DEBATES (in English)
MYKOLAS ROMERIS UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF STATEGIC MANAGEMANT AND POLICY
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT THEORY
PATVIRTINTA
Strateginio valdymo ir politikos fakulteto tarybos
2009-04-16 d. NR. 1SVP-60
DEBATES (in English)
PROGRAMME OF THE SUBJECT
2009
Vilnius
ECTS credits: 3
Local credits: 2
Contact hours: 80 hours (16 hours of lectures, 32 hours of seminars, 32 hours of discretionary
work).
About the subject:
Debates help students to develop their moral and aesthetical attitudes, skills of thorough
investigation, initiative, creativity, independence, positive and critical thinking. Moreover debating
strengthens skills of communication, will and attention, encourages cognitive and social activities.
All in all students are educated to think in a democratic and tolerant way.
The most important benefits students get from attending this debate course are first of all a versatile
way of thinking and secondly a increased interest in social, cultural and civil life. These notions
embrace the main spheres of public life, such as law, politics, economics, science, ethics, moral, art,
media etc. While debating each student has an opportunity to get to know different cultures,
societies and lifestyles. Debates also help students to evaluate critically various phenomena of
social life, to solve emergent problems by constructively rejecting stereotyped thinking, and foster
tolerance for the opinions of other people.
Goals of the subject:
 To develop students’ skills of logical thinking, argumentation, information gathering,
analysis and application;
 To improve skills of public speaking and discussion in legal/common English;
 To introduce basic rules of debating and to foster skills needed for application of debate
method in the future activities.
Eligible students: debates, as an elective subject, is available for Mykolas Romeris University full
time students from faculties of Law, Strategic Management and Policy, Economics and Finance
Management, and Public Administration doing undergraduate or master studies and speaking
English. The subject is also available for exchange students from Socrates Erasmus programme.
CONTENTS
1. Overview of debates. Main principles of the debates. Debate traditions in the world and
Lithuania. Introduction to various debate styles: Karl Popper debates, Strategic debates, Lincoln –
Douglas debate style. Introduction to British and American Parliamentary debates.
Bibliography:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Gutauskienė A., Pakšienė V. Debatai. – Kaunas, 2001.
Balakrishnan G. Debating Empire, 2003.
Knapp T., Galizio L. The Elements of Parliamentary Debate: A Guide to Public Argument, 1998.
Phillips L., Hicks S. W., Springer R. D., Fryar M. Basic Debate, 1997.
Philips J., Hooke J. The Sport of Debating: Winning Skills and Strategies, 1998.
2. Characteristics of British Parliamentary debate. Distribution and roles of the teams:
Opening Government, Opening Opposition, Closing Government, Closing Opposition.
Sustaining/supporting Government’s line. Opposition‘s tactic. Individual role of every speaker.
Bibliography:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Gutauskienė A., Pakšienė V. Debatai. – Kaunas, 2001.
Ericson M.J., Murphy J. J. The Debater's Guide, 2002.
Knapp T., Galizio L. The Elements of Parliamentary Debate: A Guide to Public Argument, 1998.
Sather T. Pros and Cons: A Debater's Handbook, 1999.
3. Characteristics of American Parliamentary debate. Roles of the Government and the
Opposition. Characteristics of the positions of the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition.
Presentation of the programmes/plans of the Government and the Opposition.
Bibliography:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Gutauskienė A., Pakšienė V. Debatai. – Kaunas, 2001.
Phillips L., Hicks S. W., Springer R. D., Fryar M. Basic Debate, 1997.
Knapp T., Galizio L. The Elements of Parliamentary Debate: A Guide to Public Argument, 1998.
Sather T. Pros and Cons: A Debater's Handbook, 1999.
4. Preparation for the debate. Sources of information. Different types of motions and their
correct interpretation. Closed, semi-open/semi-closed, open motions. Defining the topic of the
debate and creating the case. Narrowing the motion. Squirreling. Truisms. Tautology. Specific
knowledge.
Bibliography:
1. Gutauskienė A., Pakšienė V. Debatai. – Kaunas, 2001.
2. Freeley A. J., Steinberg D. L. Argumentation Debate, 2004.
3. Thomas A. D., Hart J. P. Advanced Debate, 1996.
5. Proposition/government‘s case. Defining the debate. A case/plan. Strategy. Identification of
status quo. Structure of the argument. Development and layout of the arguments. Logic base of the
argument. Justifying the argument with analogy, statistic examples, quotes. Permissible evidence.
Grouping the arguments.
Bibliography:
1. Gutauskienė A., Pakšienė V. Debatai. – Kaunas, 2001.
2. Freeley A. J., Steinberg D. L. Argumentation Debate, 2004.
3. Herick A. J. Argumentation: Understanding and Shaping Arguments, 2000.
4. Philips J., Hooke J. The Sport of Debating: Winning Skills and Strategies , 1998.
6. Role of the Opposition. Clashing the interpretation of the motion, case and arguments brought
by the Government. Proper strategy of rebuttal. Delivery of the counter-plan.
