I will present the main results of the research project on the social epistemology of argumentation that I conducted in recent years (2018-204). The main findings are summarized in a forthcoming book, 'Reason and Power in Argumentation' (CUP, 2026). Many of the accounts of argumentation and deliberation available in the literature paint an overly idealized picture of these processes, assuming agents with no cognitive limitations and largely cooperative settings where all participants have a similar social standing and shared goals. My account breaks away from these idealizations; it investigates how reason and power interact in argumentative processes by focusing on the effects upon these processes of power differentials, conflicts of interests, and the cognitive limitations of human agents. It seeks to investigate the limits of discursive rationality, thus moderating unrestricted optimism on the power of reason, while also recognizing the important role that rational arguments play in various domains (science, politics, education).

References

Catarina Dutilh Novaes. Informal Logic, Vol. 40, No. 2 (2020), pp. 205–236. https://informallogic.ca/index.php/informal_logic/article/view/6328

Catarina Dutilh Novaes, VII—Can Arguments Change Minds?, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 123, Issue 2, July 2023, Pages 173–198, https://doi.org/10.1093/arisoc/aoad006

Dutilh Novaes, C., Dede, Ç. Critical Contextual Empiricism for Busy People: Scientific Argumentation as Epistemic Exchange. Topoi 44, 733–747 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-025-10198-0

Catarina Dutilh Novaes, « Who Gets to Play? », European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy [En ligne], XVII-2 | 2025, mis en ligne le 16 décembre 2025, consulté le 14 avril 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ejpap/5366 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/15d8k