This essay analyzes the rhetorical framing tactics of a group of disability activists to understand how they use key words, topic shifts, and other framing maneuvers to amplify marginalized voices in public debates. Focusing on a town hall meeting and a legislator update meeting between activists and lawmakers, the author uses "stasis"…

The history of American imperialism, as well as China's strong presence on the contemporary global scene, should encourage American scholars of rhetoric to look beyond the nation-state and study other rhetorical traditions such as Chinese practices of argument. A debate during the Western Han dynasty over the country's economic policies…

Often, composition teachers present public debate as if it occurs on a rhetorically level playing field, with victory going to the person who argues most logically. Real-world contestants are seldom so equal in power. We can enrich our pedagogy by studying such encounters; example: the 1263 disputation at Barcelona between Rabbi Nachmanides and…

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…

Suggests that inherency is a composite of several distinct factors operating to block the solution of particular policy dysfunctions and offers a rhetorical model as an alternative to the single-definition approach to the concept of inherency. (MH)

Many academic debaters have adopted a rhetoric of emancipation, which seeks to identify oppressive features in the material conditions of contemporary society. Debaters now often advocate a wholesale rejection of the current system. This emancipatory rhetoric illustrates some components of Jurgen Habermas' critical apparatus. In turn, that…

Examines how public discourse engages and redirects the constitutive powers of human communication. (JK)

Discusses the use of transcending claims in argument as an implicit attempt to move the focus of an interaction from the challenged claim and, thus, to circumvent argument on the original claim. (JMF)

An evaluation of the juridical model or "jurisprudential analogy" effect on the new rhetoric. (CH)

First affirmative rebuttal strategies are analyzed. (CH)

This paper argues that the concept of presumption and burden of proof as developed in twentieth century argumentation texts is distinct from the theory developed and perfected by Whately in his "Elements of Rhetoric." The first section of this paper reviews the concepts of presumption and burden of proof as described by Whately,…

The argumentative perspective enables rhetoric to function in a manner analagous to science or analytic philosophy, yielding reliable knowledge about nonempirical topics, which other methods cannot address. In short, argumentation is the equivalent of hypothesis-testing. Forensics should offer laboratory experience in developing this perspective…

In this article, the author demonstrated how recent histories relied primarily on previous accounts and one textbook to characterize George Pierce Baker's work. This narrow assessment of "The Principles of Argumentation" limits one's understanding of his contribution to argumentation theory and pedagogy. Similarly, one has seen the need for care…