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Born
Stephen Toulmin was born in London, UK, on 25 March 1922. -
Early life and Education
He earned his bachelor of arts degree in 1943 and soon after he was hired by the Ministry of Aircraft Production as a Scientific
Officer at Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force Germany. After WW2 he returned to England and earned a Master of Arts degree in 1947 and a PhD in Philosophy. -
Argument Fields
In 1958, Toulmin introduced the concept of argument fields. He stated that some parts of argument are different in various fields and he called ths field- dependent. in Contrast some parts of argument were the same across many fields which he called field- invariant. -
The Toulmin Model of Argument Video
This link will take you to a video explaining the Toulmin Model of Argument. Link text -
The Toulmin Model of Argument
Toulmin developed practical arguments. For an argument to succeed, it needs to have justification for a claim. His layout of six components for analyzing arguments are: Claim- Establish the thesis; Ground- a fact serving as the foundation of the claim; Warrant- a statement that supports the ground to the claim; Backing- Certifying the statement given in the warrant; Rebuttal- statements restricting the claim; Qualifier- words expressing the degree of certainty of the claim. -
Human Understanding
Toulmin published Human Understanding. In this book he explains that conceptual change is an evolutionary process. He rebukes Thomas Kuhn's account of conceptual change in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. From different points of view, the absolutist uses valid or invalid concepts regardless of context. On the other hand, relativists see one concepts of neither better nor worse from a cultural context. Toulmin saw the that evaluation depends on the process of comparison. -
Humanizing modernity
Toulmin sensed that the morality in the fields of science was lacking which diverted its attention from practical problems to the atomic bomb. In consequence, Toulmin started to advocate for humanism in four terms: the use of oral communication, return to the particular issue or individual case that deal with practical moral issues in daily life; bringing back the concrete cultural and historical contexts and rational significance of problems depends on the time lines of our solutions.
