Republic of Sophistan

Professors and Graduate students chat about NCA 2019 and what they presented and how they feel about the conference.

I am attending the NCA convention in Baltimore and had a great first day. I reflect on communication, rhetoric, and pedagogy that came to mind after hearing today's papers.

It's been a while, but we're back. This episode features some comments made last week by the Minister of Education at Adelphi University in New York after students performed their first in-class debate assignment.

The Education Minister reflects on President Trump's immigration national address, the response by Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi, and discusses what's wrong with rhetorical perspective in the United States.

At the National Communication Association convention in Salt Lake City, we had the chance to speak with Dr. Carly Woods about her new book Debating Women: Gender, Education, and Spaces for Argument, 1835-1945. It's a fascinating book that traces how women historically worked to gain access or create their own ways to practice the art of rhetoric and debating. Hear about how she researched the book, some of the amazing people who feature in the book, and what similarities debating women face today with their counterparts from the past. Available here: http://msupress.org/books/book/?id=50-1D0-44DC#.W-wkE-hKiUk

The Education Ministry talks with John Patrick, Lecturer in Communication at Cal Poly about his plans to host debate events at local coffee shops for the public and university. We discuss how and why you might want to have your own debate events for your office, club, or friends. You don’t have to be connected to a University to host a debate!

Dr. Cate Morrison from the University of Rhode Island joins the Minister of Education in unpacking the recent essay in The Baffler - "Speaking Ills" which argues that debate is a poor way to achieve knowledge and resolve ideological conflicts. We're confused - Who says debate is supposed to do these things? We have an alternative model in Sophistan. Link to the article: https://thebaffler.com/latest/speaking-ills-semley

A Plea from the Education Minister to consider election debates differently. Stop judging election debates based on logic, Reason, or facts. Start evaluating debates as the rich performances they are. Considering election debates as performances to evaluate helps us achieve the type of thoughtful government we actually want.

The Education Minister reflects on the recent C-SPAN Center for Scholarship and Engagement conference at Purdue University. It was a fantastic conference, and the Minister has a lot of thoughts! Also hear a live recording of the Minister addressing the conference on the question, "How Do We Evaluate Congressional Election Debates?"

In Response to Listener Questions, the Minister of Education argues for the Trouble with the Toulmin model, and suggests some useful alternatives for teaching debate and argumentation.

In the first episode, we discuss recent calls for debate-centered education, augmenting them with a sophistic view. Analysis of Wayne Brockriede's 1975 essay "Where is Argument?" helps to broaden understanding of what arguments are and what they could be.