Methods for analysing arguments and texts

As the theory of valid arguments, logic is of crucial significance for philosophy. It is also an important tool for analysing reasoning and argumentative text. As such it is relevant in all sciences, as well as in debates on environmental issues and sustainable development. However, the formal theories of logic are only relevant for arguments if they are supplemented by theories about the relationship between real arguments and logical formulas. Such theories of formalization and their philosophical implications are one focus of this project. Specifically, we try to elucidate the principles of formalization that are implicitly operative in standard practice of elementary first-order logic.

More broadly, we study methods of analysing arguments and texts. We focus on techniques from philosophy and the humanities that are useful for scientists and engineers in a wide variety of contexts. How can formal logic, theory of argumentation, theories of definition and accounts of metaphor be put to use as general techniques for analysing texts and arguments? A course on practical skills of text analysis is also regularly included in our teaching. 

Contact: Georg Brun

Key publications

Brun, Georg; Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn. 2009. Textanalyse in den Wissenschaften. Inhalte und Argumente analysieren und verstehen. Zürich: vdf, UTB 3139. http://www.vdf.ethz.ch/info/showDetails.asp?isbnNr=3132

Brun, Georg. 2008. “Formalization and the Objects of Logic.” Erkenntnis 69, 1-30. (pdf) http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10670-008-9112-3

Brun, Georg. 2004. Die richtige Formel. Philosophische Probleme der logischen Formalisierung. 2nd ed. Frankfurt a.M.: ontos. Overview (pdf) http://www.ontosverlag.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=61