Zarębski, Tomasz (2024) Wittgenstein and Toulmin’s Model of Argument: The Riddle Explained Away. Argumentation, 38. pp. 435-455. ISSN 0920-427X
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Abstract
The article undertakes the problem of a Wittgensteinian background of Toulmin’s model of argument. While appreciating the original character of the investigations set out by Toulmin in The Uses of Argument, Wittgenstein’s ideas taken to be forerunners of both Toulmin’s philosophical method and the particular elements of the model of substantial argument are traced backward, to Toulmin’s earlier books: The Philosophy of Science (Toulmin, The philosophy of science. An introduction, Hutchinson University Library, London, 1953) and An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics (Toulmin, An examination of the place of reason in ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1950). The technique of pinpointing the constituents of that model in the books preceding The Uses of Argument is superposing the layout of Toulmin’s model on the crucial arguments concerning the earlier books: the scientific one based on Newtonian optics and the moral one concerning keeping promises. Such a procedure allows identifying backing for warrants and argument fields with the methods of representation in The Philosophy of Science and with modes of reasoning in An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics. The former is traced to passages 6.3 ff of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, while the latter—to the concept of word-games (the later Wittgenstein’s language games). The claim regarding Wittgenstein’s background is that in Toulmin’s view of Wittgenstein, some parts of Tractatus concerning representing are in line with Wittgenstein’s later reflections on language games; as well as that the overall method of The Uses of Argument goes along with Wittgenstein’s therapeutic approach to philosophical problems that have to be placed in the context of their ordinary use.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Toulmin, Wittgenstein, Toulmin’s model, Informal logic, Argumentation, Philosophy of language | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Philosophers of Science General Issues > Rhetoric of Science |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. Tomasz Zarębski | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 20 Oct 2025 12:46 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 20 Oct 2025 12:46 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 26981 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Argumentation | ||||||
| Official URL: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10503-0... | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1007/s10503-024-09637-w | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Philosophers of Science General Issues > Rhetoric of Science |
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| Date: | 18 October 2024 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 435-455 | ||||||
| Volume: | 38 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 0920-427X | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26981 |
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