Rhetoric and Argumentation: An Introduction

Abstract

When the editors suggested this special issue on rhetoric and argument, they play­ fully appended a sub-title: What every in­ formal logician should know about rhetoric, but was too shy to ask. The com­ mon ground on which informal logicians and rhetoricians meet is argumentation, and both parties share a common goal, i.e., understanding argumentation-in theory, practice, and criticism. A well developed theory of argumentation, 1 submjt, requires principles and standards drawn from three sources that, together, make up the contro­ versial arts par excellence: rhetoric, logic, and dialectic. If that's a fair statement, then it behooves informal logicians to attend to insights derived from rhetorical studies of argumentation.