Handecia
01-10-2004, 19:21
This is the Doctrine of the True Debate, O believers. Hear me, for I am the receptable of the wisdom of the Gods for all who peruse these forums for serious discussion. These are the words of Thoth, God of the Debate:
The true debate is the sacred art of seeking consensus on the basis of data. It is for this reason that you should be preoccupied, first and foremost, with data. In a debate, you must be interested with concepts, ideas, arguments, and nothing else.
The debate is the arena upon which you must decide upon a specific point of contention. To this arena you may not bring anything else than your accumulated knowledge and your intellect. This is the ritual purity of the debate; you must not sully it with sophism, pedantry, irrelevant quotes, or mock-philosophy. The debate is a self-contained world, an arena of data, and to bring excess burden to it will lead into your personal discomfort and loss.
Your perception and your intelligence must be incisive and precise, sharp like scalpels in the hands of a skilled surgeon. You must be clear as ice, cold as steel, and exact like perfect calligraphy. Everything you and your opponent says you must dissect without emotion and always without personal involvement. You must weigh the truth of all things without so much as a trace of passion, and you must strive always for clarity. Like Anubis, who weighs the hearts of men after death, you must have intolerance of error, purity of purpose, and clarity of vision. Meandering is unacceptable. Value judgements you must identify as such. You must also identify any bits of data you are personally uncertain of (or which are not about to attempt to prove) with an appropriate expression such as 'I believe', 'I understand' or 'I think'. Metaphors you should indicate as well, though it is not always necessary. Wit you must use like a fine weapon, but you must always remember that wit in itself proves nothing. Ditto for quotes. Also, you must rehearse humour until you can identify it in an argument. This way, you will not make yourself look like an idiot.
Your self-critique must be stringent and uncompromising. This is the only way. You must beware of words, although they are your weapon. They may also be a prison. You must test words unto destruction, examining them even as you lay them on paper or utter them from your mouth. You must stand ready to define terminology upon request, much like the perfect warrior is always ready to change his weapon on demand.
You may not re-define something you have already defined; this is fallacy, and will lead you to Hell. You may alter or concede to a redefinition based on mutual discourse, however. You may also not contradict yourself. You may not speak about one thing and mean another; and then blame your opponent for not understanding. The burden of exposition is on you.
You must never succumb to reading <i>into</i> things; you must, instead, always read the words themselves, and only the words themselves, and look carefully to see what is in those words. You must always recognize and respect shades of meaning; and bow low before them if you have led yourself astray by ignoring them. From these things follow that must not attach meanings which are not expressly implied. You must not use <i>non sequitor</i>, the straw-man argument, a slippery slope argument, or any other logical fallacy. Neither must you ever use snide comments instead of wit; or insult your opponent by refusing clarification of a term. These are contrary to the God of the Debate; and will damn you to debater Hell, where dwell only illiterate ninth graders, and the only topic of discussion is religion.
The burden of proof, just like the burden of clear exposition, is upon the one who presents an idea. <i>Reductio ad absurdum</i> must be used only to illustrate a principle, not to disqualify emotion and feeling. You must not give quarter to unsound ideas; be they yours or your opponent's.
Blanket statements you must not use; they damn you to Hell. Proper grammar must you also use lest Thoth, the God of Debate, personally bitch-slap your sorry ass to Hell.
Veering into the realm of the epistemological and the metaphysical will most often detract you from your topic. This is punishable by death: so says Thoth, the God of the Debate. Your attention must remain upon the point of contention, and nothing else, unless you and your opponent both agree to deviate from it. The point of contention must always rest in your sight, and you must always strive to address only that point of contention with your arguments. Data which is not pertinent to the point of contention you may use in support of your argument, but for no other reason. If you feel that you are wrongly accused of veering off-topic, you must provide the proof that what you say is of relevance.
This, in the language of men, is: "All your arguments must be relevant." Here you see how you must also strive to set your words so as to make them simple, understandable and direct. Otherwise there can be no clarity. Lack of clarity leads to confusion; confusion leads to anger; anger leads to the debaters talking about different things and veering off-topic; and this in turn leads to impossibility of consensus.
