-
The Uses of Argument
When Toulmin wrote his original book, he was not trying to progress any theory on communication. "When I wrote [The Uses of Argument], my aim was strictly philosophical: to criticize the assumption, made by most Anglo-American academic philosophers, that any significant argument can be put in formal terms . . ..” (Stephen Toulmin, 2008) His work in his book would go on as a guideline for argument development. Toulmin, Stephen Edelston. The Uses of Argument. Cambridge University Press, 2008. -
First Triad
Toulmin’s model consists of six steps. The first three are claim, data (grounds), and warrant. The claim is what you are trying to prove, and the data is information presented that supports the claim. The warrant connects the former two for the audience. The warrant can be spoken or unspoken. (Changingminds) “Toulmin's Argument Model.” Changingminds.org, changingminds.org/disciplines/argument/making_argument/toulmin.htm -
Second Triad
His second triad consists of backing, modality, and rebuttal. Backing supports warrant from the first triad. Modality expresses how sure you are about your claims, and rebuttals are any arguments presented by challengers of your ideas. It is a good idea to try to be able to predict your opponent's rebuttals because they may lead into a whole new argument. link text -
Human Understanding
Stephen Toulmin would continue to release new works. Some of these new works challenged the direction philosophers were headed. Toulmin would argue that too much work was going to ideas that could not be used in practical situations. (Nathan Meredith, 1996) These ideas were expanded upon in his book Human Understanding. Meredith, Nathan. “Stephen Toulmin.” Nathan Meredith: Stephen Toulmin, 1996, www2.idehist.uu.se/distans/ilmh/pm/toulmin-meredith.htm.
