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Practical Reasoning

 

Disciplines > Argument > Practical Reasoning

Necessary condition schema | Critical questions | See also

 

 

Douglas Walton (1990, 1997) has described a simple schema and set of questions by which reasoning may be rationally undertaken.

Necessary condition schema

Walton describes a Necessary Condition Schema based on a set of premises by which practical reasoning may be achieved:

  • Goal Premise: My goal is to bring about A.
  • Alternatives Premise: I reasonably consider on the given information that bringing about at least one of [B0,B1,...,Bn] is necessary to bring about A.
  • Selection Premise: I have selected one member Bi as an acceptable, or as the most acceptable, necessary condition for A.
  • Practicality Premise: Nothing unchangeable prevents me from bringing about Bi as far as I know.
  • Side Effects Premise: Bringing about A is more acceptable to me than not bringing about Bi.
  • Conclusion: Therefore, it is required that I bring about Bi.

Critical questions

Questions that may be used to resolve these premises include:

  • Alternative Means Question: Are there alternative means of realizing A, other than B?
  • Acceptable/Best Option Possible Question: Is B an acceptable (or the best) alternative?
  • Possibility Question: Is it possible for agent a to do B?
  • Negative Side Effects Question: Are there negative side effects of a's bringing about B that ought to be considered?
  • Conflicting Goals Question: Does a have the goals other than A, which have the potential to conflict with a's realizing A?

See also

Walton, D. (1990). Practical Reasoning: Goal-Driven, Knowledge-Based, Action-Guiding Argumentation, Rowman and Littlefield, Savage Maryland, p48

Walton, D. (1997). 'Actions and Inconsistency: the Closure Problem of Practical Reasoning', in Ghita Holmstrom-Hintikka and Raimo Toumela (eds.), Contemporary Action Theory, Vol. 1, Kluwer, Dordrecht

 

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Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

– About
– Guest Articles
– Blog!
– Books
– Changes
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– Guestbook
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– Students
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