[Philosop] Poisoning the Well and Silencing in Argumentation - Calls for Abstracts (for an online workshop) and papers (for a Topoi issue)

[Stevens, Katharina]

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We are excited to announce a call for papers for an issue of the journal Topoi on "Poisoning the Well and Silencing in Argumentation" and an associated call for abstracts for an online workshop on the same topic!

What is this about?

Among the fallacies traditionally regarded as particularly dangerous and pernicious, poisoning the well stands out. The literature describes poisoning the well as an argumentative move that consists in providing or emphasizing information about an interlocutor to diminish the credibility of what they have already said, or will say, thereby “poisoning” their ability to contribute - silencing them.

In spite of the fallacy’s importance, work on it and on silencing in argumentation generally is limited. This is particularly surprising since work on silencing in the philosophy of language and social epistemology has long flourished. This coordinated workshop and issue of the journal Topoi will be a first step towards filling this gap. We invite contributions related to poisoning the well, as well as voice and silencing in argumentation.

How do I participate...

...in the workshop? Easy! You can either sent a 250-300 word abstract to ahma...@fcsh.unl.pt by August 1st, if you would like to present a paper. Or, if you are a student who would like to comment on a paper, just send an email to the same address, indicating your interest and explaining how you are connected to argumentation theory.

... in the Topoi issue? Easy as well! The portal for paper submissions will open on July 14^th 2026. At that point, you can submit a paper through the journal's submission system - make sure to select the correct topic! Deadline for submissions is February 15^th 2027.

Can you give me a starting point for research?

 Sure! You can email ahma...@fcsh.unl.pt or katharin...@uleth.ca, and we will be happy to share our reading list of poisoning the well related papers with you!