The Virtues of Argument

Transcription

1 Florida Institute of Technology my.fit.edu/~aberdein Joint Session, University of Bristol, 8th July 2007

2 Aristotle s Moral Virtues Irascibility Gentleness Spiritlessness Rashness Courage Cowardice Shamelessness Modesty Diffidence Profligacy Temperance Insensitiveness Envy Righteous Indignation [Malice] Profit The Just Loss Prodigality Liberality Meanness Boastfulness Sincerity Self-depreciation Flattery Friendliness Surliness Subservience Dignity Stubbornness Luxuriousness Hardiness Endurance Vanity Greatness of Spirit Smallness of Spirit Extravagance Magnificence Shabbiness Rascality Wisdom Simpleness Eudemian Ethics 1220b 1221a.

3 Aristotle s Intellectual Virtues: knowledge; art; prudence; intuition; wisdom. Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI

4 Modern Virtue Epistemology: Sosa/Greco/Goldman: sight; hearing; introspection; memory; deduction; induction. Heather Battaly, 2000, What is Virtue Epistemology? In Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy.

5 Zagzebski s Intellectual Virtues: the ability to recognize the salient facts; sensitivity to detail; open-mindedness in collecting and appraising evidence; fairness in evaluating the arguments of others; intellectual humility; intellectual perseverance, diligence, care and thoroughness; adaptability of intellect; the detective s virtues: thinking of coherent explanations of the facts; being able to recognize reliable authority; insight into persons, problems, theories; the teaching virtues: the social virtues of being communicative, including intellectual candour and knowing your audience and how they respond; intellectual courage, autonomy, boldness, creativity, and inventiveness. Linda Zagzebski, 1996, Virtues of the Mind, pp. 114, 220, 225.

6 Universality Brahma Viharas (Divine abiding practices) of Buddhism: metta (loving-kindness); karuna (compassion); muddita (appreciative joy); uppeka (equanimity). Two worries: 1 Incommensurability? 2 Local virtues?

7 Universality Brahma Viharas (Divine abiding practices) of Buddhism: metta (loving-kindness); karuna (compassion); muddita (appreciative joy); uppeka (equanimity). Two worries: 1 Incommensurability? 2 Local virtues?

8 Applicability When I started off my career in defended divorce cases I greatly admired the smooth and elegant advocacy of Lord Salmon, who... seemed to me to win his cases with all the noise and bluster of a perfectly tuned Rolls-Royce coasting down hill. Cyril Salmon would take out his more valuable possessions, his gold watch and chain, his heavy gold key-ring and cigarettelighter, and place them on the bench in front of him. Then he would... plunge his hands deep into his trouser pockets and stroll negligently up and down the front bench lobbing faultlessly accurate questions over his shoulder at the witness-box. Here, I thought, was a style to imitate. For my early cross-examinations I would... take off my battered Timex watch, lug out my bundle of keys held together with a piece of frayed string and pace up and down firing off what I hope were appropriate questions backwards. I continued with this technique until an unsympathetic Judge said, Do try and keep still Mr Mortimer. It s like watching ping-pong. John Mortimer, 1984, Clinging to the Wreckage, p. 96.

9 Status of Arguments Must agent-based appraisal of argumentation commit the ad hominem fallacy? Ad Hominem Arguments consist in bringing alleged facts about Jones to bear in an attempt to influence hearers attitudes toward Jones s advocacy-of-p Alan Brinton, 1995, The ad hominem, in Hansen & Pinto, Fallacies, p But are all instances of ad hominem necessarily fallacious?

10 Status of Arguments Must agent-based appraisal of argumentation commit the ad hominem fallacy? Ad Hominem Arguments consist in bringing alleged facts about Jones to bear in an attempt to influence hearers attitudes toward Jones s advocacy-of-p Alan Brinton, 1995, The ad hominem, in Hansen & Pinto, Fallacies, p But are all instances of ad hominem necessarily fallacious?

11 Status of Arguments Must agent-based appraisal of argumentation commit the ad hominem fallacy? Ad Hominem Arguments consist in bringing alleged facts about Jones to bear in an attempt to influence hearers attitudes toward Jones s advocacy-of-p Alan Brinton, 1995, The ad hominem, in Hansen & Pinto, Fallacies, p But are all instances of ad hominem necessarily fallacious?

