Site Search
Text Only Site Search


gradient shadow
Welcome

Home / Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation & Rhetoric / CRRAR Researchers / J. Anthony (Tony) Blair

J. Anthony (Tony) Blair, Senior Research Fellow

Narrative

 

A graduate of McGill University and the University of Michigan, Professor Blair taught at the University of Windsor from 1967 to 2006, where he also served two terms as Philosophy Department head, was named a University Professor and received a Faculty of Arts Career Achievement Award. He is co-author of two textbooks and numerous scholarly articles. He is a founding editor of the journal Informal Logic, a co-founder of the Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking, a founding board member of the International Society for the Study of Argument, and a co-founder of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation (whose J. Anthony Blair Prize for the best student essay on an OSSA conference program was named in his honour). In 2006 he founded the Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation and Rhetoric, and served as its Co-Director from 2006-2009.

Research Interests

Informal Logic, Argumentation Theory, Critical Thinking

Current Research:

He is currently working on the concept of conductive argument and its applications.

 

Research Information:

Recent Funding:

  • SSHRC to learned journals for Informal Logic, 2008-2011, c. $60,00
  • Network for the Study of Reasoning, SSHRC Research Cluster Design Grant. 2004, $30,000; SSHRC Research Cluster Design Grant renewal.2005, $25,000.
  • Informal Logic @ 25, OSSA conference. SSHRC small conference grants 2003, $10.000; 2001, $10,000.

Recent Publications:

Books:

2011. Groundwork in the Theory of Argumentation: Selected Papers of J. Anthony Blair. Dordrecht: Springer.

2011. J. Anthony Blair and Ralph H. Johnson (Eds.). Conductive Argument: An Overlooked Type of Defeasible Reasoning. London: College Publications. Pp. viii, 1-299.

 

Chapters in books:

2011. “Conductive reasoning/argument: A map of the issues.” In J. Anthony Blair and Ralph H. Johnson (Eds.). Conductive Argument: An Overlooked Type of Defeasible Reasoning, pp. 11-9. London: College Publications.

2011. “Rhetoric and Argumentation.” In Ton van Haaften, Henrike Jansen, Jaap de Jong and Willem Koetsenruijter (Eds.), Bending Opinion, Essays on Persuasion in the Public Domain, pp. 95-112. Leiden: Leiden University Press.

2010. “Reflections on reasoning, argument and logic.” In Chris Reed and Christopher W. Tindale (Eds.), Dialectics, Dialogue and Argumentation. An Examination of Douglas Walton's Theories of Reasoning and Argument, Ch. 14, pp.189-200. London: College Publications.

 

Articles in refereed journals:

      2012 (forthcoming). “Argumentation as rational persuasion.” Argumentation.

      2011. “The moral normativity of argumentation.” Cogency, 3(1): 13-32.

2011. "Informal Logic and Its Early Historical Development." Studies in Logic, 4(1): 1-10.

 2009. “Teaching the Dog’s Breakfast,” [with R. H. Johnson] APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy, Vol. 9, No. 1.

 2009. “Informal Logic and Logic.” Studies in Logic, Grammar & Rhetoric 15 (28). (Special Issue on Argumentation Theory and Informal Logic).

 

Recent papers published in conference proceedings:

2011. (forthcoming)  “A critical examination and development of Wellman’s theory of conductive argument.” In F. Zenker (Ed.), Argumentation: Cognition and Community, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation (OSSA), pp. 1‑15. Windsor, ON (CD ROM).

2011. “Logic in the Pragma-Dialectical Theory.” In F.H. van Eemeren, B. Garssen, D. Godden & G. Mitchell (Eds.), Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation. University of Amsterdan. Amsterdam: Rozenberg / Sic Sat.

2010. “The Philosophy of Argument.” Argument Cultures. Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation. Windsor, ON, Canada. 3-6 June. CD-Rom

2010. “Commentary on James B. Freeman, ‘Justifying higher-level moral principles: a role for argumentation?’” Argument Cultures. Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation. Windsor, ON, Canada. 3-6 June. CD-Rom

2010. “Commentary on Takuzo Konishi, ‘Toward history of argumentation: Canadian informal logic.’” Argument Cultures. Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation. Windsor, ON, Canada. 3-6 June. CD-Rom

       2009. “The Pertinence of Toulmin and Perelman.Olbrechts-Tyteca for Informal Logic,” in Henrique Jales Ribeiro (Ed.), Rhetoric and Argumentation in the Beginnings of the XXIst Century, pp.17-32. Coimbra, Portugal: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.

