David Zarefsky - The Practice of Argumentation: Effective Reasoning in Communication

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David Zarefsky 2019

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For my undergraduate students

in Theories of Argumentation

Northwestern University

19692009

Since the late 1950s, there has been an outpouring of scholarly writing on argumentation across a variety of academic disciplines. It has emphasized approaches to reasoning that are neither formal nor deductive but that have a logic of their own and are grounded in the realities of human experience. It both describes and aims to improve the processes by which people seek to justify their acts, beliefs, attitudes, and values, and to influence the thought and action of others. And it recognizes that they do so by engaging in communication with other people. As the title of this book suggests, argumentation is effective reasoning in communication.

Argumentation has emerged as an interdisciplinary field with roots primarily in the traditions of logic, dialectic, and rhetoric. Although scholars recognize and respect the comprehensiveness of their subject, within any given discipline they naturally will be most familiar with their own disciplines insight and perspective. This book, accordingly, reflects my own background and training in rhetoric. It recognizes that beliefs are justified to persons, that arguments are convincing to audiences, and that disagreements are managed by humans. It reflects the ancient assumption that, on matters that are not certain, the exchange of reasons through argumentation is the means by which we reach judgments about what to think, to believe, and to do.

This book attempts to synthesize that rhetorical tradition with the flowering of interdisciplinary scholarship, and to do so in a way that renders the subject accessible to beginners without ignoring or oversimplifying its complexity and subjectivity. It takes the reader from the basic assumptions of an argumentative perspective, to the components of arguments, to the practicalities of case construction, attack and defense, and ultimately back to the question of the personal and social functions of argumentation.

For many years between 1969 and 2009, it was my privilege to teach an undergraduate course called Theories of Argumentation at Northwestern University. I worked with students from the sciences, engineering, history, the social sciences, the humanities, and the performing arts. This book aims to draw together ideas and issues on which we worked in that class. Former students, now scattered in a variety of careers and professions, have indicated that the course was of great value in shaping their approaches to practical reasoning and judgment, not only in their chosen careers but also in their role as citizens. In turn, their willingness to grapple with these ideas has been the greatest stimulus to my own continued commitments to teaching and research. I have benefited immensely from my engagement with students over the years, and it is to them that I dedicate this book.

Professor Hans V. Hansen of the University of Windsor first suggested that I write up my course in a book to make it available to others. He envisioned a series of books on argumentation that would reflect the range of approaches to the subject and could be used by beginning students as well as more advanced readers. I was to represent the rhetorical approach. Regrettably, the series did not develop with the richness that he had anticipated, but it was his insight and vision that inspired the preparation of this work, and I am deeply grateful to him.

Several years ago, I developed an audio and video course for adults called Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning, produced commercially by The Teaching Company. The notes, comments, and questions Ive received from my students in that course, as well as from my Northwestern students, have been immensely helpful in refining my thinking and sustaining my interest.