Is Aristotle the Forefather of Informal Logic?

Abstract

AbstractI argue that Aristotle takes a ‘natural language semantics’ approach to logic, which is consistent with the general attitudes one finds in informal logic today. Although his position is complex, Aristotle emphasizes the intensional rather than the extensional side of argument evaluation. He does not take a truth-functional approach to semantics, but an approach that elucidates the illative mechanism through an understanding of natures. This comes close to what informal logicians insist on. The informal logic movement was, to a very large extent, a Canadian initiative, prominently featuring authors such as Johnson, Blair, Govier, and many others.