Over the last two-and-a-half thousand years, philosophers and rhetoricians have proposed many different classifications, taxonomies, and lists of arguments. Building on this tradition, the Periodic Table of Arguments (PTA) takes an innovative approach to argument categorization. It distinguishes between argument types by describing three fundamental characteristics: form, substance, and lever. This parametric conceptualization of argument types enables the incorporation of all traditional and contemporary classifications, making the PTA a systematic and comprehensive framework for argument categorization.
By defining an argument type as a unique combination of its form, substance, and lever, the PTA provides a clear rationale for distinguishing between the types. Arguments belong to the same type when they share the values of all three parameters and belong to different types if at least one of these values differs.
The PTA’s parametric approach to argument categorization makes it easier for people to articulate and justify their interpretations of argumentative or persuasive discourse. The approach facilitates empirical research as exemplified in research projects about the Neuroscience of Persuasion, the Psycholinguistics of Communication, and Annotating Argumentation in the Wild. It is also applied in an extension of fact-checking called Argument-Checking. Furthermore, formalized versions of the classification framework of the PTA are used to represent persuasive discourse in Adpositional Rhetoric and to identify argument types in the KRINO explainable AI project.
By following the links, you can learn more about the basic terminology of the PTA and the three parameters argument form, argument substance, and argument lever. For more information and free downloads of key publications on the PTA, please see the side bar or the list below.
Bibliography PTA
Wagemans, J.H.M. (2023). How to identify an argument type? On the hermeneutics of argumentative discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 203, 117-129 >>> DOWNLOAD
Wagemans, J.H.M. (2021). Argument Type Identification Procedure (ATIP) – Version 4. Published online December 30, 2021 >>> DOWNLOAD
Wagemans, J.H.M. (2020). Why missing premises can be missed: Evaluating arguments by determining their lever. In J. Cook (Ed.), Proceedings of OSSA 12: Evidence, Persuasion & Diversity. Windsor, ON: OSSA Conference Archive >>> DOWNLOAD
Wagemans, J.H.M. (2019). Four basic argument forms. Research in Language, 17(1), 57-69 >>> DOWNLOAD
Wagemans, J.H.M. (2018). Analogy, similarity, and the Periodic Table of Arguments. Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric, 55 (68), 63-75 >>> DOWNLOAD
Wagemans, J.H.M. (2018). Assertoric syllogistic and the Periodic Table of Arguments. In S. Oswald & D. Maillat (Eds.), Argumentation and Inference: Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on Argumentation, Fribourg 2017. (Volume I, pp. 573-588). London: College Publications >>> DOWNLOAD
Wagemans, J.H.M. (2016). Reply to commentary on Constructing a Periodic Table of Arguments. In P. Bondy & L. Benacquista (Eds.), Argumentation, Objectivity, and Bias: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation (OSSA), 18-21 May 2016 (pp. 1-4). Windsor, ON: OSSA >>> DOWNLOAD
Wagemans, J.H.M. (2016). Constructing a Periodic Table of Arguments. In P. Bondy & L. Benacquista (Eds.), Argumentation, Objectivity, and Bias: Proceedings of the 11thInternational Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation (OSSA), 18-21 May 2016 (pp. 1-12). Windsor, ON: OSSA >>> DOWNLOAD
PERIODIC TABLE OF ARGUMENTS 