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An Exploration of Johnson's Sense of ‘Argument’

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Abstract

This essay attempts to give definitions and identity conditions for the two predominant senses of ‘Argument’ currently in use, the one involving reasons for a conclusion and the other denoting an expressed disagreement with ensuing verbal behaviour by two parties. I see Johnson's new concept of ‘Argument’, as developed in his book Manifest Rationality, as a hybrid of the two common senses of ‘Argument’, and, accordingly, I try to define and give the identity conditions of Johnson-arguments. Finally, I disagree with Johnson on the nature of the definition he thinks he has proposed, and I conclude with observations suggesting that his logical perspective has dialectical and rhetorical components.

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Hansen, H.V. An Exploration of Johnson's Sense of ‘Argument’. Argumentation 16, 263–276 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019941018258

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019941018258

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