12 Ad Hominem: An Experiment Here is an open conjecture: Conjecture. Somewhere in the decimal expansion of π there are one million sevens in a row. Here is a heuristic argument about the claim:... After having read this argument please say to what extent you are persuaded by it: not persuaded totally persuaded Matthew Inglis & Juan Pablo Mejia-Ramos, 2006, Is it ever appropriate to judge an argument by its author?, Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 26(2), p. 44.

13 Ad Hominem: An Experiment Here is an open conjecture: Conjecture. Somewhere in the decimal expansion of π there are one million sevens in a row. Here is a heuristic argument about the claim (taken from a talk by Prof. Timothy Gowers, University of Cambridge):... After having read this argument please say to what extent you are persuaded by it: not persuaded totally persuaded Matthew Inglis & Juan Pablo Mejia-Ramos, 2006, Is it ever appropriate to judge an argument by its author?, Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 26(2), p. 44.

14 Zagzebski s Intellectual Virtues: the ability to recognize the salient facts; sensitivity to detail; open-mindedness in collecting and appraising evidence; fairness in evaluating the arguments of others; intellectual humility; intellectual perseverance, diligence, care and thoroughness; adaptability of intellect; the detective s virtues: thinking of coherent explanations of the facts; being able to recognize reliable authority; insight into persons, problems, theories; the teaching virtues: the social virtues of being communicative, including intellectual candour and knowing your audience and how they respond; intellectual courage, autonomy, boldness, creativity, and inventiveness. Linda Zagzebski, 1996, Virtues of the Mind, pp. 114, 220, 225.

15 Daniel Cohen s Argumentational Virtues Deaf dogmatist Eager Believer [Quietism] Willingness to Willingness to Willingness to Listen Question Engage Concessionaire Unassuring Argument Assurer Provocateur Daniel Cohen, 2005, Arguments that backfire, in Hitchcock & Farr, The Uses of Argument.

16 Virtues vs. Skills An Aristotelian Distinction... In the matter of arts and skills, they say, voluntary error is preferable to involuntary error, while in the matter of virtues... it is the reverse. Philippa Foot, 1978, Virtues and Vices, p Applied to Argument Virtue : Skill :: Sophism : Paralogism

17 Virtues vs. Skills An Aristotelian Distinction... In the matter of arts and skills, they say, voluntary error is preferable to involuntary error, while in the matter of virtues... it is the reverse. Philippa Foot, 1978, Virtues and Vices, p Applied to Argument Virtue : Skill :: Sophism : Paralogism

18 Summary Virtue theory is a potentially fruitful methodology for informal logic; Addresses recurring problems at least as satisfactorily as other virtue theories; Exploits under-utilized virtue/skill distinction. Future work: Analyses of individual virtues; Systematic basis for appeals to moral obligations in reasoning.

19 Summary Virtue theory is a potentially fruitful methodology for informal logic; Addresses recurring problems at least as satisfactorily as other virtue theories; Exploits under-utilized virtue/skill distinction. Future work: Analyses of individual virtues; Systematic basis for appeals to moral obligations in reasoning.

20 Summary Virtue theory is a potentially fruitful methodology for informal logic; Addresses recurring problems at least as satisfactorily as other virtue theories; Exploits under-utilized virtue/skill distinction. Future work: Analyses of individual virtues; Systematic basis for appeals to moral obligations in reasoning.

21 Summary Virtue theory is a potentially fruitful methodology for informal logic; Addresses recurring problems at least as satisfactorily as other virtue theories; Exploits under-utilized virtue/skill distinction. Future work: Analyses of individual virtues; Systematic basis for appeals to moral obligations in reasoning.

22 Summary Virtue theory is a potentially fruitful methodology for informal logic; Addresses recurring problems at least as satisfactorily as other virtue theories; Exploits under-utilized virtue/skill distinction. Future work: Analyses of individual virtues; Systematic basis for appeals to moral obligations in reasoning.