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Stephen Edelston Toulmin
Born March 25 1922 -
The First Step of Knowledge
Stephen Edelston Toulmin earns his PhD in ethics from Cambridge University. -
The Professor Begins Teaching
Appointed University Lecturer at Oxford University -
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University Lecturer
Appointed University Lecturer in Philosophy of Science at Oxford University -
An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics
Stephen Toulmin publishes his dissertation and first publication "An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics" this would begin a long list of publications. This first publication centers around the question of what makes a "good reason" to do something. The attempt is to clarify the kind of logic that goes into moral reasoning.
Toulmin, Stephen. An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics. Cambridge U.P., 1968. -
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Visiting Professor of History and Philosophy of Science
Appointed Visiting Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Melbourne University in Australia. -
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University of Leeds
Appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Leeds -
Key: The Uses of Argument
Stephen Toulmin publishes "The Uses of Argument". A key and one of the influential books he will have ever published. The book itself breaks down thoughts on absolutism and puts forth the Toulmin model of Argument. The Toulmin model puts forth a practical argument outline with a layout containing six parts to analyze arguments. The claim, otherwise easily stated as the thesis or the point being made. Toulmin, Stephen Edelston. The Uses of Argument. Cambridge University Press, 1958 -
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The Ancestry of Science
Publishing three books with his second wife, The Fabric of the Heavens (1961), The Architecture of Matter (1962) and The discovery of Time (1965). Three volumes of "The Ancestry of Science" which aimed to put us in the minds of what the world would have been experienced like in our ancestor's minds.
Toulmin, Stephen, and June Goodfield. The Fabric of the Heavens: the Development of Astronomy and Dynamics. Harper & Brohers, 1961. -
Human Understanding
Stephen Toulmin publishes "Human Understanding" where he attempts to replace Thomas Khun's revolutionary science or paradigm shifts. Instead of siding with relativists, Toulmin proposes a new version of Thomas Khun's version.
Toulmin, Stephen. Human Understanding. Princeton University Press, 1972. -
Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity
Stephen Toulmin publishes Cosmopolis. The primary point of which is to further prove his point that the history of philosophy is concentrated too much on formal argumentation instead of focusing on humanism.
Toulmin, Stephen Edelston. Cosmopolis: the Hidden Agenda of Modernity. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1990. -
Return to Reason
Stephen Toulmin publishes Return to Reason continuing along the same lines as Cosmopolis, further disagreeing with modern philosophy and stating that "From now on permanent validity must be set aside as illusory, and our ideas of rationality related to specific functions of the human reason."
Toulhmin, Stephen. Return to Reason. Harvard University Press, 2001 -
Award
Toulmin receives the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art -
Death
Dies Dec 4 2009
