Debating

“ To make a good debate you must meet your opponent most fully on his strongest ground. Any tricky evasion of his strong points and enlarging of minor issues is disgraceful to you and insulting to the audience. It is this latter kind of debating which has prejudiced the public against debates.
A real debate should be a clear presentment of two opposing schools of thought by men who understand both, but basically disagree as to their truth. Such a debate has an educational value of the very highest order.
Every speech, as in lecturing, should have a strong close. ”

“ Cautions in Debating.+—When we have made a further study of argument we shall need to consider again the subject of debating. In the meantime a few cautions will be helpful.
1. Be fair. A debate is in the nature of a contest, and is quite as interesting as any other contest. The desire to win should never lead you to take any unfair advantage or to descend to mere quibbling over the statement of the proposition or the meanings of the terms. Win fairly or not at all. ”

“ Consider the fortunes of an argument in a debating society, and the need there so frequently is, not simply of some clear thinker to disentangle the perplexities of thought, but of capacity in the combatants to do justice to the clearest explanations which are set before them,—so much so, that the luminous arbitration only gives rise, perhaps, to more hopeless altercation. ”

“ If, however, someone should urge that you may be losing some of the educative value of debate by thus avoiding such subtleties and trickeries as I have just been condemning, let me remind you again, that the real value of agreement, whether in the debating club or in later and more real life, is not in just winning but in determining just what should be done. Your purpose to arrive at a correct course of action will be strengthened, not weakened, by clearing away the unnecessary and non-essential points at the beginning. ”

“ Our debates were very different from those of common debating societies, for they habitually consisted of the strongest arguments and most philosophic principles which either side was able to produce, thrown often into close and serré confutations of one another. ”

“ But the pride of intellect, the love of reasoning everything out, the desire of superiority in debate, were so prominent a feature in society as to spoil conversation, and generally to turn a dinner-party into a debating club. ”

“ But to make the judges believe as you wish, you must not merely support your contentions; you must destroy the proof which your opponents are trying to construct.
As with the successful athletic team and the successful general, so with the successful debater, it is necessary, not only to attack, but also to repulse; not only to carry out the plan of your own side, but to meet and defeat the plan which the other side has developed. In debating, this repulse, this destruction of the arguments of the opposition, is called refutation or rebuttal. ”

“ The debates there are still earnest and sometimes brilliant, and to have presided over them is a distinction of value in after life; but as far as I could gather, their prestige is falling before the smaller debating clubs. ”

“ Don’t try to trap the other side into some unfortunate position which will prove its undoing. Note the difference: in the actual debate, be merciless to your opponent’s argument, but before the debate and during it, treat him frankly and generously. Trail down his argument, track it to its lair, flay it, have no respect or mercy to it, but be sure you are remorselessly pursuing the contention and not the contender. ”

“ In the plans for your hike, you proposed to do something, to go somewhere; if the question of conservation is up for discussion it is with some definite end in view, not simply as an excuse for general talk about it. The discussion which does not lead to a definite plan of action is not truly argument. If after your audience, whether it is your patrol, your debating club, or later your legislature, has listened to you, it says “What a fine speech!” you have failed. The audience should be convinced to the point of action. ”

“ You see, if you think a moment, that every one of these things, so important to you whether as boy or man, is drilled into you by practice in debate.
Debating Means Constructive Thinking.—In the next place, not only is practice in debate invaluable [11] in acquiring self-control and correct habits of speech, but also it teaches you to organize your own powers; it drills you in constructive thinking. In much of your school work, you learn and recite the words of others—either of teachers or of textbook writers. But if a subject for debate is proposed, you must think it out yourself. ”

“ In the second place, when he is effectively trained in debate, he is also completely equipped for the more informal thought and discussion which is his daily habit. When from his study and practice of debating, he knows something of logic, something [4] of the ordinary rules of evidence, something of the organization of an argument, he will be impatient and intolerant of weak and jointless talk, even in informal discussion. Every one has overheard in crowds talk which has passed for argument but has been as formless as a jelly-fish—merely talk. ”

“ A debating society is at first somewhat of a disappointment. You do not often find the youthful Demosthenes chewing his pebbles in the same room with you; or, even if you do, you will probably think the performance little to be admired. As a general rule, the members speak shamefully ill. The subjects of debate are heavy; and so are the fines. ”

“ It will be necessary, of course, to learn the accepted methods of debating, and know how to present the points of the argument progressively and with a climax, as well as to anticipate the points likely to be made by the opponent. Each side must also be limited as to time. ”

