Theology
Jan Dietrich
Modes of Argumentation
The Epistemology of Arguments in the Book of Job
Volume 12 (2023) / Issue 3,
pp. 266-281 (16)
Published 30.08.2023
This article excavates the epistemology of several modes of justification used by the characters in the book of Job. After a short survey of the types of »arguments from authority« used by Job's friends, I highlight the epistemology of some critical and rational ways of argumentation used by the different characters in the book, especially, but not only, Job. Personal experience, self-reflective thinking and secondorder thinking, questions of definition, and the principle of impartiality all argue for implementing a critical, rational, and even judicial desire for objectivity in wisdom disputation, which goes beyond arguments justified by authority.