Aristotle’s theory of argument evaluation

Aristotle distinguishes five kinds of argument: dialectical, examination, contentious, didactic (or demonstrative), and rhetorical. Each kind has its own function and thus (in accordance with Aristotle's general principle [1106a15-17] that excellence is relative to function) its own specific criteria of excellence. In this paper I describe and evaluate Aristotle's conception of the function, criteria of excellence, and associated fallacies for each kind of argument which he recognizes.

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