ABSTRACT
To settle disputes, arguments of one of three types would serve in Rabbinic Judaism. Can we specify the rules of argument and their types? First comes the argument from authority. Specifically, a sage might invoke for the case at hand the authority of Heaven (also known as, God in the Torah) or of Heaven mediated by surrogates on earth (sage, priest, king). Evidence on behalf of a given proposition and against its opposite would then derive from Scripture as interpreted by sages, and a valid argument would consist in citing a verse of Scripture and showing how the wording or substance of the verse settled matters.
