Argumentation in a Social Context

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Stephan Hartmann
• Subject Area: Theoretical Philosophy
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 544847752

This project starts from the observation that argumentation is an inherently social activity. When we argue, we try to convince each other of certain claims, e.g., in law, politics, science, and everyday life. An important goal of the philosophical and psychological study of argumentation is the evaluation of arguments and argumentation schemes. To this end, Bayesian Argumentation is a promising normative framework that allows the study of the strength of different argumentation schemes. However, the current version of the theory has several weaknesses: (i) it does not handle complex arguments well, and (ii) it focuses only on a single agent, who may or may not change his or her beliefs in light of arguments put forward by another agent. This project will address these shortcomings and develop a fully social theory of Bayesian Argumentation that works for simple and complex arguments. The theory will be applied and tested in agent-based simulations assuming various social network structures. We will pay particular attention to the role of order effects and examine the consequences of the social structure of the group. Some of the predictions of our models will be tested in experiments.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants