Unpacking Arguments.

Although argumentation is often studied in AI using abstract frameworks, actual debate often shows a dynamic interaction between argument structure and attack. Often intermediates steps in the reasoning are omitted, but it may be these intermediate steps which are the vulnerable parts of the argument. Inspired by Loui and Norman’s work on the rationale of arguments, we study the relation between argument structure and attack in terms of the unpacking of arguments. The paper provides an analysis of two kinds of rationales discussed by Loui and Norman. Example dialogues inspired by Dutch tort law are used for illustration.