Overview of Toulmin's Layout of Argumentation

Stephen E. Toulmin was an English philosopher concerned with the nature of argumentation as it occurs in everyday life. Starting in the mid 1950's and continuing until the early 1980's, Toulmin published several works designed to refine his theory of argumentation. Most notable among these works was his book The Uses of Argument published in 1963. This book forms the basis of the theory described in this web site and also is the first book where Toulmin articulated the crux of his theory, the Layout of Argument.

Although Toulmin's work received only modest approval in England, Toulmin's theory of argumentation had substantial impact on students of rhetoric and argumentation in the United States and Canada. Most notably, Douglass Ehninger and Wayne Brockriede introduced the field of communication to Toulmin's work.In 1960 they published an article in the Quarterly Journal of Speech that became known as the definitive entrance of Toulmin's work in the discipline of communication. Following the work of Ehninger and Brockriede, Toulmin's theory of argumentation became a popular method of analyzing public discourse, criticising public argument, and even served as a teaching tool for students of public speaking and debate.

Before exploring Toulmin's theory, it may be useful for you to learn other information about the development of Toulmin's theory and to also discover some tips on navigating this web site. The links below provide valuable background information about Toulmin's theory and also offer suggestions about learning from this web site (Please click the button):

The Rationale for Toulmin's Theory: Problems in formal logic.

Examples of research using Toulmin's theory.

About this Web Site: Tips and tricks for learning on the internet.

 

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Designers of the Toulmin Web Page: Charles Soukup and Scott Titsworth, Department of Communication Studies. This page was created as part of a class project in Educational Psychology 942. All material is copyrighted by the University of Nebraska. No portion of this may be used without the expressed written permission of the creators.