Inspired by studies about the history and anthropology of knowledge, this text addresses the question of how places are constitutive of the process of argumentation. The argument from place that is presented in classical rhetoric handbooks, particularly in Quintilian, is used as a model of analysis in order to emphasise the situated character of argumentative processes. Both the attention to the place from which an argument is uttered and to the place to which the argument refers are useful guides that (...) help us understand the phenomenon of relevance and keep expanding the contextual and situated approach to argumentation theory and rhetoric. (shrink)

The paper is a critical reaction to a research paper that appeared in Argumentation. It suggests that Goodman’s delineation of the concept of argument for purposes of disciplines like logic is unsatisfactory in several respects. Identifying arguments as sets of propositions is highly problematic. Moreover, Goodman’s delineation is excessively vague and it may commit us to the claim that sequences of sentences which are commonly treated as expressing arguments do not, in fact, represent arguments.