Cooperation and competition in argumentative exchanges

Abstract

Cooperation and competition are two aspects of argumentative exchanges that are amply illustrated in Plato’s dialogues. Since the days of Aristotle two corresponding trends are present in argumentation theory. One trend is to see argumentation as a common enterprise in which both parties in a dialogue cooperate to produce good arguments; the other is to see argumentation as a contest in which both parties compete to let their own arguments prevail.−This paper purports to clarify the way these two trends are to be understood. It discusses Aristotle’s approach in Topics 8 as well as contemporary contributions from formal dialectic and pragmadialectics. It is pointed out that the opposition between cooperative and competitive aspects of argumentation should not be confused with that between a normative and a descriptive approach or that between rhetorical and dialectical aspects.−It will be argued that both trends should be taken into account when constructing a normative model for argumentation. There are several ways in which this could be achieved: (i) the cooperative and the competitive aspects could be assigned to different types of dialogue; (ii) one of the aspects could be subordinated to the other; (iii) both aspects could be reconciled to coexist in separate compartments of one type of dialogue