Argument Clinic

The Argument Clinic is an academic group for logically disciplined philosophical discussion, created in October 2011, by students from the various Philosophy study cycles at the School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon.

 

The group meets biweekly. A typical Argument Clinic session includes the presentation of a philosophical question or thesis by one of the participants, followed by discussion. This is how the method of quaestiones disputatae practiced in the Universities of Medieval Europe is simulated, in its Socratic sense. The theme in which the thesis or question presented is subsumed is previously disclosed, occasionally together with supporting material. The language adopted in the sessions has been Portuguese.

 

There are no constraints regarding the content of the questions disputed in the Argument Clinic, unless: 1. this content is recognizably philosophical, i.e., can be found in the specialty literature, and 2. this content has some interest for the majority of participants in a given session. A fortiori, there is in principle no restriction of a philosophical nature on the choice of topics to be discussed.

 

There is a constraint regarding the form of presentations and discussion. The formal constraint is that of clarity of expression, and in this regard it is considered that mastery of the elementary rules of logical syntax is not insignificant, along with the conscious use of Portuguese grammar.

 

The Argument Clinic website can be found here.