ArgLab

Reasoning and Argumentation Lab (ArgLab) is a research lab within the Nova Institute of Philosophy (IFILNOVA) at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal.

ArgLab is one of the leading, internationally acknowledged research centres in argumentation theory and mind and reasoning. Its basic aim is to offer a consistent philosophical perspective on the fundamental problems of human reasoning and argumentation in a way that directly enlightens crucial social problems. To this end, ArgLab investigates and develops forefront issues in argumentation theory, pragmatics, philosophy of mind and technology, meta-ethics and the philosophy of language. Across all these areas, it focuses on argumentation and decision making processes both in their linguistic and cognitive aspects, studying  the relationship between different forms of reasoning and the grounding of decisions taken under the conditions of uncertainty and value plurality. This focus allows for a situated approach, where philosophical concepts become tools for empirical investigation and social intervention in particularly salient social contexts – education, environment, healthcare, law, politics, and technology.

Thanks to its consistent research output, numerous projects (amounting to a total of over 2mln € external funding in the last 3 years) and ongoing activities, the ArgLab has gained international recognition as a centre for argumentation studies (e.g., it organised the 1st European Conference on Argumentation in 2015). It includes 17 fully integrated researchers (post-docs, research fellows, professors) and 4 PhD students. ArgLab activities are organised in two basic Research Groups:

• ARGUMENTATION THEORY GROUP: Develops philosophical concepts and methods in argumentation theory and pragmatics, applying them to empirical research in the areas of education, environmental, medical, legal, and political communication.
• LISBON MIND AND REASONING GROUP: Explores cognition, mind and reasoning especially in the context of 4E cognitive science which stresses the ecological and situated nature of the human mind. We contribute to the ArgLab by grounding the understanding of practical reasoning in the best current understandings of what the human mind is and how it works.