On the 7 logical ways to counter an argument 1 Hubert Marraud Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, España hubert.marraud@uam.es Abstract: My aim here is to give an adequate definition of counterargument, establishing a suitable typology of counterarguments grounded on Toulmin’s model. Keywords: Counterargument, dialectics, objection, rebuttal, refutation. The emergence of Argumentation Theory in the second half of the 20th century is tied to the restoration of dialectic as a discipline dealing with argument. Owing to the vicissitudes of history, the term “dialectic” has acquired two different senses, sometimes confused with each other. On the one side, dialectic is the study of procedures that govern –or should govern- argumentative exchanges. On the other side, dialectic is that part of the Theory of Argument (or logic in its widest sense) studying the relations among arguments. 2 It is in this second sense that we speak of dialectical definitions of argument and argumentation, meaning those definitions involving a reference to opposite arguments, objections and counterarguments. 3 Johnson’s definition is a well-known example: An argument is a type of discourse or text (the distillate of the practice of argumentation) in which the arguer seeks to persuade the Other(s) of the truth of a thesis by producing the reasons that support it. In addition to this illative core, an argument possesses a dialectical tier in which the arguer discharges his dialectical obligations (Johnson 2000, p. 168). In the dialectical tier the arguer deals with predictable objections and criticisms. A more recent example is Marianne Doury’s definition of argumentation: 1 Supported by the research project “La construcción de agentes argumentativos en las prácticas del discurso público" (FFI2014-53164-P) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. 2 On the two senses of dialectic see Marraud (2015). 3 Finocchiaro (2003) opposes illative definitions of argument to dialectical definitions of argument, and classifies these according to a moderate, a strong and a hyper dialectical conception of argument.