Discussion Procedures

At Grinnell (and elsewhere), you will regularly engage in serious discussions and arguments about a number of topics. You will find that some discussions are both successful and enjoyable while others are painful and irritating. What makes a discussion good or useful?

• Better discussions often focus on a central claim or idea.
• Better discussions demonstrate a continuity of ideas: each comment or claim is linked, explicitly or implicitly, to prior comments and claims.
• Better discussions rely on evidence (most typically, from the readings).

For now, we will emphasize continuity. That is, each statement you make should connect to a prior statement or statements. Here are some of the connections you might make. When we first discuss, I'd like you to explicitly state what kind of connection you're making (and I'll try to put a list on the board).

• You can stake a claim. Typically, we will begin our discussions with a single claim. Once a claim has been made, you should not stake another claim until we have exhausted the first claim.
• You can provide further evidence or examples to support or refute a claim.
• You can suggest or question the warrant that relates evidence to a claim.
• You can raise an objection to the claim.
  • This objection could be a possible flaw in the claim.
  • This objection could be a possible counter-claim.
• You can refine or correct the claim.
• You can distinguish between parts of a claim, often in conjunction with other connections.
  • For example, you might say something like Jack has claimed that X, which is really a combination of Y and Z. While Jack is certainly correct in claiming Y, Jane has already disproven Z.
• You can summarize the discussion up to the present point.
• You can relate two or more earlier statements.
• You can comment on the structure or procedures of the discussion. For example, Joe's last comment seems to be bringing us further away from Jane's and Jack's earlier points.
• You might request clarification of the prior statement or related issue.
  • Could you rephrase that claim?
  • Are you really saying ___?
  • What warrant connects that evidence to the claim?
  • What evidence do you have for that claim?