The Routledge Handbook of Argumentation Theory: (Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy)

The Routledge Handbook of Argumentation Theory offers 43 chapters--written specifically for this volume by a team of leading, international scholars--that survey a wide spectrum of research on the nature, purpose, and promise of argument and the associated practice of argumentation. Each chapter provides up-to-date research tools and statements designed to help readers understand and engage with the field’s main ideas and problems as they are studied and practiced today. The book is split into two parts: Part One covers orienting approaches in argumentation studies. Part Two focuses on the main debates in argumentation theory. The Handbook illustrates how different disciplines contribute to argumentation theory, integrating contributions from logic, epistemology, social psychology, political science, communication, rhetoric, and other fields. This volume thus provides researchers and students with a picture of the diversity and depth to the work in argumentation theory today. Throughout, it clarifies complex questions and methods in this evolving field of study. And references at the end of chapter and a comprehensive index at the back of the book provide readers with central resources for further work in this important area of research.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part I: Organizing Approaches in Argumentation Theory 1. Landmarks in the History of Argumentation Theory 2. The Concept of Argumentation 3. The Deductivist Approach to Argument Evaluation 4. The Rhetorical Perspective on Argumentation 5. The Epistemic/Epistemological Theory of Argument 6. The Pragma-Dialectical Approach to Argumentation 7. Normative Pragmatic Approaches to Argumentation 8. Psychology and Argument 9. The Informal Logic Approach to Argumentation 10. Contemporary Dialectical Theories of Argumentation 11. The Virtue Approach to Argument 12. Argumentation Design 13. Modes, Coalescence and Argument 14. The Linguistic Normative Model of Argumentation (LNMA) 15. Intercultural Argumentation 16. The Language and Argumentation Interface 17. Experimental Approaches to Argumentation Part II: Developing Debates in Argumentation Theory 18. Argumentation Schemes 19. Charity and Argument Reconstruction 20. Critical Thinking, Argumentation, and Critical Thinking Education 21. The Ethics of Argumentation 22. About Fallacies 23. The Problem of Adversarial Argument 24. Argumentation and Deep Disagreements 25. Feminism and Argumentation 26. Arguing with Pictures 27. Ongoing Inquiry into Analogical Arguments 28. Argument and Narrative 29. Legal Argumentation 30. Emotions and Argumentation 31. Political Argumentation 32. Political Disagreement, Epistemic Autonomy, and Epistemic Interdependence 33. Nommo and the Essence of African American Argumentation 34. Is argumentation knowledge-conducive? 35. Media argumentation and argumentation in the media 36. Meta-argumentation 37. A Pun, a Joke, and a Riddle Walk into an Argument 38. Multimodal Argumentation 39. What is the Burden of Proof, and Who Bears It? 40. Unlocking Unfounded Criticisms of the Nyāya Account of the Form of a Good Argument 41. Munāẓara and Islamic Traditions of Argument 42. Argumentation and its theorizing in ancient China 43. Argumentation & Natural Language Processing

About the Author :
Scott Aikin is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, USA. He specializes in epistemology, argumentation theory, and ancient philosophy. He is the author of Epistemology and the Regress Problem (2011) and Straw Man Arguments, with John Casey (2022). John Casey is a Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He specializes in the history of medieval philosophy and argumentation theory. He is the author of Straw Man Arguments (in 2022 with Scott Aikin), among other articles on argumentative adversariality, autonomy, informal fallacies, and meta-argument. Katharina Stevens is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and an Argumentation Theorist working at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. She is a co-editor of the journal Informal Logic and a co-director of the University of Lethbridge's Critical Thinking and Citizen Engagement Lab. She publishes on Argumentation Theory, especially the Ethics of Argumentation and Precedent. She is also the author of The Ethics of Argumentation (online first, 2026), Routledge

Review :
“Leading scholars present the key approaches and debates shaping argumentation theory today. By examining the current state of research and offering their own reasoned perspectives, they show how the field thrives at the intersection of philosophy, communication, and rhetoric. This handbook serves as a guide for newcomers and marks an important advance in the discipline.” -- Jan Albert van Laar, Professor of Philosophy at University of Groningen, Netherlands. “The Routledge Handbook of Argumentation Theory is an indispensable guide to the interdisciplinary study of argumentation. It features a representative selection of senior scholars and emerging voices, who are mapping current debates while also charting new directions. The Handbook highlights the theoretical, empirical, and ethical stakes of argument in our time, addressing tensions between logic and rhetoric, cooperation and conflict, normative standards and practice. Rich in insight and range, it offers students, educators, and researchers a clear entry point into ongoing debates as well as a compelling invitation to further extend and refine the study of argumentation.” -- Jean Wagemans, Professor of Cognition, Communication, and Argumentation, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.