1705132786 1.2.1.2 Debate in China In addition to the study of argument, debate also has played important roles in the history of China, none more prolific than during a Golden Age of Chinese philosophy. This prolific era for debate included the turbulent Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) when itinerant persuaders advised state kings on issues of war strategies and diplomacy. In this era, known as the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thoughts, free discussions of thoughts and philosophies flourished. Scholars representing Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, Monism and many other schools of thoughts debated with each other and competed for supremacy, until Confucianism became a dominant state philosophy and cultural ideology at the time of Emperor Wu (156-87 BC) (Denecke, 2011: 38).

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1705132788 Great societal debates occurred during the New Culture Movement period in China at the beginning of the 20th century. Eminent scholars such as Chen Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, and Hu Shi called for the abandonment of the use of Confucian texts and ancient classics, exhorting these texts should be replaced with modern textual and critical methods. Spearheaded by Hu Shi, the New Culture Movement scholars also initiated the Vernacular Chinese Movement to replace classical Chinese in writing. These intellectuals actively debated issues of science, technology, individualism, philosophy and democracy. These debates brought changes to Chinese cultural values and practices. For example, Chen Duxiu claimed that only science and democracy could save China from its politics, morality, academics and ideology (Li, 1997: 3). The New Culture movement also led both to rebellion against the idea that traditional marriage be dictated by respective parents rather than marriage as arranged by the partners themselves. Similarly, rebellion was activated in support of emancipation for women from the bondage of illiteracy and from having no choice but to perform all home chores (Wei, 2004: 21-25).

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1705132790 Another milestone era in the history of China during which debate played an important role in influencing the nation’s direction began with the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 1978. The Third Plenary Session repudiated the Cultural Revolution, ended mass class struggle, marked the beginning of the Reform and Opening-Up policy, and channeled social resources into economic development. Those in the Session called upon the nation “to emancipate minds, seek truths from facts and unite as one in looking into the future” (Song, 2008: 21-22).

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1705132792 An article, “Practice Is the Sole Criterion for Truth Examination,” was published in the Guangming Daily in May, 1978 and triggered a nationwide discussion and debate about the appropriate criteria to be used for testing truth. Although contested, the majority of CPC party members and the masses reacted to the arguments presented in this article by supporting the viewpoint expressed in its title. This large, societal debate thus helped shatter the bond between the prevalent cult of personality and the ideological guidelines of these “two whatevers” (Ye, 2008: 157): “We will resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made, and unswervingly follow whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave” (Zhang, 2007: 4).

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1705132794 Currently in China, societal-based debate flourishes on television and in newspapers as well in various social media such as Weibo, Wechat, Zhihu, Liba, Tianya, etc. One of the clearest examples of media inciting societal debate involves the 2006 case of Peng Yu who discovered a 65-year-old woman who had fallen in the street. Peng Yu took the woman to the hospital and then paid her medical bill. Following this incident, Peng Yu was successfully sued for $7,000 in medical expenses. The judge suspected him of having caused the woman’s fall based on the “common sense” reasoning that there could be no other reason why Peng Yu had paid the woman’s medical bill.

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1705132796 The Peng Yu Case was one of the most famous judicial verdicts in recent Chinese history (Song, 2008: 21-22). China’s newspapers and websites hosted nationwide discussions and debates on the justice or injustice done to Peng Yu. The public expressed outrage about the verdict of “guilty” based on “common sense” and the judge’s rationale for the verdict. Tweets and posts on social media in China went beyond the question of whether Peng Yu was a martyred Good Samaritan or not, and led to a national reflection on the judicial role in promoting or degrading social morality.

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1705132798 Other current topics also occupy spaces within public debate in Chinese society. The College Entrance Examination, known as Gaokao1, generates active, ongoing public discussion and presently is being reformed. The abolition or adjustment of the one-child policy also has become a concern because of the aging population in China. The Internet provides yet another social debate: Does the civic engagement offered by internet development for voices in all circles outweigh the rancor and brawling displayed by some netizens—citizens active in online communication—in social media sites?

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1705132800 These topics and others circulate among the populace and provide important opportunities for skilled debaters to practice dispute management by contributing sound arguments on both sides of the questions before weighing a decision. Toward creating arenas for students to gain these skills, China has developed programs of educational debate where students come together with other students in other colleges and universities to develop more sophisticated understandings of argument and the art of debate, learn from experience, and practice skills that can enhance their own lives and also improve ways to manage disputes in their society. A discussion of educational debate will follow a brief review of social argument and debate in the United States.

