Need We Argue?

    
                  Argonautical

We don't teach our students how to argue.

A former dean sent me this thought, from a
presentation given at one of those professional
faculty development funded conferences we
might attend for faculty development.

"The opposite of a profound truth is another
profound truth,"  says Neils Bohr and I like
to quote him a lot. "I see we are approaching
paradox: we must be making progress."

Clarity, Consistency, Coherence on the one hand

Argue: to build up a shared shining: argent.
            to go round and round in circles,
            neither logic nor sermons convincing.

 If Johnny Cash could of sung in tune he probably
wouldn't  been such a cowboy success, but there
was never no risk there. Even an autotune would
have been hard pushed to rectify his take on
just below and off key.

What? What the?

In life we make progress by conflict and in
mental life by argument and disputation....
There must be confrontation  and opposition,
in order that sparks  must be kindled.

Make a rubric for this
 
I took the trash out last,
No you didn't
Did.
Didn't
Yep.
Nope.
 
Only an open conflict of ideas and principles
can produce any clarity.  Argument is essential
for its own sake. (Karl Popper)

All this above may not apply to teaching
the liberal arts, vocational and instrumental
and pedagogically driven to cover ground
(say what they are going to do, do it, show
that they did)  but  possibly in teaching the
liberal art (general education: courses of a
nother  color), these notions might pertain.

In Europe, what we call "college" they
call "gymnasium," which literally means
"naked training."