A Practical Study of Argument.

• Author: Harris, Scott

Klumpp's (1991) examination of recent scholarship on argumentation celebrates the diversity which various scholars have brought to the study of practical argument. The three works examined in this review provide good examples of the kind of diversity present in discourse on practical argument.

A Practical Study of Argument is a fairly typical example of what Klumpp characterizes as the formalist approach to practical reason. Govier offers a textbook targeted at an undergraduate population designed to teach students how to analyze and construct "good" arguments. Toward that end she presents a systematic development of principles of informal logic commonly applied to practical discourse. As a textbook on informal logic A Practical Study of Argument offers a few unique characteristics which increase its utility in the classroom. Govier provide, a progressive and systematic development of the process of argument evaluation. She takes the student step by step though the process of identifying arguments, describing the structure of arguments, and developing criteria for evaluating arguments. The most unique feature of the text is the development of application exercises within the body of each chapter to provide demonstration and practice for ideas as they are introduced. The "Practical Study" in the title reflects a dual sense of practicality. The focus of the book is on practical reasoning leading to action, and the structure of the book provides a practical approach for applying the theories presented.

While Govier offers a useful text for teaching practical argument skills, the book reflects some of the limitations of an informal logic approach to argumentation. Willard (1989) has argued that teaching certain conceptions of rationality above others can promote pseudo-expertise and blind faith in our methods of inquiry. The danger imbedded in such an approach is reflected in the rather narrow definition of argument Govier offers. She is interested in evaluating claims which most easily lend themselves to evaluation from the perspective of informal logic...