The Project Gutenberg eBook, Elements of Debating, by Leverett S. Lyon

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Title: Elements of Debating

Author: Leverett S. Lyon

Release Date: November 19, 2004 [eBook #14090]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELEMENTS OF DEBATING***

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ELEMENTS OF DEBATING

A Manual for Use in High Schools and Academies

By

LEVERETT S. LYON

Head of the Department of Civic Science in the Joliet Township High School

1919

PREFACE

This book pretends but little to originality in material. Its aim is
to offer the old in a form that shall meet the needs of young students
who are beginning work in debate. The effort has been made only to
present the elements of forensic work so freed from technicality that
they may be apparent to the student with the greatest possible economy
of time and the least possible interpretation by the teacher.

It is hoped that the book may serve not only those schools where
debating is a part of the regular course, but also those institutions
where it is a supplement to the work in English or is encouraged as a
"super-curriculum" activity.

Although the general obligation to other writers is obvious, there is
no specific indebtedness not elsewhere acknowledged, except to Mr.
Arthur Edward Phillips, whose vital principle of "Reference to
Experience" has, in a modified form, been made the test for evidence.
It is my belief that the use of this principle, rather than the
logical and technical forms of proof and evidence, will make the
training of debate far more applicable in other forms of public
speaking. My special thanks are due to Miss Charlotte Van Der Veen and
Miss Elizabeth Barns, whose aid has added technical exactness to
almost every page. I wish to thank also Miss Bella Hopper for
suggestions in preparing the reference list of Appendix I. Most of
all, I am indebted to the students whose interest has been a constant
stimulus, and whose needs have been to me, as they are to all who
teach, the one sure and constant guide.

L.S.L.