Argumentation is often understood as a coherent set of Western theories, birthed in Athens and developing throughout the Roman period, the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment and Renaissance, and into the present century. Ideas have been nuanced, developed, and revised, but still the outline of argumentation theory has been recognizable for centuries, or so it has seemed to Western scholars. The 2019 Alta Conference on Argumentation (co-sponsored by the National Communication Association and the American Forensic Association) aimed to question the generality of these intellectual traditions. This resulting collection of essays deals with the possibility of having local theories of argument – local to a particular time, a particular kind of issue, a particular place, or a particular culture. Many of the papers argue for reconsidering basic ideas about arguing to represent the uniqueness of some moment or location of discourse. Other scholars are more comfortable with the Western traditions, and find them congenial to the analysis of arguments that originate in discernibly distinct circumstances. The papers represent different methodologies, cover the experiences of different nations at different times, examine varying sorts of argumentative events (speeches, court decisions, food choices, and sound), explore particular personal identities and the issues highlighted by them, and have different overall orientations to doing argumentation scholarship. Considered together, the essays do not generate one simple conclusion, but they stimulate reflection about the particularity or generality of the experience of arguing, and therefore the scope of our theories.

This edited volume presents selected works from the 21st Biennial Alta Argumentation Conference, sponsored by the National Communication Association and the American Forensics Association and held in 2019.

Combining twenty-six original essays written by an impressive line-up of distinguished physicists and philosophers of physics, this anthology reflects some of the latest thoughts by leading experts on the influence of Bell's theorem on quantum physics. Essays progress from John Bell's character and background, through studies of his main work, and on to more speculative ideas, addressing the controversies surrounding the theorem, and investigating the theorem's meaning and its deep implications for the nature of physical reality. Combined, they present a powerful comment on the undeniable significance of Bell's theorem for the development of ideas in quantum physics over the past 50 years. Questions surrounding the assumptions and significance of Bell's work still inspire discussion in the field of quantum physics. Adding to this with a theoretical and philosophical perspective, this balanced anthology is an indispensable volume for students and researchers interested in the philosophy of physics and the foundations of quantum mechanics.

This edited volume presents selected works from the 21st Biennial Alta Argumentation Conference, sponsored by the National Communication Association and the American Forensics Association and held in 2019.

This book brings together philosophical discussions of symmetry in physics, highlighting the main issues and controversies. It covers all the fundamental symmetries of modern physics, as well as discussing symmetry-breaking and general interpretational issues. For each topic, classic texts are followed by review articles and short commentaries.

Whenever and wherever people communicate, they contend with powerful and sometimes hidden systems of symbols, meanings, premises, and rules pertaining to communicative conduct, i.e, speech codes. Adding to thirty years of cultural communication research, this ground-breaking volume presents readers with a new set of original, fieldwork-based case studies that examine speech codes in on- and offline settings around the world. Most importantly, Contending with Codes in a World of Difference culminates with a newly updated, expanded, and re-energized version of speech codes theory, well-suited to the contemporary study of communication and culture. Co-edited by Dr. Gerry Philipsen, the originator of speech codes theory, and Dr. Tabitha Hart, a fellow speech codes scholar, this edited collection is filled with examples, stories, and transcripts illustrating how to locate speech codes in a cultural arena; how to discern what speech codes reveal about local culture; what happens when multiple speech codes are in play; and how people resist, challenge, negotiate, or reconcile contending speech codes. Offering theoretical and methodological guidance for researchers and practical insight for students, practitioners, and laypeople, this book is essential for anyone interested in learning more about the art of contending with speech codes in a world of difference.

The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the state of the art in the philosophy of physics. It comprisess 54 self-contained chapters written by leading philosophers of physics at both senior and junior levels, making it the most thorough and detailed volume of its type on the market – nearly every major perspective in the field is represented. The Companion’s 54 chapters are organized into 12 parts. The first seven parts cover all of the major physical theories investigated by philosophers of physics today, and the last five explore key themes that unite the study of these theories. I. Newtonian Mechanics II. Special Relativity III. General Relativity IV. Non-Relativistic Quantum Theory V. Quantum Field Theory VI. Quantum Gravity VII. Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics VIII. Explanation IX. Intertheoretic Relations X. Symmetries XI. Metaphysics XII. Cosmology The difficulty level of the chapters has been carefully pitched so as to offer both accessible summaries for those new to philosophy of physics and standard reference points for active researchers on the front lines. An introductory chapter by the editors maps out the field, and each part also begins with a short summary that places the individual chapters in context. The volume will be indispensable to any serious student or scholar of philosophy of physics.

This book presents the current views of leading physicists on the bizarre property of quantum theory: nonlocality. Einstein viewed this theory as “spooky action at a distance” which, together with randomness, resulted in him being unable to accept quantum theory. The contributions in the book describe, in detail, the bizarre aspects of nonlocality, such as Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen steering and quantum teleportation—a phenomenon which cannot be explained in the framework of classical physics, due its foundations in quantum entanglement. The contributions describe the role of nonlocality in the rapidly developing field of quantum information. Nonlocal quantum effects in various systems, from solid-state quantum devices to organic molecules in proteins, are discussed. The most surprising papers in this book challenge the concept of the nonlocality of Nature, and look for possible modifications, extensions, and new formulations—from retrocausality to novel types of multiple-world theories. These attempts have not yet been fully successful, but they provide hope for modifying quantum theory according to Einstein’s vision.

In this book the practical dimension of social justice is explained using the analysis and discussion of a variety of well-known topics. These include: the relation between theory and practice in normative political philosophy; the issue of justice under uncertainty; the question of whether we can and should unmask social injustices by means of conspiracy theories; the issues of privacy and the right to privacy; the issue of how certain psychological states may affect our moral obligations, in particular the obligation to treat others fairly; and finally the concepts of morality, fairness, and self-deception. The primary goal of the book is to provide readers with an updated discussion of some important and practical social justice issues. These issues are presented from a new perspective, based on the author ́s research. It is hoped that bringing these topics together in a single book will promote the emergence of new insights and challenges for future research. Juha Räikkä is a professor at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Turku, Finland. His research focuses on ethics and political philosophy.

ARGUMENT IN COMPOSITION provides access to a wide range of resources that bear on the teaching of writing and argument. The ideas of major theorists of classical and contemporary rhetoric and argument-from Aristotle to Burke, Toulmin, and Perelman-are explained and elaborated, especially as they inform pedagogies of argumentation and composition.