- Was rejected by European philosophy, embraced by American rhetoricians
- Divided substantial or practical (content) argument and analytic or theoretical (form) argument
- Theoretical argument has held undue influence, and can be irrelevant for quotidian life
- Divided different subjects into fields (important because some fields can be reconciled through analytic argument and others can't)
- Theoretical statements are idealized, atemporal, and necessary
- Practical statements are concrete, temporal, and presumptive
- Problems with theoretical arguments:
- Practical concerns are rarely if ever governed by a single principle
- Theoretical arguments assume that concepts don't change over time
- Many practical concerns are probable rather than certain and heterogeneous (good and bad) rather than binary (good or bad)
- Appeals to absolute principles can be unresolvable and counterproductive
- Skeptical of "moral enthusiasts" (126).
- Divided equality (everyone treated the same) from equity (everyone treated fairly)
- Resolved this split by positing an ethic of equality for those who should be strangers and one of equity for those who have an ongoing relationship.
- Good reasons as opposed to objectivism, subjectivism, imperativism
- We only have ethics because we live in societies
- Conflicts can be evaluated by the reasons behind them
- Justification of reasons thus is the primary mode of practical argumentation
- Toulmin model:
- Evolutionary model of conceptual change
- Saw concept change as iterative rather than punctuated (like Thomas Kuhn)
- People and organizations influence conceptual development as much as research, ideas, and facts in a field
- The impartial rational standpoint attempts to exist outside of socio-historical situations while being responsive to the actual findings of history and anthropology. It's conclusions are subject to ongoing reconsideration and never finalized.
- Casuistry revival
- Dealing with cases concretely through their similarity to others (precedent), preferably paradigmatic examples cases, rather than viewing them in the light of applicable principles
- Co-existence of humanism and rationality
- We needn't swap one for the other; we should embrace the positives of both
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