The Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation and Rhetoric presents distinguished research fellow Douglas Walton delivering his free public lecture “An Argumentation Model of Defeasible Scientific Knowledge” at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, February 8, in the seminar room, Parker House.

In his discussion, Dr. Walton presents a model of the procedure whereby argumentation is used to justify the claim that a given proposition should have the status of scientific knowledge.

In the model, a proposition is classified as scientific knowledge if and only if (1) it has been proved in an investigative procedure called an inquiry, (2) based on the pro and contra arguments marshalled during the inquiry, (3) using the kind of evidence that is relevant in the inquiry and (4) established to the proof standard appropriate for the inquiry.

Parker House is located at 105 Sunset Avenue.