On Perelman's Theory Of Argumentation And Its Conception Of Reason

As one of the pioneers of Informal Logic Theory,Perelman's theory of argumentation has an important influence on the modern theory of argumentation and the Rhetorical approach to argumentation research.It also provides an important theoretical basis for the creation of Pragma-dialectical.In the study of contemporary argumentation,a comprehensive and systematic study of Perelman's theory of argumentation and its philosophical foundation not only helps to understand the theory of informal logic itself,but also helps to explore the theoretical foundation of the legitimacy of informal logic;not only helps to expand its application in other fields,but also contributes to proper discussion of the frontier questions of informal logic research.Considering this,on the one hand,this paper attempts to justify that the New Rhetoric is the logical basis of value judgment,and the former is essentially a kind of informal logic.On this basis,it discusses the intrinsic quality of Perelman's argument theory from four aspects:the argumentation and its related concepts,the premise of argumentation,the type of argumentation and the argument of evaluation and error.On the other hand,by citing the latest achievements in the research of contemporary argumentation theory,this paper reconstructs argumentation schemes puts forward critical questions matching with arguments,and grasps Perelman's conception of reason from criticism and reconstruction of the concept of reason,so as to develop and perfect the theory of argumentation.Finally,in order to clarify its value and its position in the research of contemporary argumentation theory,this paper grasps the influence of the New Rhetoric on contemporary informal logic from the attitude of informal logic to New Rhetoric,the conception of audience,the argument schemes and the conception of reason.Taking into comprehensive account the internal structure of Perelman's argumentation theory and its conception of reason,this paper is divided into the following parts:In the introduction part,the author,based on the elaboration of Perelman the person,his book and his theoretical ambition,puts emphasis on the clarification of the two meanings of "logical basis of value judgment".Moreover,the author gives an overview of the research on the theory of argumentation home and abroad,introduces the research object and the basic structure of this paper,and explains the selection of the edition of works used and authorship of the New Rhetoric.The first chapter discusses the relationship between the New Rhetoric,argumentation theory and logic.Based on the discussion of Aristotle's rhetoric,dialectics and analysis,this paper expounds the reason why Perelman called his argumentation theory G“New Rhetoric" instead of "Dialectics",and discusses the"newness" of "new rhetoric" from two aspects:the audience and the type of argument.Finally,the author justifies that Perelman's theory of argumentation can be regarded as a kind of informal logic from three aspects,namely its high consistency with Informal logic in North American on research objects and specific topics,and its direct impact on the development of the latter.The second chapter discusses the argument and its related concepts.On the basis of Perelman's discussion,this paper defines "argumentation" and expounds the two characteristics of argumentation:subjectivity and purpose.Through the distinction between "argumentation" and "demonstration",and analysis of relevant concept,such as "adherence","persuasion","convincing","presence" and the concept of "audience",this chapter aims to show the accurate and comprehensive understanding of the essence of argumentation in the new rhetoric,so as to globally grasp the key terms of the New Rhetoric as a kind of argumentation theory.The third chapter discusses the premises of argumentation in the New Rhetoric.The premises of argumentation are the starting point of argument,and also the basis for achieving the goal of the arguer.Premises consist of two kinds:the agreement of truth and the agreement of preference.The first kind concerns the real,comprising facts,truths,and presumptions,which are the agreement of universal audience;the other kind concerns the preferable,comprising values,hierarchies,and loci,which are the agreement of particular audience.The fourth and fifth chapters discuss the techniques of argumentation in New Rhetoric,The techniques of argumentation are helpful to induce or reinforce the audience's adherence to the conclusion.Perelman divides the argument into two categories,namely,the techniques of association and dissociation,by reconstructing the commonsense of the audience.Among them,the techniques of association can be divided in to quasi-logical arguments,argLuments based on the structure of reality and the arguments aiming at establishing the structure of the real.Based on the exposition of specific argumentation and its characteristics,the author gives the argument schemes which describe the formal structure of each argument.The sixth chapter discusses the judgments of argumentation and the fallacies.Perelman's theory of argumentation has neither evaluation of argumentation nor the analysis of fallacies.According to his discussion and his emphasis on the audience,the universal audience is in fact a standard or criterion to judge a good or bad argument.In the course of the evaluation,the standard of the universal audience is quite abstract,and it is not feasible in practice.In the author's view,the universal audience can evaluate the argument with the help of the critical questions of RSA standard.Accordingly,a fallacious argument is an argument that does not satisfy the critical question matching with each argument scheme,or an argument that seems to convince a universal audience,but actually not.The seventh chapter discusses criticism and reconstruction of the conception of reason.This paper grasps the relationship between logic and reason from two aspects,and clarifies the two meanings of the word "reason":the rationality and the reasonableness.On the one hand,the author elaborates the rational view of formal logic and its problems from some aspects,such as the basic characteristics of rationality,the epistemology origin of rationality,the manifestation of rationality in formal logic,the problems of formal logic presupposing rationality.On the other hand,the author grasps the reason concept of argumentation theory and its problems from such aspects as the basic characteristics of the reasonableness,the epistemology origin of the reasonableness,the informal logic reflecting the reasonableness and how to avoid the lack of formal logic in informal logic.Finally,the author elaborates the relationship of dialectical unity between the rationality and the reasonableness in the case of law.This unity not only makes an enlarged concept of reason possible,but also makes the broad sense of logic or broad view of logic possible.The conclusion discusses the New Rhetoric and the contemporary informal logic.The informal logic has undergone a change of attitude towards the New Rhetoric from ignorance to absorption,manifesting the importance of the New Rhetoric,such as the important effects of audience,argumentation schemes and rational view on the development of informal logic.Perelman's emphasis on the audience is to emphasize the situational nature of the evaluation(argument is always directed to particular audience)and argumentation(the construction of argument should predict the response of the audience),bringing Pragmatic factors of argument evaluation into the evaluation theory of informal logic.Perelman's argumentation schemes can be formalized in the sense of form,that is to say,they have their own argumentation structures,and the characterization of the structure is the commonality of all logic.In the field of informal logic,the concept of reason and the philosophical basis of informal logic have not been paid enough attention.What Perelman and Toulmin have done highlights the significance of the work in this field.