Among the challenges posed by postmodernity are significant questions concerning the proper role and even the ultimate legitimacy of traditional theories and practices of argument. This introduction positions the essays that follow against the intellectual landscape of postmodern thought.

Changes in the social, political, and intellectual climate worldwide portend radical changes in how humans view themselves and their world. This essay argues that the twenty-first century will usher in apost-postmodern age. The new epoch will be one in which argument practices more closely resemble their modernist forbears. The ‘given of achievement’ will overcome the postmodern ‘reluctance to assent.’ Argument will be practiced against the backdrop of realist philosophical frameworks and will be viewed as contributing to the accretion of knowledge.