A Critical Analysis on Positive and Negative Discourses on Debate Education in Japan

Abstract

Various discourses on debate education have been perpetuated. Especially in Japan, there have been a lot of negative discourses on debate, which led Japanese people to have an aversion to debate. First, positive and negative discourses on debate in the 1990s in Japan were introduced. Then, I focus on the negative discourses to clarify their underlying reasons and discuss whether these criticisms to debate are valid or not. The types of the negative discourses addressed in this paper are the criticisms: (a) randomly assigning the affirmative or negative side is not appropriate, (b) participants suffer from mental damages by discussing sensitive/traumatic topics, (c) debate creates no new value, (d) debate does not fit into Japanese culture, and (e) deciding winners and losers is not appropriate. Finally, considering such criticisms, I propose several ways to promote debate education and research for the future.