Editing Debate (section)

== History ==
[[File:Mughal43.jpg|thumb|upright|''A Debate among Scholars'', [[Razmnama]] illustration]]
Debating in various forms has a long history that can be traced back to the [[philosophical]] and political debates of [[Ancient Greece]], such as [[Athenian Democracy]] or the [[Shastrartha]] in [[Debates in ancient India|Ancient India]]. 

In Imperial [[China]]'s [[Han dynasty|Han Dynasty]], debate amongst scholars was most famously portrayed in a series of debates known as the [[Discourses on Salt and Iron]], held in 81 BCE. Named by [[Emperor Zhao of Han|Emperor Zhao]] for its two most famous debates, those debates focused on the reformation of the economic policies implemented by Zhao's predecessor, [[Emperor Wu of Han|Emperor Wu]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=De Bary |first=Wm. Theodore |url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/debate_salt_iron.pdf |title=Sources of Chinese tradition |date=1999 |publisher=Columbia University Press |others=Irene Bloom, Wing-Tsit Chan, Joseph Adler, Richard John Lufrano |isbn=0-231-10938-5 |edition=2nd |location=New York |oclc=39217011}}</ref>

Modern forms of debating and the establishment of debating societies in the Western world occurred during the [[Age of Enlightenment]] in the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Kingdom of Politesse: Salons and the Republic of Letters in Eighteenth-Century Paris |url=https://arcade.stanford.edu/rofl/kingdom-politesse-salons-and-republic-letters-eighteenth-century-paris |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321012352/https://arcade.stanford.edu/rofl/kingdom-politesse-salons-and-republic-letters-eighteenth-century-paris |archive-date=2023-03-21 |access-date=2023-03-21 |website=ARCADE |language=en}}</ref>

=== Emergence of debating societies ===
[[File:IsaacCruikshank-DebatingSoc.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|''Debate Tonight: Whether a man's wig should be dressed with honey or mustard!'', a 1795 cartoon satirizing the content of debates]]
[[Trinity College Dublin]] boasts two of Europe's oldest debating societies: [[The Hist]] in 1770, inspired by a debating club created by [[Edmund Burke]] in 1747, and [[The Phil]], founded in 1683. The [[Cogers|Society of Cogers]] was founded in London in 1755 and still operates today. [[London Debating Societies|Debating societies]] had emerged in [[London]] in the early 18th century, and soon became a prominent societal fixture of life in London.<ref name="Mary Thale 1999">Mary Thale, "The Case of the British Inquisition: Money and Women in Mid-Eighteenth-Century London Debating Societies", ''Albion'' 31, no. 1 (Spring 1999).</ref> Although debating societies had existed in London since at least 1740, they were exclusive and secretive societies. However, by the mid-18th century, London fostered a vibrant debating society culture, largely due to increased membership from London's growing middle class.<ref name="Mary Thale 1999"/> The topics debated covered a broad spectrum, and debating societies allowed participants from all genders and social backgrounds, making them an example of the enlarged [[public sphere]] of the [[Age of Enlightenment]].<ref>Mary Thale, "London Debating Societies in the 1790s", ''The Historical Journal'' 32, no. 1 (March 1989): 58–59.</ref> Debating societies were a phenomenon associated with the simultaneous rise of the [[public sphere]].<ref>James Van Horn Melton, ''The Rise of the Public in Enlightenment Europe'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).</ref> A sphere of discussion, separate from traditional authorities and accessible to all people, acted as a platform for criticism and the development of new ideas and philosophy.<ref>Thomas Munck, ''The Enlightenment: A Comparative Social History 1721–1794'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).{{ISBN?}}</ref>

