Our Credo

• Our principle is the power of individuals to participate with others in shaping their world through the human capacity of language;
• Our commitment to argument expresses our faith in reason-giving as a key to that power;
• Our commitment to advocacy expresses our faith in oral expression as a means to empower people in situations of their lives;
• Our research studies the place of argument in advocacy in these situations of empowerment;
• Our teaching seeks to expand students'' appreciation for the place of argument and advocacy in shaping their worlds, and to prepare students through classrooms, forums, and competition for participation in their world through the power of expression; and
• Our public involvement seeks to empower through argument and advocacy.

The AFA Credo is contained in the purpose section of the AFA Constitution and was approved unanimously by the AFA Membership in October 1992.