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1705132802 思辨精英：英语辩论-构筑全球视角 [:1705132290]

1705132803 1.2.2 Argumentation and Debate in the United States

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1705132805 In the United States, rhetoric—and more specifically argument—is studied as the basic tool used in debate. Rhetoric and philosophy often are closely intertwined. For this discussion “rhetoric” is broadly defined as all symbolic methods of persuasion. While persuasion often is conceived of as an overt attempt to influence or move the listener, rhetoric encompasses those less overt messages as well. For example, “Please change your vote to support our candidate because she is honest” is easily recognizable as a persuasive statement that gives the listener a reason to vote for this candidate. However, “The weather is colder here than usual” carries a less visible, but also persuasive appeal; the speaker has established a claim with which others may or may not agree. These two statements provide only two examples of persuasion.

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1705132807 “Argumentation” in Western scholarship is a particular kind of rhetoric that involves the use of reason as the primary means of persuasion. Thus, when a person’s persuasion involves the use of reasoned communication, that person is said to be presenting arguments. The study of argument and the attending concepts is called “argumentation.” Western theories about arguments—their functions, their structures, and their uses—have evolved from the inception of rhetoric in Greece more than two thousand years ago until today. A short history of the development of rhetoric, argument, and debate demonstrates the high value placed on these concepts by United States society.

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1705132809 1.2.2.1 Argumentation in the United States Western rhetoric developed from the need for individuals in the ancient Greco-Roman culture to present their legal complaints to a judge or jury in a court of law. Many scholars identify Corax and Tisias (both 5th century BC) as the inventors of rhetoric. Corax developed methods of persuasion to be used in courts of law and taught students his theories that undergirded the later development of probability. Corax used only speaking and teaching to dispense his ideas, but his students, and in particular Tisias, produced written notes which were sold in Sicily and eventually circulated back to Greece. Ultimately, a handbook about argument and public speaking evolved. Both Plato (427-347 BC) and Socrates(469-399 BC), whose works were far more widely influential, later referred to Tisias’s theories of argument (Kennedy, 1999).

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1705132811 Although rhetoric—including argumentation—was not his primary topic, Aristotle (384-322 BC) contributed significantly to the history of rhetoric by formulating categories, advocating a philosophical viewpoint citing the importance of arguing both sides of a question, and discussing the relationship between rhetoric and dialectic. Unlike his teacher, Plato, Aristotle did not conceptualize dialectic as an inquiry toward truth (Kennedy, 1999). He saw rhetoric as an art, an offshoot of dialectic and he defined rhetoric as “the faculty of discovering in the particular case all the available means of persuasion” (Cooper, 1960). Aristotle indicated that some forms of proof were “non-artistic,” such as contracts or written documents. “Artistic” proofs, however, did rely on the artistry of the orator, relying on “a man who can reason logically, can analyze the types of human character (ethe), along with the virtues, and, thirdly, can analyze the emotions…” (Cooper, 1960).

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1705132813 After the second century BC, philosophers recoiled from the growing popularity of the study of rhetoric and refused to teach it. Cicero (106-43 BC) attempted to ease the tension by promoting the use of a combination of rhetoric and philosophy to develop students into intellectually astute and talented orators whose rhetoric advocated for civic service. Nearly one hundred years later, M. Fabius Quintilian (35?-96? AD) echoed Cicero’s idea, calling for “the good man [sic] speaking well.” (In those times, only men could speak in a public forum.) Quintilian also forwarded a strong advocacy for using rhetoric as a principle method for the general education of the populace(Thonssen and Baird, 1948: 16). A brief summary of the Greco-Roman tradition can be found in Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric (Foss, Foss, and Trapp, 2014: 4-8).

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1705132815 During the Middle Ages of the Western tradition, rhetoric continued to be taught, variously using models of excellent speakers for students to imitate as well as by having students memorize or mimic words and writings of famous people. Near the end of the Renaissance, however, the development of rhetoric continued to grow into new areas of focus. For example, Francis Bacon(1561-1626), a skilled and authoritative speaker, spoke artfully in the English House of Commons on weighty government matters. Bacon’s writings emphasized the importance of audience and the need to verify the senses with empirical data.

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1705132817 Scotsmen George Campbell (1719-1796) and Hugh Blair (1718-1800) and Englishman Richard Whately (1787-1863), all religious ministers, wrote respectively about evidence, audience analysis, and the relationship between taste and reason, collectively setting the stage for the most recent developments in rhetoric and argument in the West generally and in the United States in particular (Foss, Foss, and Trapp, 2014).

