Condiciones de posesión de conceptos, racionalidad y argumentación

Abstract

When we argue, we express reasons with the aim of inducing in our interlocutor the formation of certain judgments or the revision of previously formed judgments. But what does explain the fact that an assertion can constitute a reason authentically able to support another assertion? Our central aim is to address this question. In order to do this, we will make use of the British philosopher Christopher Peacocke’s theory of concepts, as elaborated in his seminal work A Study of Concepts (1992). In this book, our concepts are primarily elucidated in terms of the reasons that authorize their application. This approach is particularly relevant for the study of argumentation. A pair of examples will be discussed and, in the final section of our work, we will employ again Peacocke’s ideas (2008) to try also to show how an assertion can constitute a reason authentically able to refute another assertion.