Argument quality in Real-World Argumentation

The idea of resolving dispute through the exchange of arguments and reasons has been central to society for millennia. We exchange arguments as a way of getting at the truth in contexts as diverse as science, the court room, and our everyday lives. In democracies, political decisions should be negotiated through argument, not deception, or even worse, brute force. If argument is to lead to the truth or to good decisions, then some arguments must be better than others and ‘argument strength’ must have some meaningful connection with truth. Can argument strength be measured in a way that tracks an objective relationship with truth, and not just mere persuasiveness? This article describes recent developments in providing such measures