accept it and act in accordance with it. Debate is a special form of
argumentation: it is oral argumentation carried on by opposing sides.

A consideration of the service which argumentation performs shows that
it is one of the noblest and most useful of arts. By argumentation men
overthrow error and discover truth. Courts of law, deliberative
assemblies, and all bodies of people that engage in discussion
recognize this fact. Argumentation threshes out a problem until the
chaff has blown away, when it is easy to see just what kernels of
truth remain and what action ought to be taken. Men of affairs, before
entering upon any great enterprise, call in advocates of different
systems, and by becoming familiar with arguments from every point of
view try to discover what is best. This method of procedure
presupposes a difference of opinion and belief among men, and holds
that when each one tries to establish his ideas, the truth will
remain, and that which is false will be swept away.

The field of argumentation includes every kind of discourse that
attempts to change man's actions or opinions. Exposition is
explanation when only one theory or one interpretation of the facts is
possible; when views of truth or of policy conflict, and one course is
expounded in opposition to another, the process becomes argumentation.
This art is used not only by professional speakers, but by men of
every occupation. The schoolboy pleading for a holiday, the workman
seeking employment, the statesman advocating a principle of government
are all engaged in some form of argumentation. Everywhere that men
meet together, on the street or in the assembly hall, debate is
certain to arise. Written argument is no less common. Hardly a
periodical is published but contains argumentative writing. The fiery
editorial that urges voters to the polls, the calm and polished essay