-
The Birth of Stephen Toulmin
Born in London, England in 1933. -
Period: to
1933-2009
A brief history of Stephen Edelston Toulmin -
The Place of Reason in Ethics. 1949
Published his book in 1949. The title of the book explains itself. It is an explanation of what is reason and what is an accepted judgement in the moral standpoint of supporting arguments. C. F. The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 48, no. 23, 1951 -
The Uses of Argument Published
The book that defined his career and bolstered him as one of the most influential Philosophers of our era. In this book he continues to question the logic in argument. "..which assertions and opinions concerning all sorts of topics,brought up in everyday life or in academic research, can be rationally justified...." Toulmin, Stephen Edelston. The Uses of Argument. Vol. Updated ed, Cambridge University Press, 2003 -
Created 6 components for analyzing arguments
In his book The Uses of Argument, created 6 components for analyzing and argument. Claim - conclusion must be established
Ground - using facts evidence and data
Warrant - Statements used to validate Ground and Claim
Backing - used when warrant is insufficient, giving credentials to argument
Rebuttal - used against the claim, using facts, evidence and data
Qualifier - Using proper grammar to a degree that benefits the claim ground and warrant. -
Human Understanding published
The inspiring idea behind this project is that "a man demonstrates his rationality, not by a commitment to fixed ideas, stereotyped procedures, or immutable concepts, but by the manner in which, and the occasions on which he changes those ideas, procedures and concepts." Haworth, L. (1973). Philosophy of Science, 40(3), 453-454. -
The Return to Cosmology Published
In 1982, Toulmin published his book, a collection of essays map the change between science and theology in the field of cosmology. Greenwood, R. L. "S. Toulmin, "the Return to Cosmology" (Book Review). here you can find a brief video of Stephen speaking about time and cosmology -
Stephen Toulmin Passes Away
