Argument & Audience - International Debate Education Association

376 Pages·2004·1.53 MB·English

Argument and Audience
Presenting Debates in Public Settings

Argument and Audience
Presenting Debates in Public Settings
by
Ken Broda-Bahm
Daniela Kempf
William Driscoll
International Debate Education Association
New York • Amsterdam • Brussels
Published in 2004 by
The International Debate Education Association
400 West 59th Street
New York, NY 10019
© 2004 by International Debate Education Association
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without
permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Broda-Bahm, Kenneth T., 1963–
Argument and audience : presenting debates in public settings / By Ken
Broda-Bahm and Daniela Kempf.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-9720541-3-8 (pbk.)
1. Debates and debating. I. Kempf, Daniela, 1969- II. Title.
PN4181.B76 2004
808.5’3--dc22
2004007628
Printed in the United States of America.
Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Section One: Public Debate in Context
1. A Rationale for Public Debates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2. The History of Public Debates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3. An Ethical Perspective for Public Debates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4. Moving from Tournament Debating to Public Debating . . . . . . . . 65
Section Two: Preparing for a Public Debate
5. Preliminary Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6. Crafting a Proposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
7. Developing a Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8. Attracting Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
9. Coaching and Preparation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
10. Reasoning With Your Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
11. Making Your Arguments Compelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
12. Listening and Note Taking in Public Debates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
13. Opening Speeches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
14. Refutation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Section Three: Presenting A Public Debate
15. Delivering Your Arguments Effectively. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
16. Questioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
17. Moderating the Debate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
18. Ending the Debate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
About the Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Preface
In September, 2002, as the people of the United States began to consider
the possibility of a war on Iraq, students at Marist College in Poughkeepsie,
New York, gathered to hear a public debate between two advocates—one, a
U.S. Army colonel who favored an attack, and the other, a professor of social
studies who opposed military action. The event proved to be lively, with fre-
quent interruptions for applause, as well as boos and cheers. Because they
were participants in a live event, the audience members became involved in
a dramatic way. “Marist College debate coach Maxwell Schnurer, who orga-
nized the event, said watching arguments over the issue on television makes
‘people feel as though they’re not invited to the table.’ But ‘public debates are
conversational lightning,’ he said. ‘They affect us.’ ”1
We wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Schnurer—public debates do affect us.
More than that, they are an integral part of any society that is truly open. An
open society, as defined by the philosopher Karl Popper, is a society based
on the recognition that nobody has a monopoly on the truth, that differ-
ent people have different views and interests, and that there is a need for
institutions to protect the rights of all people to allow them to live together
in peace. Public debates offer a unique opportunity for the articulation of
different views and interests in a forum that is characterized by reasonable
argument and personal respect.
Debate has changed our lives, as it has changed many other lives. For
Ken, debate helped transform a rather shy boy from a military family into
a young man who found as a teacher, coach, author, and advocate that he
could influence with the power of words, and later into a (yes, somewhat
older) man who found, again and in a new career, that a fascination with
words, ideas, and audiences continues to serve as a profound calling. For
Daniela, a native of formerly socialist Croatia, debate finally channeled all
the previously unsatisfied yearnings for free speech and open public debate,
nonexistent in her country and so many others when she was growing up,
and made her eager to share this epiphany with others. We can both say
with confidence that debate helped to make us and many of our students
into more tolerant people and conscientious citizens of the world. We have
had the privilege of seeing firsthand the difference that public debates can
vii
make in countries that face past and present threats to the ideal of respect-
ful civil discourse—countries like the United States and many transitioning
countries in East and Central Europe and around the world.
We owe the idea for this book and its realization to the Southeast Europe
Youth Leadership Institute and its staff and students, who all contributed to
the project with their insights and who served as our permanent inspiration
and focus group. We are thankful to all of our students and colleagues at
Towson University and Marymount Manhattan College for shaping us into
the teachers that we are and for allowing us to test-run this material. We are
indebted to the International Debate Education Association for promoting
debate in the United States and all over the world and for giving this book
a publishing home. We would like to recognize and extend our thanks also
to Gordon Mitchell, Max Schnurer, Alfred Snider, the Baltimore Urban
Debate League and many others who play a role every day in helping to
reawaken public debate in America and elsewhere. Finally, we are grateful
to all of our debate coaches, mentors, colleagues, family and friends who
contributed to this book by making us who we are.
Ken Broda-Bahm
Daniela Kempf
William Driscoll
March 2004
1. Nik Bonapartis, “Professor, Colonel Debate Iraq War,” Poughkeepsie Journal,
September 26, 2002.
viii
Part One
Public Debate in Context