Argumentation, Cooperation and Charity in Qualitative Inquiry

Contemporary argumentation theory is the most appropriate logical basis of qualitative inquiry. Formal logics, deductive or inductive, have turned out to have little value in some particular practical situations and local contexts. An optimal observance of the cooperative principle and the charity principle in argumentation theory may not only be merely methodologically motivated, it may also have an ethical motivation. This ethical motivation may have a methodological significance and may be supported by a philosophy of life.