Critical discussion and the identification of fallacies

Abstract

Maintaining reasonableness in argumentative discourse means first of all avoiding the use and acceptance of the wrong argumentative moves that are traditionally known as fallacies. Therefore the way in which the fallacies are treated is the litmus test of the problem-validity of the code of conduct for reasonable argumentative discourse that is derived from the pragma-dialectical procedure for conducting a critical discussion. After the rules of the code of conduct for reasonable argumentative discourse have been established it is made clear that the fallacies that have been recognized in the literature are all violations of these rules. To conclude it is explained what the special characteristics are of the pragma-dialectical treatment of the fallacies that differentiate this approach from other approaches.