Hans Hansen says that a wonderful aspect of the gift the philosophy professor received Saturday was that he can share with all those interested in his field.

Dr. Hansen was presented with a Festschrift — a collection of essays in recognition of his accomplishments as an author, anthologizer, community builder, conference organizer, editor, and mentor. The editors, professor emeritus Anthony Blair and Christopher Tindale, director of the Centre of Research in Reasoning, Argumentation, and Rhetoric, note that the book, entitled Rigour and Reason: Essays in Honour of Hans Vilhelm Hansen, contains papers written by leading scholars in the field, including Hansen’s co-authors and former students.

“This is a top-flight collection of essays by many of the leading contributors to argumentation studies and informal logic in Canada, United States, Europe, and China,” says Hansen. “I am deeply honoured to receive this gift, and very grateful to the editors and to all the contributors whose work I have come to admire and respect.”

He received the work at the closing plenary of the international conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation. Originally scheduled to be held on the UWindsor campus, it was re-organized as an electronic meeting that attracted more than 200 attendees over four days of sessions, June 3 to 6.

The editors note in an introduction that Hansen’s “contributions to the fields of informal logic and argument theory have earned the gratitude of his colleagues, and inspired this collection of essays, written to express the appreciation of its authors and of the many, many colleagues they represent.”

The volume is available for free on the website of Windsor Studies in Argumentation.