Windsor Studies in Argumentation website
Problems in Argument Analysis and Evaluation
Trudy Govier
University of Lethbridge
Synopsis
We are pleased to publish this WSIA edition of Trudy’s Govier’s seminal volume, Problems in Argument Analysis and Evaluation. Originally published in 1987 by Foris Publications, this was a pioneering work that played a major role in establishing argumentation theory as a discipline. Today, it is as relevant to the field as when it first appeared, with discussions of questions and issues that remain central to the study of argument. It has defined the main approaches to many of those issues and guided the ways in which we might respond to them. From this foundation, it sets the stage for further investigations and emerging research.
This is a second edition of the book that is corrected and updated by the author, with new prefaces to each chapter.
Author Biography
Trudy Govier, University of Lethbridge
Trudy Govier is a Canadian philosopher known for her work in informal logic and argumentation. She is the author of such influential texts as A Practical Study of Argument, Taking Wrongs Seriously: Acknowledgement, Reconciliation, and the Politics of Sustainable Peace, and The Philosophy of Argument. She has also been a frequent commentator in Canadian media on issues related to violence and conflict resolution.
Govier received her PhD in philosophy from the University of Waterloo in 1971. She has taught philosophy at Trent University, Simon Fraser University, the University of Amsterdam, the University of Calgary, the University of Lethbridge, and the University of Winnipeg. Much of Govier's work has surrounded practical argument, focusing on issues of trust, forgiveness, and reconciliation. She has been a distinguished visiting researcher with the Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation, and Rhetoric at the University of Windsor. She retired from teaching in 2012. The nature of Govier's approach to argumentation has prompted her to engage practically with social issues outside of academia.
She is a founding member of the Calgary chapter of the peace activist organisation Project Ploughshares and has been involved in labour advocacy.