Descends from G. W. F. Hegel's dialectical method (Science of Logic, 1812) and the pragma-dialectics of Frans H. van Eemeren and Rob Grootendorst (Speech Acts in Argumentative Discussions, 1984); the map itself comes from E. Michael Nussbaum and Gregory Schraw's argument vee diagram (2007), put on screen by Hui Niu and John C. Nesbit (The Dialectical Map, 2015).
Diagrams a contested question as a thesis and its antithesis, each with its strongest arguments, the counterarguments, and the replies, to see where a synthesis might lie.
When to reach for it
When two camps both have real grounds, the debate keeps looping, and the group needs to take both sides seriously before choosing.
How it runs
- State the thesis and antithesis as sharply opposed claims.
- List the three to five strongest arguments for each side.
- Attach the best counterargument to each argument.
- Add replies to the counterarguments until each branch settles.
- Read the surviving branches for a position that keeps what holds on both sides.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Science of Logic, 1812
- Speech Acts in Argumentative Discussions, 1984
- Promoting Argument-Counterargument Integration in Students' Writing, Journal of Experimental Education 76(1), 2007
- The Dialectical Map (DMap), Simon Fraser University, 2015