Welcome to DebateLab

With partners from computer science and political science DebateLab studies opportunities and challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in peacemaking. The project "Mediating Machines?" is funded by a Volkswagen Foundation Planning Grant, 2020-21.

Together with Uni Bern, we organize a 4-day workshop on argument analysis in Bioschwand near Bern (CH) (21/05/20-24/05/20). For more info, please consult our

DebateLab is part of the DFG-funded network "Simulation of Scientific Inquiry", coordinated by Dunja Seselja (Eindhoven) and Rush Stewart (Munich).

A joint project with Claus Beisbart and Georg Brun from Uni Bern (CH) on formal models of reflective equilibrium has been approved by SNF and DFG (2020-23).

DebateLab cooperates with André Bächtiger (political science, Uni Stuttgart) in a Terra-Incognita-Project (2020) to study both experimentally and computationally the enabling conditions for rational deliberation.

In cooperation with museum x, DebateLab has held a public debate about flying and climate change on 19 November 2019, providing live analysis and feedback during the discussion. The event is paralleld by an online discussion at kialo.com. 

Poster...

DebateLab is part of the DFG-funded network "Arguing at School", coordinated by David Löwenstein from Uni Jena.

David Lanius organizes and chairs a panel discussion with Prof. Dr. Andrea Römmele (Hertie School of Governance) and Prof Dr. Annette Leßmöllmann (WMK, KIT) on october 15, 2019.

Poster...

David Lanius' "Strategic Indeterminacy in the Law," a study on the value and function of semantic vagueness in the law, has been published with Oxford University Press.

Publisher's website...

David Lanius has been a guest in the TV show DAS! on 27 February 2019 and critically discussed the art of provocation. On 08 May 2019, he was interviewed for the prime time news broadcast "Heute Journal".

David Lanius (KIT, DebateLab) and Romy Jaster (HU Berlin) have just published a new book on Fake News. See also this Website for reviews and suppl. material.

We've started to create critical thinking flashcards with tinycards from duolingo. Feeback is more than welcome! 

DebateLab contributes to the COST Action – European network for argumentation and public policy analysis, which is co-ordinated by Marcin Lewinski from ArgLab, Lisbon.

David Lanius and Michael Schefczyk co-organize a two-day conference "Improving Public Debate and Political Decision-Making: The Last Democracy Conference before Brexit?" to be held 28-29 march 2019 in London.

Program...

David Lanius explains the aims and scope of the online campaign "Deutschland spricht" ("Germany speaks") at one of Germany's top news broadcasts.

Christian Voigt has developed Argdown, a Markdown-inspired syntax for complex argumentation. Supplementary open-source tools support both informal argument mapping and sophisticated logical analysis.

The workshop "Suspension of Belief," co-organized by Alexandra Zinke, is held 26-27 October 2018 at University Mannheim, Chair of Theoretical Philosophy / Philosophy of Language.

Workshop Poster...

With Dunja Šešelja (LMU Munich, Ruhr-University Bochum) and Christian Straßer (Ruhr-University Bochum), we organize a conference on agent based models in philosophy, to be held from 20-22 March 2019 in Bochum.

Alexandra Zinke's The Metaphysics of Logical Consequence, which critically assesses and reinterprets the notion of deductive inference, is published with Klostermann.

Matthew Dentith, expert for the epistemology of fake news and conspiracy theories, has been visiting DebateLab in June 2018.

Kevin Ashley, renowned expert in AI and argumentation from the University of Pittsburgh, is visiting DebateLab as DAAD fellow in May 2018.

Together with Uni Bern, we organize a 4-day workshop on argument analysis in Abtei Lichtenthal at Baden-Baden (31/05-03/06). For more info, please consult the

program...

We develop and try out ideas for argumentation and debating games at an informal workshop, Feb 8 2018, 18-22h. The event takes place at ZKM's Open Codes exhibition. Interested in joining us? Then please leave a

message.

DebateLab co-organized and contributed to an interdisciplinary workshop on online participation, held from 09 to 10/11/2017 at KIT.

OpMAP is a tool for eliciting, analysing and visualising opinion data about controversial issues. It integrates methods from formal argumentation theory, network analysis, and graph drawing. An opinion map about what you should eat is currently displayed at the Open Codes exhibition at ZKM.

David Lanius has carried out an in-depth analysis of populist, right-wing argumentation in Germany.

David Lanius and Romy Jaster have compiled a list of 10 rules that may prevent a debate from escalating. Their article is published with Zeit Online.

Dan Singer from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, is visiting DebateLab from June 18 to June 25.

An international workshop, to be held at June 19, which explores ways of representing argumentation in multi-agent models of opinion dynamics.

Workshop Agenda...

Interdisciplinary Workshop with scholars from KIT and HHU Düsseldorf, held at Feb 2, 2017.

Debate Dynamics: How Controversy Improves Our Beliefs. Betz, G. Synthese Library. Published with Springer, 2013. [Youtube teaser]

"Assessing the epistemological relevance of Dung-style argumentation theories." Betz, G. Ann Math Artif Intell (2016) 78: 303.

DebateLab develops and uses sophisticated argument mapping software. The Open Source Argunet editor is freely available here. Have a look at some sample argument maps.

The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis. Reasoning about Uncertainty. Hansson, Sven Ove & Hirsch Hadorn, Gertrude (Eds.). Published with Springer, 2016.