Effective Debate

[Siúil a Rúin]

I came across this video and found it really helpful for learning effective debate strategies with others, but also to increase self-awareness. I thought it could be valuable to start a thread where debate strategies and approaches to effective reasoning can be explored. Although it would also be fun if people start debating about debating.

 

[yeghor]

The goal of debate should be:
1) Expressing our opinion about something
2) Finding out the truth about it

It shouldn't be about convincing the other side about our viewpoint or coming on top.

If we aren't equipped with true information/opinion, we'll make wrong decisions based on incorrect information/opinion.

How to discern true information/opinion though? Everyone's opinion feel correct to themselves.

 

[FlamingSword]

I agree with the view that debate shouldn't be about winning and losing only.

The ultimate goal of any debate is to achieve a better understanding of things. Also, similarly important is that by debating, we should be able to see more clearly the pros and cons of differing perspectives, so that we don't approach things from merely one perspective, but are able to combine various perspectives together and see what they jointly reveal.

Debate can help us learn how to think faster and more efficiently. It is the speed that is the most challenging for me.

Arguing for a proposition you disagree with can be fun since you need to set aside your personal view and focus on defending a very different proposition.

I would recommend Jubilee, the YouTube channel that regularly hosts debates on various topics.

This one is not a good debate per se, IMO, but it is a good idea to bring people together and allow them to have a conversation.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

I came across this video and found it really helpful for learning effective debate strategies with others, but also to increase self-awareness. I thought it could be valuable to start a thread where debate strategies and approaches to effective reasoning can be explored. Although it would also be fun if people start debating about debating.

[...Video...]

The video has some good ideas and tips.

In my own life, I just figure that if someone looks at an issue from a black-and-white perspective ("my side is virtuous and the other side is evil"), then it's probably not worth communicating with them about that issue. They've gotten "stuck" or "trapped" in one viewpoint or on one side of the debate (Jungian "one-sidedness"), and they've become blind to nuances and gray areas. So they're just going to parrot "the party line."

It doesn't mean that they're awful people. They may be perfectly good company on a host of other issues. But it's not worth discussing that one issue where they have a black-and-white perspective.

Even when we're both on the same side of a given political issue, the stridency and zealotry of a hard-core partisan will often get on my nerves. I really don't like close-minded extremists on either side of the political aisle.

So that's the "tell" that I mainly look for: Play devil's advocate with them and see how open they are to alternative viewpoints. If they see things through the black-and-white lens and insist that they're on the side of the angels and that other viewpoints are inadmissible, then I pretty much just shut down around them on that issue. No use banging my head against a brick wall. I'll simply avoid that issue with them in the future. And if they're equally rigid about other issues as well, then I avoid them entirely. I can find other people who will be more open to real communication and alternative viewpoints.