Draw me an argument! What for? Graphs, maps, and diagrams in the study of argumentation

Like most scientific or technical fields, the field of argumentation uses methods of presentation and cartographic representation of its objects. These illustrative processes are said to have cognitive or methodological advantages. Today, there are two main reasons for using them: pedagogical and heuristic – both of which are supposedly served by using these tools to describe or evaluate an argument, an argumentative exchange, or even a discourse. After a discussion of the notions of map and cartography, the article examines their contribution to argumentation, on the one hand by questioning their demarcation, particularly in relation to written representations, and on the other by placing them in the wake of a graphic tradition common to logic and mathematics. In contrast to a spontaneously empirical approach, which only sees data on a map, this study asks and discusses again: What is to be mapped or seen mapped, and for what purposes? What ingredients are considered worthy of appearing in a map legend? Finally, what are the expected pedagogical outcomes?