the angle of building a case; and in one essential particular it fills up a great gap in previous texts in that it provides specifically for the investigation of every phase of a debatesubject. Part IV treats conviction and persuasion as concrete and practical subjects of instruction. It presents under the title of Speech-Composition much that is valuable in connection with all composition, but more particularly what is valuable to the debater in his special work of composing speeches for debate. It also includes a chapter on Strategy which is entirely new in text-books on debate. The two most unique chapters in the book are undoubtedly the chapter on Surveying the Proof and the chapter on Strategy. The Phase-System of analysis employed in the chapter on Surveying the Proof is the author's original creation. It has been tested by years of application in the class room and by many college debating teams; and it has been called by hundreds of students and college debaters the most valuable contribution for one's life work that a training in debate can give. The chapter on Strategy is one that will make every reader wonder why this subject has been neglected so long by teachers and writers on debate; inasmuch as strategy is one of the most important means by which a debater demonstrates his skill. This book covers all that is commonly treated in a book on argumentation, and may be used with equal advantage in either argumentation or debate classes; for debate, as it is treated here, is regarded merely as a highly developed and specialized form of argumentation. For assistance in the work of preparing this text-book, the author wishes to acknowledge his general indebtedness to all previous writers on the subject of debate, as well as to many other writers on the subjects of logic, rhetoric, and public speaking; but more particularly he wishes to acknowledge his lasting indebtedness to students, debaters, and teaching-assistants with whom he has labored and who have helped him beyond measure by their encouragement. W. C. S. NOVEMBER, 1922 |