Requirements on Commitment in Dialogue

Taken from 'Fundamentals of Critical Argumentation' (2006), by Douglas Walton

Three General Requirements on Commitment in Dialogue

1, If a proponent is committed to a set of statements, and the respondent can show that another statement follows logically as a conclusion from that set, then the respondent is committed to that conclusion.

2, The respondent has the right to retract commitment to that conclusion, but she must also retract commitment to at least one of the premises. For otherwise it has been shown that she has inconsistent commitments.

3, If one party in a dialogue can show that the other party has inconsistent commitments, then the second party must retract at least one of those commitments.

Inconsitency is generally a bad thing in logic. If a set of statements is inconsistent, they cannot all be true. At least one must be false...