Abstract
The paper examines Walton‘s concept of fallacy as it develops throughthree stages of his work: from the early series of papers co-authored withJohn Woods; through a second phase of involvement with thepragma-dialectical perspective; and on to the final phase in which heoffers a distinct pragmatic theory that reaches beyond the perceived limitsof the pragma-dialectical account while still exhibiting a debt to thatperspective and the early investigations with Woods. It is observed how Walton‘s model of fallacy is established in distinction to its competitors,and its various problems and successes are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Eemeren, Frans H. van: 1988, ‘Argumentation Analysis: A Dutch Counter-balance’, in Alec Fisher (ed.), Critical Thinking: Proceedings of the First British Conference on Informal Logic and Critical Thinking, University of East Anglia, pp. 39–53.
Eemeren, Frans H. van and Rob Grootendorst: 1984, Speech Acts in Argumentative Discussions, Foris Publications, Dordrecht-Holland.
Eemeren, Frans H. van and Rob Grootendorst: 1992, Argumentation, Communication, and Fallacies: A Pragma-Dialectical Perspective, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Hillsdale, N.J.
Eemeren, Frans H. van and Rob Grootendorst: 1987, ‘Fallacies in a Pragma-Dialectical Perspective’, Argumentation 1, 283–301.
Eemeren, Frans H. van and Rob Grootendorst: 1988, ‘Rationale for a Pragma-Dialectical Perspective’, Argumentation 2, 271–291.
Eemeren, Frans H. van and Rob Grootendorst: 1989, ‘A Transition Stage in the Theory of Fallacies’, Journal of Pragmatics 13, 99–109.
Eemeren, Frans H. van, Rob Grootendorst and Francisca Snoeck Henkemans: 1996, Fundamentals of Argumentation Theory: A Handbook of Historical Backgrounds and Contemporary Developments, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Mahwah, New Jersey.
Finocchiiaro, Maurice A.: 1980, Galileo and the Art of Reasoning: Rhetorical Foundations of Logic and Scientific Method, D. Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht.
Grootendorst, Rob: 1985, ‘Response’, in J. Robert Cox, Malcom O. Sillars and Gregg B. Walker (eds.), Argument and Social Practice: Proceedings of the Fourth SCA/AFA Conference on Argumentation, Speech Communication Association, Annandale, VA, pp. 159–161.
Grootendorst, Rob: 1987, ‘Some Fallacies about Fallacies’, in Frans H. van Emeren, Rob Grootendorst, J. Anthony Blair and Charles A. Willard (eds.), Argumentation: Across the Lines of Discipline, Foris Publications, Dordrecht/Holland, pp. 331–341.
Hamblin, C. L.: 1970, Fallacies, Methuen & Co., London.
Johnson, Ralph H.: 1990, ‘Hamblin on the Standard Treatment’, Philosophy and Rhetoric 23, 153–167.
Johnson, Ralph H.: 1996, The Rise of Informal Logic: Essays on Argumentation, Critical Thinking, Reasoning and Politics, Vale Press, Newport News, Virginia.
Walton, Douglas: 1987, Informal Fallacies: Towards a Theory of Argument Criticisms, John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
Walton, Douglas: 1989, Informal Logic: A Handbook for Critical Argumentation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Walton, Douglas: 1991a, Begging the Question: Circular Reasoning as a Tactic of Argumentation, Greenwood Press, New York.
Walton, Douglas: 1991b, ‘Hamblin and the Standard Treatment of Fallacies’, Philosophy and Rhetoric 24, 353–361.
Walton, Douglas: 1992, Plausible Argument in Everyday Conversation, State University of New York, New York.
Walton, Douglas: 1995, A Pragmatic Theory of Fallacy, The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.
Walton, Douglas: 1996, Arguments from Ignorance, The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, Pennsylvannia.
Walton, Douglas and Erik C. W. Krabbe: 1995, Commitment in Dialogue: Basic Concepts of Interpersonal Reasoning, State University of New York, New York.
Woods, John: 1980, ‘What is Informal Logic?’ in Blair J. Anthony and Ralph H. Johnson (eds.), Informal Logic: The First International Symposium, Edgepress, Pt. Reyes, CA.
Woods, John: 1988, ‘Pragma-dialectics: A Radical Departure in Fallacy Theory’, ISSA Newsletter 4, 5–15.
Woods, John and Douglas Walton: 1982, Argument: The Logic of the Fallacies, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto.
Woods, John and Douglas Walton: 1989, Fallacies: Selected Papers 1972–1982, Foris Publications, Dordrecht/Holland.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
TINDALE, C.W. Fallacies, Blunders, and Dialogue Shifts: Walton‘s Contributions to the Fallacy Debate. Argumentation 11, 341–354 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007706724732
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007706724732