These have been the words of Thoth, God of the Debate. It is your duty to disseminate these words unto all people of the earth; except people under thirteen and people who visit public discussion boards, for their souls are already lost to debater damnation.
The true debate is the sacred art of seeking consensus on the basis of data. It is for this reason that you should be preoccupied, first and foremost, with data. In a debate, you must be interested with concepts, ideas, arguments, and nothing else.
The debate is the arena upon which you must decide upon a specific point of contention. To this arena you may not bring anything else than your accumulated knowledge and your intellect. This is the ritual purity of the debate; you must not sully it with sophism, pedantry, irrelevant quotes, or mock-philosophy. The debate is a self-contained world, an arena of data, and to bring excess burden to it will lead into your personal discomfort and loss.
Your perception and your intelligence must be incisive and precise, sharp like scalpels in the hands of a skilled surgeon. You must be clear as ice, cold as steel, and exact like perfect calligraphy. Everything you and your opponent says you must dissect without emotion and always without personal involvement. You must weigh the truth of all things without so much as a trace of passion, and you must strive always for clarity. Like Anubis, who weighs the hearts of men after death, you must have intolerance of error, purity of purpose, and clarity of vision. Meandering is unacceptable. Value judgements you must identify as such. You must also identify any bits of data you are personally uncertain of (or which are not about to attempt to prove) with an appropriate expression such as 'I believe', 'I understand' or 'I think'. Metaphors you should indicate as well, though it is not always necessary. Wit you must use like a fine weapon, but you must always remember that wit in itself proves nothing. Ditto for quotes. Also, you must rehearse humour until you can identify it in an argument. This way, you will not make yourself look like an idiot.
Your self-critique must be stringent and uncompromising. This is the only way. You must beware of words, although they are your weapon. They may also be a prison. You must test words unto destruction, examining them even as you lay them on paper or utter them from your mouth. You must stand ready to define terminology upon request, much like the perfect warrior is always ready to change his weapon on demand.
You may not re-define something you have already defined; this is fallacy, and will lead you to Hell. You may alter or concede to a redefinition based on mutual discourse, however. You may also not contradict yourself. You may not speak about one thing and mean another; and then blame your opponent for not understanding. The burden of exposition is on you.
You must never succumb to reading <i>into</i> things; you must, instead, always read the words themselves, and only the words themselves, and look carefully to see what is in those words. You must always recognize and respect shades of meaning; and bow low before them if you have led yourself astray by ignoring them. From these things follow that must not attach meanings which are not expressly implied. You must not use <i>non sequitor</i>, the straw-man argument, a slippery slope argument, or any other logical fallacy. Neither must you ever use snide comments instead of wit; or insult your opponent by refusing clarification of a term. These are contrary to the God of the Debate; and will damn you to debater Hell, where dwell only illiterate ninth graders, and the only topic of discussion is religion.
The burden of proof, just like the burden of clear exposition, is upon the one who presents an idea. <i>Reductio ad absurdum</i> must be used only to illustrate a principle, not to disqualify emotion and feeling. You must not give quarter to unsound ideas; be they yours or your opponent's.
Blanket statements you must not use; they damn you to Hell. Proper grammar must you also use lest Thoth, the God of Debate, personally bitch-slap your sorry ass to Hell.
Veering into the realm of the epistemological and the metaphysical will most often detract you from your topic. This is punishable by death: so says Thoth, the God of the Debate. Your attention must remain upon the point of contention, and nothing else, unless you and your opponent both agree to deviate from it. The point of contention must always rest in your sight, and you must always strive to address only that point of contention with your arguments. Data which is not pertinent to the point of contention you may use in support of your argument, but for no other reason. If you feel that you are wrongly accused of veering off-topic, you must provide the proof that what you say is of relevance.
This, in the language of men, is: "All your arguments must be relevant." Here you see how you must also strive to set your words so as to make them simple, understandable and direct. Otherwise there can be no clarity. Lack of clarity leads to confusion; confusion leads to anger; anger leads to the debaters talking about different things and veering off-topic; and this in turn leads to impossibility of consensus.
These have been the words of Thoth, God of the Debate. It is your duty to disseminate these words unto all people of the earth; except people under thirteen and people who visit public discussion boards, for their souls are already lost to debater damnation.