From the Editors Articles The four articles in this issue reflect the range and diversity of the research taking place in the various discourse communities we service. In this volume there are arti- cles by a philosopher (Siegel), a discourse analyst (Feteris), two psychologists (Chit- tleborough and Newman) and a communi- cation theorist (Harpine). And we have representation from the United States, The Netherlands, and Australia. Harvey Siegel's article, "Not by Skill Alone: The Centrality of Character to Crit- ical Thinking," is a response to Connie Missimer's paper "Perhaps by Skill Alone." Siegel defends the "character vi~,:"," wh~ch .is the dominant view among cntlcal thmkmg theorists. Eveline Feteris applie~ the Pragma-Dialectical perspective ~o the Issue of rationality in legal reasoning I~ her paper, "Rationality in Legal Discus- SIons: A Pragma-Dialectical Perspective." The Pragma-Dialectical Perspective refers, of course, to the approach to argumenta- tion theory developed by the Dutch theo- rists, van Eemeren and Grootendorst, whose work we have published in earlier volumes. TXT The question "What is an Argument?" gets a fresh look in "Defining the term 'Argument'." Written by Chittle- borough and Newman, two Australian researchers whose background is psychol- ogy, this paper argues that extant defini- tions do not adequately capture the agency ~f argum~ntation. Finally, the argumenta- tIve practIce of appealing to tradition is placed in a cultural context and then exam- ined by William Harpine, whose discipline is communication. Book Reviews and Abstracts Jonathan Adler, our book review edi- tor, has been active and we are grateful for his energetic and imaginative contribution. In this issue you will find a critical study of the recent book Slippery Slope Arguments by Douglas Walton, two book reviews, and a collection of book abstracts. Finances In front of every silver lining, there's a cloud! The journal is actually catching up--and that is causing problems. Last Fall we completed Volume 14 (1992) and billed subscribers for Volume 15 (1993). Invoices for Volume 16 (1994) y-rent out with 15.2, and again with this Issue (15.3) to those who have not yet renewed. Moreover, you will be getting at least two, and possibly all three issues of Volume 16 before the end of calendar 1994, and so will be getting invoiced again, for Volume 17 (1995). . Some of you have asked: when you got thIS last invoice, "Didn't I just pay for a renewal?" The answer, is, "Yes, you're quite right. But that was for Volume 15, and the latest invoice is/was for Volume 1~. The next one, coming in December, wIll be for Volume 17." So you are right: it feels like more than one bite because it is more than one bite. However, you are getting a full volume (three issues) for each payment. We ask readers to renew promptly when invoiced. We rely on subscription payments to pro- vide us with the cash flow with which to pay the typesetter, printer and so on. Ir.'FORMAL .LOG.Ie is pu~lished with the support and generous financial assistance of the Dean of Arts and the Umverslty of Wmdsor, Canada.