This article seeks to analyse how epistemic work (Alasuutari, 2018; Alasuutari and Qadir, 2019) in Portuguese parliamentary education debates develops through externalisation to world situations (Schriewer, 1990) whose references are used as epistemic capital (Alasuutari, 2018). The study explores debates occurring during Legislature X…

In June 2021, a member of the Belgian conservative political party (N-VA) sparked online controversy regarding inclusive sexuality education by criticising the Genderbread Person, an educational tool used to explain gender identity and sexual orientation. This study analyses the notion of childhood innocence in online debate about the Genderbread…

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive literature review on the development of key argumentation skills to lay a foundation for a framework of the key practice, discuss and debate ideas, which is centrally involved in the expectations for academic reading and writing. Specifically, the framework includes 5 phases of core activities and related…

Using preliminary data from studies of the 1980 debates between the presidential candidates, this paper responds to the argument that presidential debates are not debates at all but rather "joint news conferences." The paper first contends that the encounters of the candidates were "real" debates since they conformed to the…

This paper presents a theory of presumption in public debate based upon Paul Watzlawick's principles of communication. The first section of the paper details briefly the nature of presumption in contemporary argumentation theory. The second section hypothesizes a role for presumption in public debate derived principally from Watzlawick's works.…

Documents the educational benefits of academic debate. (PD)

The purpose of this booklet is to disseminate limited-circulation papers relating to value proposition debating (nonpolicy argument). The six papers provide information on the following topics: the theoretical implications of debating nonpolicy propositions, criteria for evaluating nonpolicy argument, situationally guided standards for evaluating…

Argues that university courses in argumentation often fail to prepare students for the demands they face outside the classroom. Examines current trends in communication scholarship which suggest that cooperative or collaborative modes of argumentation should be more explicitly included in argument pedagogy. (NH)

A study suggests a new approach for evaluating debate techniques. Previously used paradigms all have some disadvantages. Application of the policy-making paradigm, which involves isolating a problem, having one side propose a solution, then having the opponent point out the solution's disadvantages, is difficult because the paradigm does not…

Viewing generic arguments (arguments applied to an entire class or group of opposing arguments) in terms of the argument fields of a debate resolution strengthens the generic argument as a debate concept, brings debate theory and argument together, and offers a perspective for evaluating generic arguments in academic and the real world debate.…

This paper examines the potential of sociohistorical theory for the study of academic debate. The essay describes sociohistorical theory (noting that it is most often attributed to the work of Lev Vygotsky and that contemporary scholars influenced by it include Jerome Bruner and James Wertsch), the relationship between reason and emotion from a…

Richard Whately's imprecise description of the concept "presumption" and the brevity of his treatment of it have led to confusion in applying the concept within the realm of argumentation. In proposing a theory to eliminate such confusion, it is argued that any dispute concerning the concept of presumption and its attendant burden of proof ("onus…

Examines distinctions and assumptions underlying methods of argument analysis and criticism and defends descriptive diagrams such as the Toulmin model as illuminating methodological tools. Discusses defining characteristics of argument, presents an application of the Toulmin system, and details the presuppositions associated with context-sensitive…

This paper reviews the newly emergent trend of audience-centered debate paradigms, such as the narrative and the issues-agenda paradigms, in light of an informal logic perspective on the argumentum ad populum fallacy. The paper demonstrates the complexity involved in the evaluation of ad populum arguments as well as the care which must be taken in…

Pointing out that the "tabula rasa" debate perspective is built on the assumption that free and open debate is the fairest and most accurate method of resolving disputes, this paper argues that the "tabula rasa" approach itself has not been subjected to a similar scrutiny. The paper notes that this perspective was derived from…