About ACE

 

Can Artificial Intelligence engage in reasonable conversations with humans? Why do populist parties attract voters by offering simple solutions to complex problems? Are all conspiracy theories stupid? When should we accept the claims of others? What to do to justify one’s own claims? How to produce good decisions? How to refute falsehoods and detect fallacies? What counts as a good reason? Do reasons persuade?

If you’re interested in these and similar questions, then you’re interested in argumentation. Argumentation is a communicative activity of producing and exchanging reasons in the context of doubt or disagreement. Argumentation theory studies this activity by analyzing the practices and standards of using arguments. As such, it isn’t confined to any one traditional academic discipline. It is instead a truly interdisciplinary endeavor drawing on expertise in philosophy, linguistics, communication studies, (social) psychology and cognitive studies, jurisprudence, political science and, importantly, computer science and Artificial Intelligence.

Europe is a leading hub for argumentation studies. Across the continent, there are numerous research centers focused on argumentation and the related master’s and PhD programs where argumentation is taught and studied. Technologies for mining and analyzing argumentation have been developed. Regular conferences, journals, and book series dedicated to argumentation are run. Two results of these lively activities at Europe’s universities (and beyond) are particularly noteworthy. First, there exists a broad network of argumentation scholars, professionals and students. Second, a significant number of research projects have been funded by national science foundations across Europe, by various programs of the European Union, and by other public and private bodies.

ACE is the place where all these activities come together. ACE’s mission is to consolidate and advance the lively, rich, and socially needed study of argumentation across Europe. Our ambition is to make the most of the critical mass of the argumentation community of Europe by discussing and launching innovative lines of research, proposing new collaborative projects and study programs, facilitating research exchanges and joint mentoring, and offering unique networking opportunities via events, such as the European Conference on Argumentation, and online tools. To realize this ambition, ACE brings together all those interested in argumentation and offers up-to-date information on events, research projects, job opportunities, study and training programs, argumentation technologies, publishing initiatives, and more. In this way, it provides service to the community of argumentation scholars, professionals and students. But it also offers a point of entry – both in terms of networking opportunities and in terms of essential information – to anyone willing to scale up their interest in argumentation to the professional level.