The Skills of Argument

Introduction Scope of the Investigation The investigation to be described focuses on an individual's thinking processes, and as such it relates most directly to the sizable psychological literature on thinking and reasoning. Yet the work also addresses issues that are prominent in a number of other disciplines. From a philosophical perspective, the present work relates to an increasing interest shown by philosophers in the nature and logic of natural language argumentation (Walton, 1989). As already mentioned, philosophers of education such as Scheffler (1965) have noted the importance of reflective thinking about thought, but their ideas have not been connected explicitly to the analysis of argumentation. Here we offer those with philosophical interests an analysis of elementary argumentive reasoning that is grounded in empirical data about the competencies and incompetencies that people exhibit in their argumentive reasoning about everyday topics. From a language perspective, the present work relates to a growing area of research within discourse analysis pertaining to discourse that is argumentive (Grimshaw, 1990). What are the unique features that characterize argumentive in contrast to other kinds of discourse? Although it does not investigate social discourse directly, the research presented here, focused on the cognitive prerequisites of competent argument, offers some insight regarding the language of argument. From sociological and political perspectives, the present work is relevant to a growing understanding of the complex interrelations that exist between individual and sociological processes (Dowd, 1990).