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Reasoned use of expertise in argumentation

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Abstract

This article evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of arguments based on appeals to expertise. The intersection of two areas is explored: (i) the traditional argumentum ad verecundiam (literally, “appeal to modesty,” but characteristically the appeal to the authority of expert judgment) in informal logic, and (ii) the uses of expert systems in artificial intelligence. The article identifies a model of practical reasoning that underlies the logic of expert systems and the model of argument appropriate for the informal logic of the argumentum ad verecundiam.

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Walton, D.N. Reasoned use of expertise in argumentation. Argumentation 3, 59–73 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00116417

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