Knowledge Without Validity or: The Seminar as a Place of Discourse Without Criticism

The seminar is a university teaching format associated with the idea that students and lecturers should have an opportunity to jointly discuss and criticise knowledge. On the basis of selected interaction sequences from seminars in different subjects, the article develops the thesis that the seminar is in fact not a place of critique or of the confrontation of arguments. Rather, we argue that empirical evidence shows that the seminar is actually relatively free from the risks of argumentative critique. Instead of integrating students into discursive debates, it offers them the opportunity to practise scientific speaking in a discursive space.