The Unconsumated Flirtation: Contextualist Approaches to Argument

Abstract

Contextualism's influence on the 20th century was profound. This was true also of argumentation studies. But argumentation scholars reached the limits of their engagement of contexualism falling back into formal study of argument. This essay illustrates this argument with studies of the narrative rationality of Walter Fisher and the public sphere theory of Jurgen Habermas.