The recordings of this inaugural lecture can be viewed here.

Recent technological developments have led to a change in the way we communicate and argue with each other. In his inaugural lecture, Wagemans discusses how these changes in our communicative and cognitive environment can be mapped using innovative research methods. Wagemans illustrates the applicability of insights from classical rhetoric for combating misinformation. He also pays attention to research into the way in which people try to convince each other on online discussion platforms, rhetorical patterns in the brain, and the argumentative qualities of persuasive texts generated using LLMs such as ChatGPT.

Prof. Dr. Jean Wagemans, Professor of Cognition, Communication and Argumentation: Rhetoric and cognition in the information age.

Jean Wagemans is professor of Cognition, Communication, and Argumentation at the University of Amsterdam. He serves as the chair of the Department of Speech Communication, Argumentation Theory, and Rhetoric, and coordinates the interdisciplinary research group Language and Cognition in Argumentation (LANCAR).

Wagemans specializes in rhetoric, argumentation, and debate. He is the originator of the Periodic Table of Arguments (PTA), an innovative taxonomy of persuasive techniques with applications in argument-checking, formal linguistics, and explainable AI. Wagemans authored the chapter on The Philosophy of Argument (2022) in the Cambridge Handbook for the Philosophy of Language and co-authored the Handbook of Argumentation Theory (2014) and Argumentation and debate (in Dutch, 2014). He publishes scientific articles, web content, and popularizing columns, and regularly appears in the media to talk about his research and to provide expert commentary on current affairs.

At the University of Amsterdam, Wagemans teaches courses and supervises theses at the BA, BSc, (r)MA, and PhD level. He is a member of the editorial board of TOPOI, Argumentation, and Tijdschrift voor Taalbeheersing, and serves as a reviewer for Synthese, Informal Logic, Argument & Computation, and other scientific journals. Wagemans co-directed the ISSA 9th International Conference on Argumentation and was a member of the scientific committees of ARGAGE 2024, ECA 2022, and other conferences in the field.

For more information and downloading of publications, please visit his pages on UvA | ORCID | Academia | X | LinkedIn. 

IIS Honoursmodule “From fact-checking to argument-checking”

August 25, 2021

Federica Russo and Jean Wagemans are teaching the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS) Honoursmodule “From fact-checking to argument-checking“. The module is available for students enrolled in the Honours Programme of the University of Amsterdam and the VU Amsterdam.

Course “Argumentation in the Wild” at the University of Heidelberg

May 27, 2021

Colin Guthrie King and Jean Wagemans are teaching a course on argumentation at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Heidelberg. The course is entitled “Argumentation in the Wild” and follows the set-up of a textbook with the same title to be published by MIT Press.

From fact-checking to argument-checking as Award Nominated researchers of University of Amsterdam join MMGA with human-AI framework

November 30, 2020 

Federica Russo and Jean Wagemans talk about their cooperation with MMGA. Interview by Camilla Nieman. Read it here.

AI ziet een drogreden [AI detects a fallacy]

February 22, 2020

Three Amsterdam philosophers and a programmer have an ambitious plan: to develop an argumentation machine that helps to recognize false reasoning from speeches by Donald Trump or Greta Thunberg, for example. Interview by Maarten van Gestel.

Read the newspaper article (in Dutch)

Amsterdam Science and Innovation Award 2019

November 26, 2019

Federica Russo, Jean Wagemans and Federico Gobbo are finalists of the Amsterdam Science and Innovation Award 2019. They are the scientific team behind KRINO, an AI engine for causal inference and argumentation.

Read more about the KRINO project.

Kick-off event COST Action APPLY in Lisbon

March 19-22, 2019

The European network for Argumentation and Public PoLicY analysis (APPLY) improves the way European citizens understand, evaluate and contribute to public decision-making on such matters of common concern as climate change or energy policies.

Jean Wagemans has been appointed as the Science Communication Manager of this COST Action.

New website on the Periodic Table of Arguments 

December 9, 2017

You are invited to visit the new website about the Periodic Table of Arguments. It contains a description of the theoretical framework of the table, information on the types of arguments within the four different quadrants, and analyses of concrete examples. Please follow the link below.

Facts and rhetoric in political campaigns

October 20, 2016

Wagemans contributed to a documentary on the Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum by giving his expert opinion on the role of rhetoric in the public debate preceding the referendum. The documentary was made by Misja Pekel and Judith Konijn and was broadcasted on Dutch national television.  

Wagemans presents Periodic Table of Arguments in Croatia

April 27, 2016

Dutch philosopher Jean H.M. Wagemans of the University of Amsterdam presented his Periodic Table of Arguments on a conference on argumentation and rhetoric in Postira (Croatia) that was held last week. The table is an attempt to integrate philosophical (dialectical) and rhetorical accounts of the types of argument into a new standard model of argument.

Wagemans chose the Days of Ivo Škarić International Conference on Rhetoric to be the first occasion to present his Periodic Table of Arguments. “It is one of the most important and enjoyable conferences in the field. Because of the relatively small size and the great hospitality of the organizers, there is ample opportunity to discuss your findings at length with a group of top scholars”.

According to Wagemans, who has been working on the project for almost two years, the age-old antagonism between philosophy and rhetoric is reflected in the present-day field of argumentation theory: “Scholars working from a dialectical perspective tend to adhere to a strict division between reasonable arguments and fallacies. But since fallacies may be very effective, rhetoricians do not hesitate to include them in their accounts of the means of persuasion. As a result, there is a great divide between dialectical and rhetorical accounts of the types of arguments.”

Apart from narrowing the gap between philosophy and rhetoric, creating a Periodic Table of Arguments addresses another vexing problem in the field of argumentation theory. “Some scholars say that there are 63 types of arguments, others say 300, and yet others stick to only 3 different types. Now one may state that this is unproblematic since in the humanities, contrary to the situation in the sciences, it is always a positive thing to have such a wide variety of opinions. But I don’t buy that.” According to Wagemans, who studied physics and astronomy before switching to philosophy, any account of the types of argument should be based on clear and explicit theoretical starting points. “Only in this case, our elaborate analyses and evaluations of argumentative discourse can be compared to one another.”

The construction of the Periodic Table of Arguments has already generated several interesting hypotheses concerning the nature of arguments. “It appears to be the case that fallacies and several rhetorical means of persuasion can be reconstructed as second-order arguments. The periodicity of the table makes it easier to detect all kinds of differences and commonalities between the types of argument. I expect the table to generate a lot of interesting new research, not only theoretical but also empirical and computational research.”

As was pointed out by one of the attendants of the conference, the Periodic Table of Arguments may also be used for educational purposes. At the moment, Wagemans is working on a book on the table and its applications. “It sure is a lot of work, but I really enjoy writing it. The Periodic Table of Elements wasn’t created in one day either. So if you have any comments or questions, please drop me a line!”