. Semantics
146. Sign reasoning
147. Significance
148. Slippery slope
149. Socratic method
150. Solvency
151. Soundness
152. Standpoint analysis
153. Stasis
154. Stock Issues
155. Strategic design
156. Strategic maneuvering
157. Straw person argument
158. Style
159. Syllogistic reasoning
160. Tautology
161. Technical sphere of argument
162. Theorem
163. Topoi
164. Toulmin Model
165. Transposition
166. Tu quoque fallacy
167. Unexpressed premise
168. Universal audience
169. Universal generalization
170. Validity, formal
171. Validity, informal
172. Value Based Argumentation Frameworks
173. Value claims
174. Visual argumentation
175. Warrant

Bibliography

Index

Edward Schiappa is the John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. His recent publications include Argumentation: Keeping Faith with Reason (Routledge, 2024) and The Transgender Exigency: Defining Sex & Gender in the 21st Century (Routledge, 2022).

“Argumentation is the root of philosophy and communication. But what exactly is it? The conceptual pillars of argument analysis, interpretation, and evaluation are explained in this book with stunning clarity and accessibility. It is a reference book, an introductory manual, a comprehensive guide for understanding how we put our reasoning in words.”

Fabrizio Macagno, University of Lisbon, Portugal

“With concise entries covering an expansive array of concepts, this resource guide is essential for any who study or practice argumentation. It offers clear definitions, illustrative examples, and further readings. The book is an essential glossary for anyone reading argumentation literature.”

Catherine Palczewski, University of Northern Iowa, USA

“In Argumentation: The Key Concepts, Edward Schiappa provides an invaluable introduction and bibliography covering 175 central ideas that have shaped the study of public argument and formal logic. The book should be on the shelf of every argumentation scholar.”

Robert C. Rowland, University of Kansa, USA

"If you are a researcher in any of the many subfields of Argumentation, this is a book for you. If you are a teacher or a student in a class on Argumentation, this is a very useful book for you. If you are working in Argumentation within the area of Artificial Intelligence and its central role in AI, this is a must book for you. This is so that you can be informed about the multi-faceted nature of Argumentation to help you with the much-needed injection of elements from the study of human argumentation in the quest for machine argumentation."

Antonis Kakas, University of Cyprus, Cyprus