FORUM
Diversity and specificity of the argumentative forums
Some disputes, such as “Who’s going to take out the trash?” can be resolved quickly and privately. Others cannot be resolved so easily and are brought before established, specialized, social institutions. An argumentative forum is a more or less institutionalized physical public or private space dedicated to addressing argumentative issues. These spaces may or may not have the capacity to make decisions. Interventions there are governed by the norms and customs that characterize the forum, first and foremost, the specific codification of the turns of speech as defined by the rights to speak. These rules give meaning and consistency to the notion of “local rationality.”
The concept of a forum, along with its institutional accompaniment and its concrete rules, must be considered when analyzing of social argumentation. This approach allows us to move beyond an idealized view of argumentation as an exercise subject only to the law of dialectical reason, which law would suffice to regulate verbal exchanges between artificially de-socialized actors, see roles.
The crucial question of the burden of proof relates not only to the prevailing opinion (doxa) at the time of the discussion, but also to the forum in which the discussion takes place.
Tribunals and political assemblies can be seen are typical forums. There are also many other “marketplaces of argument ”, where points of view are calculated, expressed and traded to inform practical decisions. Such marketplaces are integral to democratic societies.
Consider the dispute over the legalization of drugs in Syldavia, a true participatory democracy. This issue is discussed in many forums, including subway cars, family dinner tables, corner pubs, town hall meeting rooms, commissions that prepare official political party positions, the National Congress Palace, and so on. Some of these forums have the power to make decisions, others simply serve to broaden and popularize the debate rather than conclude it.
« The lack of a truly democratic living environment »
The following passage is taken from a 2002 speech given by Alfredo Cristiani, who was President of El Salvador from 1989 to 1994. In 1992, during his presidency, the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed, ending a twelve-year civil war between the extreme right and Marxist guerrillas. His 2002 speech was delivered on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of these accords[1].
Welac cannot understand the significance of what has happened in El Salvador if we confine ourselves to the recent past. The crisis that has engulfed the Salvadoran nation in the last decade did not come out of nowhere, nor was it the result of isolated wills. This painful and tragic crisis, has ancient and profound social, political, economic and cultural roots. One fatal flaws in our national way of life in the past was the absence or inadequacy of spaces and mechanisms [de los espacios y mecanismos] necessary for the free exchange of ideas and the organic development of the various political projects stemming from freedom of thought and action. In short, there was a lack of a truly democratic living environment.
Argumentative forums or the banks of the Ilisus river?
According to Plato, sophistry dominates public forums and institutions, especially courts and the assemblies, which are controlled by professional sophists. For this reason, Socratic dialectical interaction, which is solely aimed at searching for truth, takes place in a special, desocialized, argumentative setting: a pleasant place in nature, such as a hot day, by a stream, under a tree with a light breeze and grass to lie down on:
Phaedrus: — […] All right, where do you want to sit while we read? [2]
Socrates: — Let’s leave the path here and walk along the Ilisus. Then we can sit quietly wherever we find the right spot.
Phaedrus: — How lucky, then, that I am barefoot today-you, of course always are. The easiest thing to do is to walk right in the stream. This way, we’ll also get our feet wet, which is very pleasant, especially at this hour and season.
Socrates: — Lead the way, then, and find us a place to sit.
Phaedrus: — Do you see that very tall plane tree?
Socrates: — Of course.
Phaedrus: — It’s shady, with a light breeze. We can sit or lie down on the grass there if we prefer.
Socrates: — Lead on, then.
Phaedrus: — Tell me, Socrates. Isn’t it from somewhere near this stretch of the Ilisus that people say Boreas carried Orithuia away?
Socrates: — So they say.
Phaedrus: — Couldn’t this be the very spot? The stream is lovely, pure and clear–just right for girls to play nearby.
Plato, Phaedrus, I229a-c. CW, p. 509.
[1] archivo.elsalvador.com/noticias/especiales/acuerdosdepaz2002/nota18.html (09-20-2013)
[2] The speech of Lysias, which Phaedrus “[holds] in [his] left hand under [his] cloak”.