Abstract

Only recently have scholars again taken serious interest in works on disputation in the history of logic. Several recent studies have been done on the medieval and late medieval ars obligatoria, which I would venture to say, is the best known area in the history of disputation theory. Other areas in the history of disputation theory have not been sufficiently researched, including Book VIII of the Aristotelian Topics. But no period so rich in works on disputation has been more neglected by modern scholarship than the period from the mid-16th century to the mid-18th century. This dissertation is a critical historical study of logic books and dissertations published between the mid-16th century to the late 18th century on methods and techniques of disputation; it thus aims to partially fill this gap in our knowledge of the history of logic. The study focuses for the most part on a substantial body of little-known logic literature by German second scholastic logicians, such as Keckermann, Johannes Dannhawerus, Jacobus Thomasius, and Andreas Kesler, to name a few. Some discussion of Leibnizian fragments on the ars disputandi is also presented. Topics treated in the dissertation include the aims and structure of post-medieval disputation, particular rules and strategies, and such topics as the logical force of various disputation moves and rules governing onus probandi