Bibliography:
1. Gutauskienė A., Pakšienė V. Debatai. – Kaunas, 2001.
2. Freeley A. J., Steinberg D. L. Argumentation Debate, 2004.
3. Herick A. J. Argumentation: Understanding and Shaping Arguments, 2000.
4. Philips J., Hooke J. The Sport of Debating: Winning Skills and Strategies, 1998.
7. Speaking styles and speaker’s types. The speaker and his audience. Types of audience. Public
speaking tips. Bad habits of the speaker. Structure of the speech. Ways to deliver a speech.
Bibliography:
1. Bielinienė J. Iškalbos menas. – Vilnius, 2000.
2. Gutauskienė A., Pakšienė V. Debatai. – Kaunas, 2001.
3. Karnegi D. Kaip išsiugdyti pasitikėjimą savimi ir vieša kalba paveikti žmones.– Vilnius, 1992.
4. Šukys J. Kalbos patarimai politikams ir visiems kalbų sakytojams. – Vilnius, 2000.
5. Bellanca J., Forgary R. Catch Them Thinking. – Arlington Heights, Illinois, 1993.
6. Gronbeck B. E., Ehninger D., Monroe A., German M. K. Principles of Public Speaking, 2003.
7. Hughes D., Phillips B. The Oxford Union Guide to Speaking in Public, 2004.
8. Judging a debate. Commenting a debate. Disagreements between judges. Separate opinions.
Consensus over a decision. Admissibility of points of information. Evaluation of individual
speakers. Style and content. Evaluation of the teams. Fulfilling the role of the team.
Bibliography:
1. Gutauskienė A., Pakšienė V. Debatai. – Kaunas, 2001.
2. Phillips L., Hicks S. W., Springer R. D., Fryar M. Basic Debate, 1997.
3. Thomas A. D., Hart J. P. Advanced Debate, 1996.
9.
Socialinių įgūdžių lavinimas debatuose. Savirefleksija; debatai ir poveikis kitiems. Debatų limitai.
Informacinio ir normatyvinio poveikio procesai. Vertybės ir argumentacija. Loginė ir retorinė argumentacija.
Sokrato ir sofistų debatų modeliai. Loginės klaidos. Debatų integralumas.
Praktinis pagrindimas ir normos. Diskurso, komunikatyviosios-konsenso etikos principai. Debatai socialinių
humanitarinių technologijų kontekstuose.
Universitetinių debatų specifika. Orientacija į profesionalizmą.Debatų modeliavimas ir kontekstualizavimas.
Sociokultūriniai debatų skirtumai ir veiksniai.
Bibliography:
1. R.Alexy. Theory of Legal Argumentation. Oxford, 1998. (Vertimas: Alexy R. Teisinio
argumentavimo teorija. Mokymasis apie racionalų diskursą, arba Teisinio pagrindimo teorija. / Vertė
J. Galginaitis, A. Galginaitytė. Vilnius, Leidykla Teisinės informacijos centras, 2005, 381 psl).
2. Danielson, P. Modeling Rationality, Morality, and Evolution. Vancouver Studies in Cognitive
Science, Vol. 7, Oxford, 1998.
3. Dworkin R. A Matter of Principle. Cambridge, Masachusets: Harward University Press, 1985.
(Vertimas: R. Dworkin. Principo reikalas / Vertė K. Klimka. Vilnius, 2006).
4. Habermas, J. Discourse Ethics: Notes on Philosophical Justification. // Moral Consciousness and
Communicative Action. Cambridge, 1990.
5. Global debates http://www.thepeoplespeak.org/
6. The online debates; hundreds of debating Topics http://www.idebate.org/
Form of assessment: attendance in seminars and active participation (50%) and final debate or
successful participation in the international debate tournament (50%).
Academic coordinators of the programme: dr. Gintaras Aleknonis, prof. Nijolė Vasiljevienė.
Invited lecturers:
Virginija Pakšienė (the director of Informal debate education centre) – lecture “Conception of the
debates”;
Kajar Kase (a board member of Estonian debate association, Tartu University) – lecture
“Characteristics of American Parliamentary debate”.
Jurij Romanenkov (a board member of Stockholm School of Economics Riga Debate Society) – lecture
“Proposition/government‘s case”;
Kateryna Yablochkova (a board member of National Taras Shevchenko University of Kiev
Debate Society) – lecture “Role of the Opposition”;
Lio Kaufmann (the vice-president of University of Glamorgan Debate Society, IDEA accredited
judge) – lecture “Characteristics of British Parliamentary debate“;
Raiko Uri (a board member of Stockholm School of Economics Riga Debate Society) – lecture “Speaking styles
and speaker‘s types”.
Literature for seminars: for every seminar students have to prepare independently. Preparation
should involve gathering and analysing information about current important evens in the world. A
student should be able to use the gathered information in a debate. Recommended sources of
information:
 www.econimist.com
 www.bbc.co.uk
 www.cnn.com
Prepared by: Vaidas Jurkevičius
vaidas.jurkevicius@gmail.com