Pragma-dialectics amidst other approaches to argumentation

Abstract

Next to pragma-dialectics various other approaches to argumentation have developed during the past decades. First, the neo-classical views of Toulmin and Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca are discussed, which are still influential. Second, attention is paid to the formal dialectical approaches, developed by researchers with a background in logic and stimulated by the writings of Naess, Crawshay-Williams, Lorenzen and his Erlangen school, and Hamblin. Third, the various contributions to normatively oriented informal logic are briefly described. Fourth, the descriptive rhetorical and linguistic approaches are given their due. In all cases it is indicated to which components of the research program of argumentation theory each of these approaches contributes and how it relates to the pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation that has been expounded in this volume. In conclusion some future prospects are highlighted, especially for further development of the pragma-dialectical approach.