Argumentation Aug 2008 Open Access

Comments on ‘Black Box Arguments’

Marcin Lewiński University of Amsterdam

Abstract

I consider Sally Jackson's analysis of ''black box arguments,'' on the most abstract level, as a valuable contribution to an ongoing discussion on a very important issue: how to find a rational and critical way between the two extremes of, on the one hand, uncompromising dogmatism and, on the other, endless scepticism in our deliberations. Philosophers of science and argumentation theorists alike have persistently been trying to properly diagnose and solve this difficulty central to their disciplines. Therefore, those of the tentative conclusions of an open, transparent box of 'science in action' which are based on reliable methods and compelling evidence cease to be controversial and become widely accepted through a consensus of a community of scientists. In this way, a contested hypothesis turns into an accepted result, which serves as a black box device-its inner workings are no longer open to scrutiny, and the only thing we can do is to 'input' questions and obtain authoritative 'output' answers.

Journal
Argumentation
Published
2008-08-01
DOI
10.1007/s10503-008-9095-x
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Topics
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No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (1)

  1. Walton (1989)
    Reasoned use of expertise in argumentation
    Argumentation
Also cites 3 works outside this index ↓
  1. M. Aakhus (1999)
    Aakhus, M. 1999. Science court: A case study in designing discourse to manage policy controversy. Knowledge, …
    Knowledge, Technology, & Policy  ↗
  2. B. Latour (2004)
    Latour, B. 2004. Why has critique run out of steam? From matters of fact to matters of concern. Critical Inqu…
    Critical Inquiry  ↗
  3. C.A. Willard (1990)
    Willard, C.A. 1990. Authority. Informal Logic 12: 11–22.
    Informal Logic  ↗
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