Difference between revisions of "Structured debate/rules/plaintext"

Revision as of 12:41, 28 June 2012

This is an attempt to specify a set of rules by which these rules might be implemented within a non-threaded discussion environment, without any special assistance from software.

Those rules can be summarized as:

Any claim that has been neither challenged (i.e. somebody says they disagree with it) nor rebutted (someone has posted a conpoint) shall be considered TRUE.
Any claim that has at least one TRUE conpoint shall be considered FALSE.

Rules of Non-Threaded Engagement

1. Every paragraph that is to be considered part of the formal debate must be prefixed by one of these words: "CLAIM", "PRO", or "CON", followed by an index number.

2. For a CLAIM, the index number is an integer. These should start with (and increment by) 1 -- e.g. "CLAIM 1" would be the first, "CLAIM 2" would be the next, etc.

3. For each PRO or CON, the index number is based on the index number of the parent (i.e. the point to which it is responding), plus a decimal followed by an integer. These should also start with (and increment by) one.

4. When a PRO or CON point depends on the truth of a set of statements, each of these statements should be prefixed by "SUB" followed by an index number (following the same numbering rules as PRO and CON).

5. When the state of a CLAIM is changed due to a CON point, either participant may note this by saying "CLAIM n REFUTED" or "CLAIM n AFFIRMED".

6. When a participant disagrees about the structure of another participant's argument, they should start with "MODIFY n" where n is the index number of a mis-structured element. The explanation of the change can be in plain English, but should be followed by a restatement of any points or sub-points that need modification.

If one or more participants find that they can't agree over logical structure, it may be necessary to abandon the argument; where possible, though, the debate should end with a restatement of each side's position. It may then be possible to have another debate starting from one or both of those claims.

Where possible, the words "CLAIM", "PRO", "CON", "AFFIRMED", "REFUTED", and "MODIFY" should be formatted in such a way as to stand out. If they cannot be bolfaced or highlighted using color, then being written in all-capitals (as here) should suffice.

These rules are designed to be agnostic as far as which "side" any participant is on.

Example

CLAIM 1: Socrates is mortal.

PRO 1.1: Socrates is a man, and men are mortal.

SUB 1.1.1: Socrates is a man.

SUB 1.1.2: Men are mortal.

CON 1.1.1.1: Socrates is a god.

CLAIM 1.1.2 REFUTED.

CLAIM 1 REFUTED.

MODIFY 1.1.1.1 This should be a two-parter:

CON 1.1.1.1: Socrates is a god, and gods are not mortal.

CON 1.1.1.1.1: Socrates is a god.

CON 1.1.1.1.2: Gods are not mortal.

("Gods are not mortal" is undisputed.)

PRO 1.1.1.1.1.1: There is no evidence that Socrates is a God.

CON 1.1.1.1.1 REFUTED.

CLAIM 1 AFFIRMED.

How this might appear in a comment thread:

Alice says: