Philosophy

The argumentative theory of reasoning challenges the traditional view that the function of reasoning is to help us get better beliefs and improve our decision-making, says philosophy professor Christopher Tindale.

“Instead, the theory presents reasoning as a purely social phenomenon that has developed in order to help us convince others and monitor the ways other people try to convince us,” he says. “One interesting consequence is that apparent flawed reasoning is itself a useful adaptation that aids in persuasion.”

The Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation and Rhetoric (CRRAR) will offer fellowships to two UWindsor graduate students to assist professors Douglas Walton and Hans V. Hansen with a research project analyzing the argumentation in the recent Alberta provincial election.

The work involves reading, extracting and classifying arguments found in newspaper reports made during the election period, and filing the information on a Web site as well as discussion of the findings.

UWindsor philosophy professor Christopher Tindale’s rhetorical approach to argumentation has come under critical scrutiny from an unlikely source, says doctoral candidate Justin Ross Morris: feminist theorists working in argumentation theory.

An interesting recent development in argumentation theory has been the revived investigation of the metaphysics of argument, says Steven Patterson, a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation and Rhetoric.

In his free public lecture “Are Arguments Abstract Objects?” he will explore important objections, Thursday, April 19, at 2 p.m. in the seminar room of Parker House, 105 Sunset Avenue.