Editing Disputation (section)

{{Short description|Formalized method of debate designed to uncover and establish truths in theology and in sciences}}
{{About||the iconographic subject|Christ among the Doctors|the oral defense of a doctoral thesis|Dissertation}}
{{redirect|Disputationes|the work by Bellarmine|Disputationes de Controversiis}}
[[File:Disputation.jpg|thumb|A disputation between Christian and Jewish scholars (1483)]]

'''Disputation''' is a genre of literature involving two contenders who seek to establish a resolution to a problem or establish the superiority of something. An example of the latter is in [[Sumerian disputations|Sumerian disputation poems]].

In the [[scholasticism|scholastic]] system of education of the [[Middle Ages]], disputations (in [[Latin]]: ''disputationes'', singular: ''disputatio'') offered a formalized  method of debate designed to uncover and establish truths in [[theology]] and in [[science]]s. Fixed rules governed the process: they demanded dependence on traditional written [[appeal to authority|authorities]] and the thorough understanding of each argument on each side.