The Lvov–Warsaw School as a Source of Inspiration for Argumentation Theory

Abstract

The thesis of the paper holds that some future developments of argumentation theory may be inspired by the rich logico-methodological legacy of the Lvov-Warsaw School (LWS), the Polish research movement that was most active from 1895 to 1939. As a selection of ideas of the LWS which exploit both formal and pragmatic aspects of the force of argument, we present: Ajdukiewicz's account of reasoning and inference, Bocheński's analyses of superstitions or dogmas, and Frydman's constructive approach to legal interpretation. This paper does not aim at exhaustive elaboration of any of these topics or their usefulness in current discussions within argumentation theory. Rather, we intend to indicate chosen directions of a potentially fruitful research program for the emerging Polish School of Argumentation which would consist in application of methods and conceptions elaborated by the LWS to selected open problems of contemporary research on argumentation.

Towards Formal Representation and Evaluation of Arguments

“…(Koszowy and Araszkiewicz 2014), this issue]. Using the concept of logical probability elaborated by Ajdukiewicz (1974), we adjust and develop a simple method for evaluating argument force, as presented by Tokarz (2006).…”

Logical Culture as a Common Ground for the Lvov-Warsaw School and the Informal Logic Initiative

“…87-93). The idea proposed by Koszowy and Araszkiewicz (2014) points to the possibility of employing this account to build argumentation schemes (for fallacious reasoning) that would represent typical dogmas in thinking described by Bocheński.…”

“…3 J. Woleński, "Lvov-Warsaw School" (2013).4 The links between some formal-logical ideas of the school and the development of the study of argument and computation are discussed in(Reed and Koszowy, 2011). For a discussion of how some informal-logical ideas of the school may serve as a source of inspiration for argument studies see(Koszowy and Araszkiewicz, 2014).5 Johnson introduced the abbreviation FDL -formal deductive logic -in his(1987). For a critique of Johnson's views, seeWoods (2004).6 By 'real argument', Johnson and Blair have in mind the types of argument that appear in everyday discourse; in newspaper editorials, opinion pieces etc.…”

Speech Act Theory and the Study of Argumentation

“…2 Another important tradition in which a pragmatic perspective on argumentation is taken is that of the Polish School of Argumentation (Debowska-Kozlowska, 2014; Koszowy & Araszkiewicz, 2014).…”