KiST of Contentious Issues

Back to Workshop Week 7   Contentious Issues

Source adapted from Simon Housego

Kind, Scale, and Topicality (KiST)

Kind

According to Housego (2016), there are different kinds of Contentious Issues as follows

1-A difference of opinion: contentious issues with this kind are unlikely to be resolvable with good evidence; of little lasting impact

2-Jury is still out: with this kind, claims are for future outcomes. Housego (2016) advises that we do not yet know what will happen, but the question 'what is the basis for the claims? ' is asked.

3-Denial: Housego indicates that there substantial, overwhelming facts and evidence are available, yet this kind is still contentious; importantly, this denial contentious issue likely is very ideological.

4-Cultural/religious: claims of this kind are based on cultural or religious viewpoints.

Scale

When dealing with a contentious issue, degrees of its scale should be considered. The Scale of an issue could be global, national, local and/or foreign. 

Topicality

In terms of Topicality, a contentious issue is classified to as historical, recent, current, and/or future.

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