Pursuing Reason

Aug 21, 2026

Pursuing Reason is a collection of essays by Trudy Govier, curated under Windsor Studies in Argumentation. The book revisits and expands influential research in informal logic, linking theoretical insights to concrete practices in real-world disputes. Across the chapters, Govier examines minimal adversariality, the relationship between argument and explanation, when it is appropriate to argue, opposition and objections, and the role of anecdotes, logic, parables, and credibility in teaching, learning, and ethical evaluation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages206

Reading Time5 h 17 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Reflections on Minimal Adversariality

Argument and Explanation: A Pragmatic and Ethical Account

When Should We Argue?

Opposition

Anecdotes in Arguments

Logic, Parables, and Argument

Teaching and Learning, Stories and Arguments

Issues of Logicism and Objectivity

Argument as Product, Argument as Process

Considering Credibility

The Tu Quoque and Moral Credibility

Pursuing Reason Pursuing Reason Trudy Govier UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR - WINDSOR STUDIES IN ARGUMENTATION WINDSOR, ON Pursuing Reason Copyright © 2026 by Windsor Studies in Argumentation and the Author is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Cover Art: Emily Honderich Editorial Assistance by Tamilyn Mulvaney eBook ISBN: 978-1-998123-06-3 Print ISBN: 978-1-998123-04-9 Contents Introduction 1 Christopher W. Tindale 1. Reflections on Minimal Adversariality 9 2. Argument and Explanation: A Pragmatic and 25 Ethical Account 3. When Should We Argue? 39 4. Opposition 53 5. Anecdotes in Arguments 75 6. Logic, Parables, and Argument 87 7. Teaching and Learning, Stories and Argu- 123 ments 8. Issues of Logicism and Objectivity 145 9. Argument as Product, Argument as Process 159 10. Considering Credibility 173 11. The Tu Quoque and Moral Credibility 187 Introduction Christopher W. Tindale Pursuing Reason marks the latest collection of essays from a scholar known for thoughtful theoretical treatments of a wide range of problems in informal logic and for practical applications that bring the insights of her research to real world issues. With the re-publication of several papers that deserve wider exposure and the first-time publication of a series of six new essays, this collection uncovers threads of thought that have tracked through much of the author’s career. Trudy Govier is a philosopher who has been involved in the informal logic “movement” almost from the beginning and has contributed pioneering work of wide influence. By her own admission (2018), the shift to studying real arguments expressed in natural language took her by surprise, but she was a quick and enthusiastic adherent. Her early work in the Informal Logic Newsletter (later to become the journal Informal Logic) identified some of the principal issues and concerns that became important threads in the research agenda of the field that emerged at the end of the 70s and into the 80s. And her early books on theory (1987) and practice (1985) developed and applied many of those research questions. The collection starts with a relatively recent paper that appeared in Informal Logic in 2021 (volume 41 issue 4) . “Reflections on Minimal Adversariality” engages a debate that she herself inaugurated in 1999, when she first addressed the concern raised by some feminist scholars that argument was too adversarial, proposing in response a conception of minimal adversariality as a necessary feature of controversies (1999: 247) . Various scholars have since weighed in on the central issue of that discussion: how much adversarilaity is appropriate? Govier modifies some of her earlier thinking as she reviews the scholarship that her original paper has engendered, offering corrections and challenges where necessary. We are adversarial, she concludes, in providing reasons for some claims and opposing others. This is the normal give and take at the heart of argumentative activity, a heart that centres around a conception of argument as a product, conceiving an argument “with premises and conclusion such that the premises are put forward in an effort to support the conclusion.” This is a conception that has lain at the foundation of all of her work and continues to do so in the debates she enters in Pursuing Reason. The second chapter provides the first of the new papers,“Argument and Explanation: A Pragmatic and Ethical Account.” While new, it is still a paper that develops thinking she has maintained across her scholarship. She offers her own understanding of the relationship between argument (as defined in the previous paper) and explanation, a distinction that confounds both novice and seasoned researcher. In the course of her investigation, she returns to the work of Stephen N. Thomas, one of the early contributors to this issue. The dis

FAQs

What does “minimal adversariality” mean in Govier’s discussion?

It presents adversarial exchange as a necessary feature of controversies, where reasons are offered for some claims and opposed for others.

How does the book distinguish argument from explanation?

Govier develops a pragmatic and ethical account of their relationship, clarifying a distinction that often confuses both new and experienced researchers.

What roles do anecdotes and narrative play in arguments?

Anecdotes can function in non-fallacious ways, while also requiring care to avoid pitfalls such as hasty generalization.

Aug 21, 2026

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