Neil Duxbury examines how precedents constrain legal decision-makers and how legal decision-makers relax and avoid those constraints. There is no single principle or theory which explains the authority of precedent but rather a number of arguments which raise rebuttable presumptions in favour of precedent-following. This book examines the force and the limitations of these arguments and shows that although the principal requirement of the doctrine of precedent is that courts respect earlier judicial decisions on materially identical facts, the doctrine also requires courts to depart from such decisions when following them would perpetuate legal error or injustice.
Linking – how semantic arguments map to the syntax – is one of the challenges for theories of the syntax-semantics interface. In this new approach, Janet Randall explores the hypothesis that the positions of syntactic arguments are strictly determined by lexical argument geometry. Yielding novel – if sometimes surprising – conclusions, her Isomorphic Linking Hypothesis establishes the linking patterns of a wide range of verbs and, with those results, shows how to reason "backwards" from how a given verb's arguments link to what its lexical representation must be.
In this book, Daniel Cohen explores the connections between arguments and metaphors, most pronounced in philosophy because philosophical discourse is both thoroughly metaphorical and replete with argumentation. Cohen covers the nature of arguments, their modes and structures, and the principles of their evaluation, and addresses the nature of metaphors, their place in language and thought, and their connections to arguments, identifying and reconciling arguments' and metaphors' respective roles in philosophy.
Everyday Arguments - A Guide to Writing and Reading Effective Arguments
Everyday Arguments combines a highly-practical, student-oriented argument rhetoric with an anthology of illustrative readings drawn from everyday life. Part I includes thirteen chapters devoted to the actual demonstration of how to write arguments--ranging from the motives behind writing and the intended audience to effectively supporting and using logic in writing. Part II is devoted to readings that exemplify the kinds of arguments laid out in the first part of the book. Readings are divided into thematic chapters: Today's College Student, The Internet, Sports, Earning Your Living, Diet, and Reading Popular Culture.
Prehistory and Early Civilizations, this fascinating resource presents pro and con arguments for a series of unresolved controversies concerning significant historical development.
This book features 14 expert contributors, each an established historian supporting either the 'pro' or 'con' point of view of a historic controversy with credible evidence and well-reasoned arguments. It contains 20 sidebars with excerpts from relevant primary source materials. It includes 13 chapters on significant historical questions. The pro and con debate format encourages readers to evaluate the validity of arguments and evidence.
