JOHN R. SEARLE
Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley, USA
One of the greatest living philosophers of language. Searle’s Speech Act Theory inspired leading theories of argumentation, such as pragma-dialectics. His work on intentionality, construction of social reality and practical reason has been a central point of reference for anyone theorising about reasoned action.
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ISABELA FAIRCLOUGH & NORMAN FAIRCLOUGH
Discourse Analysis, University of Central Lancashire & University of Lancaster, UK
Norman has been among the founders of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), a theory investigating the intricate relations between language, power and society. Together with Isabela, they have integrated CDA with argumentation theory to p
roduce a systematic account of political discourse as an arena of public action, justified and critiqued through practical argumentation and deliberation.
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SIMON PARSONS
Computer Science, University of Liverpool, UK
Simon is interested in formal systems of argumentation for autonomous agents, both agents that exist only as software, and agents that have physical instantiations, such as robots. His research views multi-agent systems as dependent on interaction, and argumentation as an important mechanism for achieving this interaction. In this respect, argumentation provides a way for a group of agents to manage the incompleteness and uncertainty inherent in their knowledge of the world.