"The Debate of Socrates and Aphasia" (c. 1800) by Nicolas-André Monsiau
According to Grant, "starting a disagreement by asking, 'Can we debate?' send a message that you want to think like a scientist, not a preacher or a prosecutor--and encourages the other person to think that way, too" (92).
He also claims that we're more likely to have a productive argument if we focus on how to achieve a goal and not on why one person or the other is right.
Option A:
This challenge requires an action: ask someone to join you in a debate. Avoid relationship conflict and focus on task conflict.
Report on the experience. Whom did you choose to debate? What was the subject of the debate? How did you start it? How did it progress?
If you like, you can try this with multiple people and compare the results.
He also claims that we're more likely to have a productive argument if we focus on how to achieve a goal and not on why one person or the other is right.
Option A:
This challenge requires an action: ask someone to join you in a debate. Avoid relationship conflict and focus on task conflict.
Report on the experience. Whom did you choose to debate? What was the subject of the debate? How did you start it? How did it progress?
If you like, you can try this with multiple people and compare the results.
Option B:
Describe a respectful argument that you have either participated in, witnessed at some point in the past, or seen in a movie, tv show, or other social media. Who were the participants? What was the subject of debate? What made it both a "good fight" and "civil"?
Funnily enough, one of the first debates that came to mind was from the film "Dazed and Confused." It's early on in the film and it never gets mentioned again, and doesn't have any real weight to it (which is probably why it was so respectful). The debate involved three teenage girls hanging out in the school bathroom. Earlier in class, students were talking about the best "Gilligan's Island" episodes, which leads one of the girls, Kaye, to debate with the others about the show's sexism. Her friend, Jodi, laughs at their silly conversation at first, but is open to hearing Kaye out and eventually agrees with her.
ReplyDeleteLauren George
A fun argument I can remember having was with my best friend during quarantine. It was over text so that probably takes out some of the tension and possible anger. We had both just watched a show and were talking about it, she said this character was best and I said this other character was better. I consider that a good fight because we were both actually talking about why we thought what we thought. She brought up some good points I hadn’t considered, and I brought up some she hadn’t thought about. Despite talking about something that’s easy to get carried away with neither of us used any real insults or moved away from the topic at hand.
ReplyDeleteLuke West
Luke, nice example! Why do you think that arguing over text made your argument more civil and or better than if it was in person?
DeleteOption B:
ReplyDeleteThe best arguments I ever had the privilege of being a part of were in mock trial at my high school. Each team was composed of a group of attorneys as well as a group of witnesses. Each witness had a role to play with statements and a character description. Similarly, each group of attorneys had to argue for either the prosecution/plaintiff or defense. As an attorney there were a lot of rules to stick to when making arguments in the opening and closing statements and questioning witnesses on examination. The program used actual judges to enforce the rules of the cases we participated in. The beauty of this program was that there was a neutral educated mediator who held everyone accountable to federal law and prevented external information from clouding the clarity of the case. Sometimes the cases were civil and about financial issues and other times they were criminal and about a murder. The cases were timed, and each team was given the same amount of time. A coin was flipped for which side of the argument a team would make. The fact that every participant was expected to adhere to the rules and stay within the case is what made these cases and arguments a “good fight”. These cases are also “civil” because there were rules and we were not allowed to make our arguments personal.
-Reese H. Siegle
Hey Reese, I appreciate your insight into debate club in high school. I never went to public high school, but some of the things I felt I missed out on were group activities like debate clubs or mock trials. I think the idea of a mediator is helpful, kind of like how the judge can help keep the courtroom civil and on topic. I think it's important for us to be able to realize when things are starting to escalate a little too high and help bring the tone down a little bit, when it comes to normal debates and disagreements. How do you think people should “self-mediate" their debates and arguments? Like do you think there should be some ground rules set before an argument begins (That seems a little awkward to me personally, kind of like asking someone: "Can we debate?"); or do you think people should just be careful in watching themselves and being able to sense how everything is unfolding, like I mentioned earlier? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
DeleteI actual experienced many debates that were very productive with my roommate last year. Most of these were political due to the fact that our first semester was during an election year. We are on different sides of the political spectrum, but neither one of us are way right nor way left. I think the reason our debates were productive was because we would always start with some kind of middle ground that we could both agree on. For example, one of our debates was about taxes while we can both agree on, we have to have taxes functioning government where we disagree is about who should be taxed more and who should be taxed less. Neither one of us would walk away from one of these debates angry at the other and I really do think it is because we started with something we could both agree on and then went onto more controversial topics.
ReplyDelete-Riley Knickmeyer
I always have debates with my boyfriend. He is very political, so he likes to discuss things that are happening out in the world. He lives in the UK, so we would always debate (or discuss) things that are different from my view and his view. He likes to hear different sides of the story, even if he is strong headed about most of the things he talks about. It is always interesting to hear and learn about his views and what he thinks and he likes to listen to mine as well.
ReplyDeleteOption B:
ReplyDeleteSomeone once made a comment that I found incredibly offensive. I explained to them that I found it offensive, and that I found the fact that they seemingly thought it was funny to be even more offensive. They respectfully apologized and said they weren't thinking about how someone could find it offensive. I told them to just think more about that in the future. It was by far the most civil argument I've ever had.
Option A:
ReplyDeleteI asked my father of he would like "to have a debate." He looked confused and said no, then he proceeded to laugh at the notion. I also laughed; not at the question, but his response. The act of being so polite in an argument is interesting and apparently humorous to my father. We don't have a bad relationship, I think I just caught him off guard.
- Elias
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