Three views of modality in toulmin

Abstract

The chapter reads as an original contribution to the exegesis of Toulmin’s The Uses of Argument. It examines this modern classic of argumentation theory from the scarcely explored perspective of modality unveiling some latent inconsistencies in the fabric of the book and proposing some new interpretations of the key elements of the Toulmin model. The chapter also considers the reception of Toulmin’s ideas on modality in later studies, as well as their relation to current contributions to argumentation theory and linguistics.