On the Logical Ways to Counter an Argument: A Typology and Some Theoretical Consequences

Abstract

My aim here is to give an adequate definition of counterargument, establishing a suitable typology of counterarguments grounded on Toulmin’s model. An argument structure is a combination of arguments with an explicit argumentative orientation, positive, negative or neutral. Counterarguing involves conjoining the criticized and the critical argument into a single argumentation. Therefore, counterargumentation produces argument structures, and a classification of counterarguments is by itself a classification of argument structures.