Singular and General Causal Arguments

In two studies we examined arguments for singular and general causal claims. The first study, a content analysis of newspaper articles, revealed characteristic distributions for mechanistic, statistical, and counterfactual argumentations in singular and general problems. In a second experimental study, subjects formulated arguments from different perspectives on general and singular problems. The results show that subjects are sensitive to the singular-general distinction as well as to related argumentative roles and backgrounds of knowledge. This supports a rhetorical model of causal cognition.