Christopher Tindale
Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation & Rhetoric along with the PhD in Argumentation Studies at the University of Windsor invite you to a talk by
Christopher Tindale
University of Windsor
“Is Argumentation Theory WEIRD?”
In The Enigma of Reason (2017), Mercier & Sperber raise a version of this question, concluding that “Reasoning and argumentation are found everywhere, as we should expect if reason is an evolved module and if the production and evaluation of argument is one of its two main functions” (286). The extent to which we might agree with this judgment, is the extent to which we can agree with how the terms “reasoning” and “argumentation” are being understood. By way of analysis, and to mark the publication of The Anthropology of Argument (Routledge 2021), I review some of the arguments I advance in the book, particularly as they relate to the assumptions underlying how argumentation theory has been both disseminated and adopted as a tool of evaluation. This involves shifting the discussion to whether and how argumentation theory has flourished beyond its WEIRD instantiations. I end with some comments on appropriation, offering a dissociation of the term.
Friday, January 22, 2021
3:00pm
Weekly presentations conducted via Zoom. All those interested should contact crrar@uwindsor.ca for more information.