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Literary notes about disputation (AI summary)

The term "disputation" has been employed in literature to capture a spectrum of intellectual and social exchanges, ranging from rigorous philosophical debate to lively, even humorous argument. For instance, classical authors such as Saint Augustine and Cicero used it to denote serious, structured discussions on theology and ethics [1, 2, 3]. In contrast, writers like Henry Fielding and Robert Burns used the term to evoke the sounds and passions of everyday conflict and banter [4, 5]. Additionally, texts by Whitman and Pushkin provide a glimpse into how disputation can animate both the formal arena of scholarly dialogue and more lighthearted, performative exchanges [6, 7]. Even political treatises by figures like Thomas Jefferson reflect the term's adaptability, combining formal debate with broader implications about society and inheritance [8, 9, 10].
  1. What solidity, what consistency, what sobriety has this disputation?
    — from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine
  2. Say, if you please, what shall be the subject of our disputation.
    — from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero
  3. That from the disputation of Varro, it follows that the worshippers of the gods regard human things as more ancient than divine things.
    — from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine
  4. This gentleman and Mr Thwackum scarce ever met without a disputation; for their tenets were indeed diametrically opposite to each other.
    — from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
  5. Clatter, noise, tattle, talk, disputation, babble.
    — from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
  6. As I write this particular passage, (November, 1868,) the din of disputation rages around me.
    — from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman
  7. Silent, oracular ye'd see him Amid a serious disputation, Then suddenly discharge a joke The ladies' laughter to provoke.
    — from Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin
  8. Kinge Cyrus perswaded by Araspas, to dispose himselfe to loue a ladie called Panthea, entreth into a pretie disputation and talke of loue and beautie.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  9. Disputeson , sb. disputation, MD; disputisoun , C; desputisoun , MD.—OF. desputeson ; Lat. disputationem (for -eson = -tionem , see Ps. Introd.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  10. Our inheritances are become a prize for disputation; and disputes and litigations are become an inheritance.
    — from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

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