Recent Funding:

  • SSHRC to learned journals for Informal Logic, 2008-2011, c. $60,00
  • Network for the Study of Reasoning, SSHRC Research Cluster Design Grant. 2004, $30,000; SSHRC Research Cluster Design Grant renewal.2005, $25,000.
  • Informal Logic @ 25, OSSA conference. SSHRC small conference grants 2003, $10.000; 2001, $10,000.

Recent Publications:

Book:

2006. Johnson, Ralph H. and J. Anthony Blair. Logical Self-Defense. New York: Idea Press. (Reprint of 1994, 1st United States edition.)

Chapters in books:

2009. “The Logic of Natural Language.” (Co-author R. H. Johnson.) In Philosophy and World Problems, John McMurtry (Ed.), in Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS). Developed under the auspices of the UNESCO. Oxford: Eolss Publishers. [http://www.eolss.net]

2009. “Who teaches K-12 critical thinking?” In Jan Sobocan and Leo Groarke (eds.), Critical Thinking Education and Assessment: Can Higher Order Thinking be Tested?, pp. 267-279. London, ON: The Althouse Press

2008. "Walton's Argumentation Schemes for Presumptive Reasoning: A Critique and Development." In Angela J. Aguayo and Timothy R. Steffensmeier (Eds.), Readings on Argumentation, pp. 128-140. State College, PA: Strata Publishing, Inc. (Reprint of 2001 article in Argumentation.)

2008. Johnson, Ralph H. and J. Anthony Blair. "Informal Logic: An Overview." In Angela J. Aguayo and Timothy R. Steffensmeier (Eds.), Readings on Argumentation, pp. 26-37. State College, PA: Strata Publishing, Inc. (Reprint of 2000 article in Informal Logic.)

Articles in refereed journals:

2009 (forthcoming). “Teaching the Dog’s Breakfast,” [with R. H. Johnson] APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy. (3,300 words)

2009 (forthcoming). “Informal Logic and Logic.” Studies in Logic, Grammar & Rhetoric 15 (28). (Special Issue on Argumentation Theory and Informal Logic) (7,900 words)

2007. "Relevance, Acceptability and Sufficiency Today." Anthropology & Philosophy, 8.1-2, 33-47.

Conference Proceedings co-edited:

2007. Eemeren, F.H. van, J.A. Blair, C.A. Willard, B. Garssen (Eds.). Proceedings of the Sixth Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation (June 2006). Amsterdam: SicSat.

2007. Hansen, H.V., C.W. Tindale, J.A. Blair, R.H. Johnson, D.M. Godden (Eds.). Dissensus and the Search for Common Ground. Proceedings of the Seventh OSSA Conference, University of Windsor, June 2007. CD-ROM.

Recent papers published in conference proceedings:

2008. “Argument Evaluation and Fallacies for Critical Thinking,” in Alfred C. Snider (Ed.), Frontiers of the 21st Century: Argumentation, Debate and the Struggle for Civil Society, Proceedings of the 2004 and 2005 International Debate Education Association Conferences in Turkey and Estonia, pp. 3-19. New York: IDEBATE Press.

2008. “Perelman Today on Justice and Argumentation,” in Takeshi Suzuki, Takayuki Kato and Aya Kubota (Eds,), Proceedings of the 3rd Tokyo Conference on Argumentation: Argumentation, the Law and Justice (August 2008), pp. 18-22. Tokyo: Japan Debate Association.

2007. "Investigations and the Critical Discussion Model," in F.H. van Eemeren, J.A. Blair, C.A. Willard and B. Garssen (Eds.). Proceedings of the Sixth Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation (June 2006), pp. 153-158. Amsterdam: SicSat.

2007. "The 'Logic' of Informal Logic," in H.V. Hansen, C.W. Tindale, J.A. Blair, R.H. Johnson, D.M. Godden (Eds.). Dissensus and the Search for Common Ground. Proceedings of the Seventh OSSA Conference, University of Windsor. CD-ROM.