posted on Oct, 18 2011 @ 03:53 AM
reply to post by sputniksteve
Actually , to be fair to the idea of debate, it IS a tool of learning. But it is not a tool which can educate the debating parties so much as a
fantastic forum by which persons on the edges, or outside a discussion might learn something.
When debating a point it is very easy to get lost in your angle to the point where the opposing veiw looses all clarity and value (assuming it
started out from a position which included some kind of merit). But when sat outside a debate, it is very easy to learn an awful lot about a subject,
from both sides of any divides which may exist within that subject range (for instance, UFO aliens, politics, the mysteries of science).
When debate amongst peers was first developed, it was as a method by which political, scientific, and philosophical issues might be resolved. It is
an idea which has continued to find favour amongst intellectuals in every walk of life, purely because it has some very benificial effects on the
capacity of all participants to understand the subject matter they are discussing.
Theres nothing wrong with debate at all. What IS wrong, is getting into a debate with someone who refuses to learn anything from the discussion, or
going into a discussion arrogantly refusing to learn yourself.
If either of those things is happening, then of course you are going to get no where with your debate, and you wont enjoy it, because what happens
there is a slanging match with no logical conclusion nor value.
I dig debate. I bury arguments.