Argumentation Structures and Operations

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter and the following two deal with argumentative operations that weave together arguments to produce complex arguments. An argumentative operation is a process by which two or more arguments are integrated into a single, more complex, argument. Many argumentative connectors are commonly used as signs of argumentative operations. An argumentative operation yields an argumentative structure: the arrangement of parts in an argument, either simple or complex. Thus, e.g. the operation of concatenation yields a subordinative argument. The successive interventions of the participants in an argumentative exchange can be seen as applications of these operations, by means of which participants interactively weave a macro-argument in the course of an argumentative exchange.