Narration as Argument

Dr. Paula Olmos has been based as a researcher in Philosophy and Classical Studies in several Spanish academic centres (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia) and is now Lecturer at the Department of Linguistics, Logic and Philosophy of Science (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid). Her research lines include different aspects of the History of Logic, Argumentation and Rhetoric as well as the contemporary Theory of Argumentation, in which she takes a rhetorical stance. She has published papers on these issues in journals like Informal Logic, Theoria, Renaissance Studies, Argumentation or Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, as well as contributions in collective volumes published by Springer, Logos Verlag, ETS (Pisa), Leiden University Press, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Trotta or Southern Illinois University Press, among others. She is the author of a monographic volume on the Spanish sixteen-century philosopher Pedro Simón Abril (CSIC, 2010), editor of the collections of essays Greek Science in the Long Run (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012), and co-editor, of the collective volumes Compendio de Lógica, Argumentación y Retórica (Trotta, 2011, 22012, 32016), Imaginarios científicos. Conocimiento, narraciones y utopias (Ediciones Clásicas, 2015), De la demostración a la argumentación. Ensayos en honor de Luis Vega (Publicaciones UAM, 2015).

Chapter  1. Introduction: Narratives, Narrating, Narrators; Paula Olmos.- Part I Narratives as Sources of Knowledge and Argument.- Chapter 2. Narratives and the Concept of Argument; Christopher Tindale.-  Chapter 3. Arguing with Stories; Floris Bex and Trevor Bench-Capon.- Chapter 4. Narrative Fiction as a Source of Knowledge; Mitchell Green.- Chapter 5. Analogy, Presupposition and Transcendentality in Narrative Argument; Gilbert Plumer.- Chapter 6. Parables: Crossroads Between the Cognitive Theory of Metaphor and Argumentation Theory;  Eduardo de Bustos.- Part II Argumentative Narratives in Context.-  Chapter 7. Narratives and Pragmatic Arguments: Iven's The 400 million; Paul van den Hoven.- Chapter 8. The Sample Convention, or, When Fictionalized Narratives. Can Double as Historical Testimony; Leona Toker.- Chapter 9. From Narrative Arguments to Arguments that Narrate; Adrien Frenay and Marion Carel.-  Chapter 10. Narrative as Argument in Atul Gawande's. "OnWashing Hands" and "Letting Go"; James Phelan.- Chapter 11. On Thought Experiments and other Narratives in Scientific Argument; Paula Olmos.-  Chapter 12. How to Win Wars: The Role of the War Narrative; Tone Kvernbekk and Ola Bøe-Hansen.

"Narration as Argument is an excellent and informative book that can spur trans-disciplinary conversations with scholars in Black studies, Marxist and feminist theories, literary studies, and media studies, just to name a few." (Charles Athanasopoulos, Argumentation and Advocacy, Vol. 56 (3), 2020)

"It seems clear that Paula Olmos has succeeded in her aim of exhibiting the wide range of approaches to the relation between narration and argument, given the variety of approaches to narration as argument exhibited in these twelve chapters. ... She has reserved a table for everyone and bade them sit down side by side, in the hope that they will all begin to talk to one another. It's a start." (J. Anthony Blair, Argumentation, Vol. 33, 2019)