1st Edition

The Ethics of Argumentation

By Katharina Stevens Copyright 2026
200 Pages
by Routledge

200 Pages
by Routledge

This book offers a new approach to the theory of argumentation that conceptualizes argumentation as a fundamentally ethical activity whose norms are grounded in, and must be selected according to, moral reasons. Current normative approaches to argumentation do not treat ethics as an integral part of argumentation theory. This is at least in part due to a methodological commitment not to address... Read more

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Function Claims as the Foundation for Normative Argumentation Theory

2. A Moral Foundation for Normative Argumentation Theory

3. Single-Set Theories of Argumentation and the Ideal Theory Problem

4. A Multi-Set Normative Theory of Argumentation with an Applied Ethics of Normative Argument Design

5. The Impossible Procedure of the Opening Stage

6. An Applied Role-Ethics for Object-Level Arguing

Conclusion: One Last Argument Regarding Critical Thinking Education

References

Index

Biography

Katharina Stevens is a philosopher and argumentation theorist working at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. She is one of the editors of the journal Informal Logic and one of the directors of the Critical Thinking and Citizen Engagement Lab at the University of Lethbridge.

“This book is a compelling case that there is a deep connection between argumentation and ethics. In particular, we need to reflect on how and why we argue with each other. This requires that we think through not only the issues on which we disagree but the roles we take when we work it all out. Stevens’s insights here are invaluable, and they reflect the profound stakes for how we reason together.”

Scott Aikin, Vanderbilt University, USA

"The Ethics of Argumentation makes a closing argument against single, ideal argumentation theories. It synthesizes scholarship in philosophy and communication to clear ground that has been broken here and there in explaining the impossibility, impracticality, and immorality of a single ideal. It urges attention to context in a way that guards against easy dismissals as relativism, and will be an intellectual force for argumentation scholars to reckon with."

Beth Innocenti, University of Kansas, USA