March 26, 2004
argumentation
... the way in which an argument is carried out: claims, evidence and reasoning.
This is a fascinating area of logical analysis that I'd never heard of before. How are arguments constructed? How can you tell if something is logically argued? How can a computer tell if an argument is correct? How can you (or your computer) draw diagrams and maps to help you argue? How can computers argue with each other?
This can be used in many fields - genetics, law, urban planning, pseudoscience debunkery, business analysis, politics... anywhere with hard, multi-dimensional problems and lots of disparate information.
A good starting point is this list of logical fallacies, which neatly gives ways of rebuttal (proofs), this critical thinking tutorial, and some theory.
An example makes it clearer. These crazy fantastic argumentation maps explore the debate "can computers think?", with over 700 claims made by 380 protagonists. Check in particular their explanation of the cartographic metaphor (the project director was also resonsible for social messes and mess maps). Crack! Crack I tell you!
(with big thanks to bioinformaticist ben for pointing me at all this)
Trackbacks
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.anti-mega.com/cgi-bin/mt/addmttb.cgi/117
