Adversariality in Argument(ation) and Its Implications for Teaching Argumentation Courses

This paper takes stock of the debate on adversariality in argument(ation) and reflects on the implications of the debate’s outcomes for teaching argumentation (or critical thinking) courses. The criticism of adversariality has often gone hand in hand with a tendency to abandon the classical philosophical conception of argumentation (CPCA) as the dialectical search for truth. Most “completely cooperative argumentation models” (CCAM) display this tendency also in the teaching context. I defend a ‘reformist’ approach with respect to the CPCA: by drawing on the existing debate on adversariality as well as my experience in teaching argumentation to undergraduates, I emphasize the legitimacy and fruitfulness of a modified and weakened form of the CPCA. Additionally, I suggest didactical strategies for countering the problematic aspects of argumentation associated with adversariality without discarding the foundational principles of the classical approach.