论辩写作教学:摒弃亚里士多德劝说论,采纳儒家谏言说

Writing Teaching Argumentation: Abandoning Aristotelian Persuasion and Embracing Confucian Remonstration

现今的美国通用课程标准重新强调对写作与语篇产出能力的培养。除了说明与劝说能力以外,特别聚焦于对"基于证据的写作"能力的培养。它将议政或决策完全置于西方的论辩和劝说传统之中,在这一传统中,作者常被赋予说服读者的强者形象。基于这一传统背景,本文探索《论语》中的"谏言"(remonstration)概念,并以此说明论辩写作教学还有其他路径。本文认为,通用标准对写作的用途定义过于狭窄,谏言还包含写作的其他用处,比如尊重受众,建立彼此相互信任的关系,通过多种方式建立社会秩序等,而不仅仅是诉诸法律、政治或党派。与西方论辩传统所强调的控制性劝说不同的是,《论语》所倡导的是基于维护人际和谐关系这一出发点,谏言他人,从而引起一种可能的变化。本文认为,这一不同的思路凸显了美国教育教授给学生思辨、反思和信奉方法的局限性。

The U. S. Common Core,the national curriculum,has a renewed emphasis on writing and textual production,focusing on "evidenced-based writing along with the ability to inform and persuade ". It places deliberation or decision-making fully in the Western tradition of argumentation and persuasion. In response to the Western emphasis on persuasion and the powerful author convincing a reader,this essay examines the concept of remonstration( jian) to showone of many other ways to consider deliberation. It contends that the Common Core too narrowly defines the uses of writing and that remonstration,for example,has the uses of respecting the audience,building trusting relationships,and engaging the social order in ways that are not simply legal,political,or partisan. Within the Analects,there is — instead of a controlling persuasion — an open-ended possibility of change in keeping with harmonious human relationships. This alternative highlights the limitations of howU. S.students are taught to deliberate and reflect on their ideas and commitments.