On Tuesday, April 9, at 18.00, there will be a kick-off meeting for the Argument Cultivation workshop in Hedwig at Ulrika, Leppäsuonkatu 11.
The idea of the Argument Cultivation workshop is to collect questions or arguments that we often encounter in debates about environmental issues, and to elaborate good answers or counter-arguments for them. The goal is for us to improve our skills in discussing those issues and to argue more convincingly.
In the kick-off meeting, we will have a look at the current state of already collected arguments and let the the participants choose some of them (possibly in pairs).
After having chosen a topic, the first task for the participants is to read up on their respective topic and come up with some sources that are a basis for forming a response. The second task is then to write a short response based on a summary of the most important points of these sources. The resulting text will then be shared with one or two other participants that do sort of a "peer review" -- that is, they make suggestions how the response could be improved.
The workshop is intended to go over several meetings. When we have collected a good number of responses to frequent arguments in this way, we plan to publish the results in some form so that also other people can benefit from our work.
In later stages of the Argument Cultivation workshop, we might organize some sort of training on debates, argumentation or rhetoric.
The main language in the workshop will be English, but the texts can be written in either Finnish or English. In the end, we plan to translate everything into both languages.
Ulrika is a shared space for student associations located in the building Domus Gaudium (Leppäsuonkatu 11) in Etu-Töölö. The entrance to the building is on a small square on Leppäsuonkatu. Next to the door there are bike racks and a doorbell that says "Ulrika" -- push the button and wait for someone to come and let you in. Ulrika can be accessed without using stairs (there's an elevator in the building), but within the space there are some low thresholds.
The meeting is open to everyone, and we welcome anyone who is interested, even without committing to anything. No prior involvement or knowledge is necessary.