Plausibility in Argumentation
From “Argument as Reasoned Dialogue¨ in Informal
In a plausible argument, if the premises are plausibly true, then the conclusion is as plausibly true as the least plausible premise. This does not mean that it is impossible or even improbable for the conclusion to be false, given that the premises are true. It only means that the conclusion is at least as plausible as the premises.
Plausibility as credibility
“Plausible¨ here could be understood to mean something like “credible.¨ That is, the conclusion of an argument is as credible as its least credible premise.
The plausibility of an argument thereby relies on what premises one is already willing to accept or grant, implicit or otherwise. Under such conditions, one can only accept or grant the conclusion to the least extent that a premise was accepted or granted (Walton 2008, 14).
Eureka
It would seem that the plausibility of an argument has some relationship to the commitment store of the dialogue’s recipient (refer to 20241031115110-The_Commitment_Store).
A consequence of this kind of argument is that, if an interlocutor finds the premises sufficiently plausible, rejecting the conclusion of the argument shifts the burden of proof to them (the concept of burden of proof is discussed in 20241031110100-Types_of_Critical_Discussions) (Walton 2008, 14).
Its clear that plausibility is more or less relevant depending on the type of argumentative dialogue one is engaging in (refer to 20241028171128-Types_of_Argumentative_Dialogue). The relevance of plausibility is higher for something like a critical discussion (for more on critical discussion, see Critical Discussion & 20241031110100-Types_of_Critical_Discussions).
plausibility plausible_argument argumentation argumentation_theory argumentative_dialogue truth burden_of_proof logical_pragmatics dialectics
bibliography
- “Argument as Reasoned Dialogue.” In Informal Logic: A Pragmatic Approach, 2nd ed., 2–37. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.