[[John Henley (clergyman)|John Henley]], a clergyman,<ref>Donna T. Andrew, "Popular Culture and Public Debate" in ''The Historical Journal'', Vol. 39, Issue 02 (Cambridge University Press, June 1996), p. 406.</ref> founded an Oratory in 1726 with the principal aim of "reforming the manner in which public presentations should be performed".<ref name=goring>Goring, P. (2005), ''The Rhetoric of Sensibility in Eighteenth-Century Culture''</ref>{{rp|63}} He extensively utilized the print industry to advertise the events of his Oratory, establishing it as a ubiquitous part of the London public sphere. Henley also played a crucial role in shaping the space of the debating club; he introduced two platforms to his room in the [[District of Newport|Newport district]] of London for the staging of debates and organized the entrances to facilitate the collection of admission fees. These modifications were further carried out when Henley relocated his enterprise to [[Lincoln's Inn Fields]]. With the public now willing to pay for entertainment, Henley capitalized on the growing [[commercialization]] of British society.<ref name=goring />{{rp|65–66}} By the 1770s, debating societies had become a firmly established part of London society.<ref name="ReferenceA">Andrew, "Popular Culture and Public Debate", 409.</ref>

The year 1785 was pivotal: The ''[[Morning Chronicle]]'' announced on March 26:<ref>Andrew, ''London Debating Societies,'' 82.</ref>

{{blockquote|The Rage for public debate now shows itself in all quarters of the metropolis. Exclusive of the oratorical assemblies at Carlisle House, Freemasons Hall, the Forum, Spring Gardens, the Casino, the Mitre Tavern, and other polite places of debating ''rendezvous'', we hear that new Schools of Eloquence are preparing to be opened in St. Giles, Clare-Market, Hockley in the Hole, Whitechapel, Rag-Fair, Duke's Place, Billingsgate, and the Back of the Borough.}}

[[File:Married-state-ca1780.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Many subjects were debated in the [[London Debating Societies]] of the 18th century. This is a cover to a [[panegyric]] on marriage and family life, {{Circa|1780}}.]]

In 1780, 35 distinct societies advertised and hosted debates accommodating between 650 and 1200 individuals.<ref>Andrew, Introduction to ''London Debating Societies,'' ix; Thale, "London Debating Societies in the 1790s", 59; Munck, ''The Enlightenment,'' 72.</ref> The topic for debate was introduced by a president or moderator, who then moderated the discussion. Speakers were allotted specific time frames to present their arguments, and, following the debate, a vote was conducted to reach a conclusion or to adjourn the topic for further deliberation.<ref>Thale, "London Debating Societies in the 1790s", 60.</ref> Speakers were prohibited from slandering or insulting other speakers or straying from the designated topic, underscoring the premium placed on politeness by late 18th-century debaters.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

=== Student debating societies ===
{{Main|College literary societies|List of college literary societies}}
[[Princeton University]] in the [[Thirteen Colonies|future United States of America]] was home to several short-lived student debating societies throughout the mid-1700s. The [[American Whig-Cliosophic Society|American Whig Society]] at the university was co-founded in 1765 by future revolutionary [[James Madison]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The American Whig-Cliosophic Society |url=https://whigclio.princeton.edu/ |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=The American Whig-Cliosophic Society |language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies]] were formed at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] in 1795 and are still active. They are considered the first of the post-revolutionary debating societies.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

[[File:A debate at the Union Club - c1887.JPG|thumb|A debate at the [[Cambridge Union Society]] ({{Circa|1887}})|right]]

The first student debating society in Great Britain was the [[University of St Andrews Union Debating Society|St Andrews Debating Society]], formed in 1794 as the ''Literary Society''. The [[Cambridge Union Society]] was founded in 1815 and claims to be the oldest continually operating debating society in the World.<ref>[http://www.cus.org/about/history-union History of the Union | The Cambridge Union Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224120439/http://www.cus.org/about/history-union |date=2013-12-24 }}. Cus.org. Retrieved on 2013-07-15.</ref>

Over the next few decades, similar debate societies emerged at several other prominent universities, including the [[Oxford Union]], the [[Durham Union]], the [[Yale Political Union]], and the [[Conférence Olivaint]].
{{clear|left}}