Open AccessReasoning in Theory and Practice (OSSA 2005 Keynote Address)
Author(s) -
Stephen Toulmin
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
informal logic
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.368
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 2293-734X
pISSN - 0824-2577
DOI - 10.22329/il.v24i2.2138
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , contingency , epistemology , field (mathematics) , best practice , politics , critical theory , sociology , political science , law , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , mathematics , pure mathematics
As my book The Uses of Argument pointed out, we must look and see how our critical standards vary from one area or activity to another-e.g. from politics to aesthetics. Hence we need to explore how these critical standards evolve. and how the most reflective and best-informed people in any area of experience refine those standards. We cannot understand where we are now unless we understand how we got here, even in a field like mathematics. Hence we must modestly recognize that the best we can do now is the best we can do now; and that those who come after us will move beyond our ideas. There is much contingency in these historical developments.