VI. A LIST OF DEBATABLE PROPOSITIONS

VII. FORMS FOR JUDGES' DECISION




LESSON I

WHAT ARGUMENTATION IS

I. The purpose of discourse

II. The forms of discourse:
1. Narration
2. Description
3. Exposition
4. Argumentation

When we pause to look about us and to realize what things are really
going on, we discern that everyone is talking and writing. Perhaps we
wonder why this is the case. Nature is said to be economical. She
would hardly have us make so much effort and use so much energy
without some purpose, and some purpose beneficial to us. So we
determine that the purpose of using language is to convey meaning, to
give ideas that we have to someone else.

As we watch a little more closely, we see that in talking or writing
we are not merely talking or writing something. We see that everyone,
consciously or unconsciously, clearly or dimly, is always trying to do