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1705132819 Some of the most important Western works of the twentieth century regarding argument include Stephen Toulmin’s Uses of Argument and Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca’s The New Rhetoric. These scholars have been especially influential with teachers of argument and debate in Canada and the United States. An English philosopher who became interested in the study of how arguments are constructed, Toulmin is most well known for his “layout of argument” which involves a diagram showing how various parts of a reasoned argument combine with one another. The Toulmin Model has become a standard to follow in different forms of debate and is used in this textbook as well as many others that feature argument, debate, or persuasion. Interestingly, Toulmin does not use the word, “rhetoric,” and considers his book to be concerned with the philosophy of science.

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1705132821 The work of Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca was especially important to the development of the Western point of view towards rhetoric in the mid-twentieth century. Their contributions fall into three categories: the concept of audience, the starting points of argument, and the techniques of argument. The theories advanced by these three contemporary scholars, along with work amassed by classic Western scholars throughout the centuries, provide the rhetorical platform used in this textbook for learning about debate.

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1705132823 1.2.2.2 Debate in the United States Debate has been important in the United States since the nation was founded in the late eighteenth century. The original governing body of the United States met in Philadelphia in Pennsylvania where that group of men debated among themselves, voicing various ideas about how the government of this new nation should be structured. Through argument and compromise, the group developed a document that became the Constitution of the United States.

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1705132825 Since that time, debates of various kinds have been common in the United States, especially in three arenas: legal, legislative, and political. In the legal arena, rules of argument and procedure are strict and lawyers must abide by the standards of the court as they present their arguments and counter arguments to judges and juries. In the legislative and political arenas, far fewer rules are codified, thus changes evolve through time and venue.

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1705132827 The first arena, the United States legal system, provides one of the most common venues for formal debate. Criminal trials (where a person or persons are accused of illegal activities) and civil trials (where a person or persons seek damages or remedy from another person or persons) consist of a series of arguments made by lawyers representing clients (although sometimes the clients serve as their own lawyers). Decisions—called verdicts—are made in some cases by a jury of peers and in some cases by a judge alone. The legal system is comprised of a series of levels of courts; sometimes litigants who lose in a lower court appeal the decision to a higher court. In the legal system, the verdict announced by the judge or jury serves as the final decision regarding the case.

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1705132829 The second arena, legislative debates, differs from legal debates in the United States. In the legislature, debaters are the elected officials within the local, state, and national jurisdictions. Guidelines for what a government official may or may not say in these debates are not as strict as are the rules for lawyers within a courtroom. In addition, elected officials at various levels throughout the government may retain researchers on staff to gather information or discover evidence. The debates supported by this research can extend for days or weeks during which multiple speakers will present opinions, information, arguments, historical reviews, and so on, one at a time. Legislative debates engage important decisions such as economic policies, social policies, environmental choices, or declarations of war.

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1705132831 In the third arena, political debates occur in various settings and various formats in the United States. Debates at a local level can occur between candidates for city mayor or candidates for the local school board, for example. Often communities facing controversial issues involving civic problems such as school zoning or taxes or building a new community center will schedule a public debate with speakers representing different sides of the questions to an audience of community members who sometimes also engage in the debate.

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1705132833 Political debates in the United States also occur at the national level. The Great Debates of 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, both candidates for Senator from the state of Illinois, became famous historical events consisting of seven debates dealing with the controversial topic of slavery. Candidates for President also debate one another. In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon participated in the first, nationally televised presidential debate. Since that time, presidential debates have occurred near Election Day featuring all the viable candidates running for office. In these debates, formats vary, but often moderators ask a question to which each candidate responds, promoting their own perspective and refuting the other candidate. Sometimes the candidates speak directly to each other, making arguments or counter arguments. The television audience reaction to the debates can affect the outcome of the election.

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1705132835 While debates in the United States often reveal crucial differences in candidates’ positions and preferences, not all legal, legislative, or political debates produce positive and useful results. Candidates unused to debating can falter or misstep; information can be presented that later will be determined to be false evidence; candidates can deviate from the central topic and engage in character attacks. In some cases where the debates are televised, the camera is kinder to some candidates than others, generating problems for the candidate with a poor visual presence. In short, some of these debates depart sharply from the kind of ethical, social debate promoted in this textbook.

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