Colleagus
following on from John's reference to Toulmin I think that it's
important to recognise the nature of Toulmin's work. In the 'Uses of
Argument' (published in 1958, when technical-rationality was still
acsendant), he argues that the classical logician's quasi-mathematical
approach to argument has limited application to the *real* use of
argument in everyday practical affairs. Rather, he suggests, we ought to
look at argument in the field of the law, jurisprudence, as the basis
for understanding practical reasoning. The crucial move, I believe, is
to see argument as about making *claims* to knowledge/ truth, then
sustaining such claims in response to (or in anticipation of) challenge.
Many (most?) of our students, I feel, come to us with an implicit view
of academic study as *acquiring* (unchallengeable) knowledge. This is, I
would suggest, reinforced by the learnerist philosophy that seems to
have taken root in HE. What we need to do, and what I attempt to do with
my students, is to promote the understanding that the field of academia
is an arena of essential contestation over knowledge claims. To become
and be a participant in that arena (ie to become and be an
undergraduate, to become and be a postgraduate student, to become and be
an academic) involves engagement with and in (the practices of) such
contestation.
I would add the following to John's sugested sources:
Booth, W., Colomb, G. and Williams, J. (1995, 2003) The Craft of
Research, Chicago: University of Chicago Press (now in second edition) -
section III (chaps 7-11) 'Making a claim and supporting it' - the
authors are/ were academics in departments of English language and
literature, and particularly focus on issues of rhetoric; notes section
gives useful range of other sources
Bonnet, A. (2001) How to argue - a students' guide, Harlow, Essex:
Prentice Hall (the placement of the possessive comma makes for a useful
point on punctuation) - doesn't draw specifically upon Toulmin but
presents 6 main types (structures) of argument
Fisher, A. (1988) The logic of real arguments, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press - includes passages from Malthus, Mill, Caspar
Weinberger (Reagan's Secretary of Defence - hiss, boo), Marx that Fisher
annotates to highlight the structure of the arguments. Maybe same could
be done on Reith lectures - or even texts promoting the skills agenda
and learnerism (and, I accept, the practices/ identity approach).
best wishes
Len Holmes
John Hilsdon wrote:
> Hi Ed …
>
> Helen asked about our assignment project here at Plymouth yesterday –
> one of the things we hope to do is map and identify features of ‘good’
> argument in essays …
>
> Interesting idea to look at Reith lectures for argument structure.
> Anyone interested who doesn't already know it might find this old but
> fab book useful : Toulmin, S. The Uses of Argument: Cambridge
> University Press, 1958 ISBN 0521092302
>
> If you want to look at models of argument mapping, Sally Mitchell has
> done work in this area:
>
> Mitchell S, 2000: Learning to Argue in Higher Education, Greenwood Press
>
> Mitchell, Sally and Riddle, Mike 2000: Improving the Quality of
> Argument in Higher Education Middlesex University
>
--------------------------------------------------------
Dr Leonard Holmes
Manager, Management Research Centre
London Metropolitan University
Holloway Road, London N7 8DB
tel. +44 (0)20 7133 3032
email: [log in to unmask]
websites:
http://www.re-skill.org.uk
http://www.odysseygroup.org.uk
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