This volume edited by Eddo Rigotti with the collaboration of Sara Cigada assembles papers presented at an international conference held at the University of Lugano in April 1997. From a variety of perspectives the papers address the question of meaning in argumentation, a phenomenon that has come to be regarded as belonging to the domain of rhetoric. Special attention is given to the connections between rhetoric, argumentation and reason as brought to light by the analysis of written and oral texts.

This book investigates the role of inference in argumentation, considering how arguments support standpoints on the basis of different loci. The authors propose and illustrate a model for the analysis of the standpoint-argument connection, called Argumentum Model of Topics (AMT). A prominent feature of the AMT is that it distinguishes, within each and every single argumentation, between an inferential-procedural component, on which the reasoning process is based; and a material-contextual component, which anchors the argument in the interlocutors' cultural and factual common ground. The AMT explains how these components differ and how they are intertwined within each single argument. This model is introduced in Part II of the book, following a careful reconstruction of the enormously rich tradition of studies on inference in argumentation, from the antiquity to contemporary authors, without neglecting medieval and post-medieval contributions. The AMT is a contemporary model grounded in a dialogue with such tradition, whose crucial aspects are illuminated in this book.