Practical Reasoning

by Douglas N. Walton

Published 31 March 1990
This book is an analysis of the distinctive form of reasoning, called practical reasoning by Aristotle (as opposed to theoretical reasoning), that serves to guide behaviour. It is a contribution to the literature on practical reasoning and indirectly on its application to action theory. The concept of goal-directed (telelogical) reasoning is central to two fields - artificial intelligence and argumentation. The book brings the two fields together to provide the analysis of their central, common underlying concept of goal-directed practical reasoning. "Practical Reasoning" may be of interest to specialists and graduate students in the field as well as to students in biology, computer science, psychology and philosophy.