Speaker's Series Mar. 29

Friday, March 29, 2019 - 15:00

Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation & Rhetoric along with the PhD in Argumentation Studies at the University of Windsor invite you to a talk by

 

Waleed Mebane

PhD Argumentation Studies

 

“Argumentation Theory and (e-)Deliberative Democracy”

 

Abstract: Deliberative democracy is a form of participatory democracy under which all citizens, and not only legislative representatives, are supposed to be involved (in one way or another) in deliberation about public policy. Deliberative democrats hope that such deliberation will improve the quality of those policies and increase confidence in democratic institutions. Including computer mediated (online) discussions (among the ways of participating) should enable much larger numbers of people to participate together in direct discussions than would be possible in person.

 

In such settings, some of the observed benefits of face-to-face in person discussions, such as for engaging empathy, may not be as much available; but computer mediation and computer assistance for deliberation offer resources to produce other benefits. I will explain how insights from argumentation theory could help us design online deliberation that takes advantage of computer assistance to avoid argument pitfalls and proceed toward best policy decisions and not only toward consensus agreements.

 

 

Friday, March 29, 2019

3:00 pm

Chrysler Hall North, 1163

All are welcome

(519)253-3000