“ You will be more interested in the affairs of Fairfield than in those of a city in Patagonia. Your school will interest you more than the schools of the other States. Besides, as I tried to show you all the way through the book, the application of your work in debating is what really counts and using local questions freely will help tie up debate with life. Study your local problems and debate them. ”

“ Training to Meet Emergencies.—You will learn how to meet emergencies if you become skillful in [8] debate. Most of us can frame a fair argument if we can sit quietly down and think it out with no one to bother us. But to be able to control and command your resources so that they are ready for quick action—that is a different ability—an ability that work in debating will give you. If Jack has studied out his question he may be able to give a very strong argument for it. ”

“ There is very little that can be properly called debating, for the order of proceedings is better suited for academical addresses than for real discussion; the practice of making prelates speak in their order of precedence makes any honest interchange of blows impossible. ”

“ So I propose to discuss debating because it will prepare you for the highest responsibilities which may be placed upon you, while at the same time it will equip you for the everyday duties of active boyhood and later manhood. ”

“ In debate the speaker should plainly state the subject, and constantly hold it up to the attention of the audience. This procedure renders it impossible for an opponent to ignore the question and evade the real issue.
Only those who are debating for practice experience any difficulty in obtaining a subject. In the business world men argue because they are confronted with some perplexing problem, because some issue arises that demands discussion; but the student, generally speaking, chooses his own topic. ”

“ Tonight the Bandits and Buccaneers debating clubs will hold their weekly debate, the subject to be debated upon, ‘Resolved that cordite powder is more effective than British powder.’
“The rules of the debate are as follows: debaters will stand back to back, march twelve steps in opposite directions, turn and fire at the word. ”

“ There is no greater ability than the power of skillful and forcible debate, and no accomplishment more readily acquired if the person is properly directed. ¶ In this little volume are directions for organizing and conducting debating societies and practical suggestions for all who desire to discuss questions in public. ”

“ The high regard for debating is not misplaced. We can hardly overestimate the good that debating has done to the subject of speaking in the schools and colleges. The rigid intellectual discipline involved in debating has helped to establish public speaking in the regular curriculum, thus gaining for it, and for teachers in it, greater respect. To bring training in speech into close relation with training in thought, and with the study of expression in English, is most desirable. ”

“ If your audience—and your judges—is entirely impartial and unprejudiced, if you do not have to combat a preconceived position, you can probably safely content yourself with advancing your own position and leave the rebuttal of your opponent’s arguments until later. But [74] if you are presenting some novel proposition or some unpopular idea which cannot be entertained unless certain hostile ideas are cleared away, you will win better attention if you demolish the fundamental ideas upon which the old theory rests before you present your constructive argument. ”

“ In debate, after the question has been defined and limited, you must present your arguments so clearly and conclusively that your opponent as well as your judges will agree that your course is wise and will be ready to follow the line of action that your conclusion calls for. Otherwise your opponents, if they be equally honest and efficient, in mind and method, have the right to demand the same surrender from you. ”

“ Second, to have my argument really worth while, I must have done more—I must have made you want to debate. For an argument is only half an argument unless it brings you to the point of doing. In this particular it differs from many other kinds of speaking—contention for example.
In contention, the contender has very little hope as a rule of changing his adversary’s mind. He is not arguing; he is simply sticking up for his point. How much of what passes for argument belongs to this class of effort! ”

“ But such things are common property and I had just as much right to take it from Spencer as he had to take it from George Eliot.
CHAPTER XVI
TRICKS OF DEBATE
There are a great number of tricks that may be practiced in debate. They should be avoided by the serious man who is debating to defend a great cause. It is well to know the best methods but anything like a trick should never be practiced.
Some debaters I have met actually consider it smart to fill an opening speech with empty words so as to handicap their opponent by giving him nothing to reply to. ”

“ The most important reason why you should know the other side of the question is the necessity of your determining the issues correctly, and thus building a constructive argument that is overwhelming and impregnable. Many a debate has been lost because the debaters worked up their own constructive argument first, and only later, in order to prepare refutation, considered what their opponents would say. ”

“ Rebuttal.—In rebuttal—which is simply refutation in action—you can readily give to your whole debate, or at least your side of it, a unity which might otherwise be lacking. You relate your work to the work of your comrades and to that of your opponents. You select his strong points; you minimize his weak ones. ”

“ Finally, remember that while these suggestions are designed to aid you win your debate, in the nature of things, there can only be one correct position on any question. One side only can be right, and if your side is not right it should not win. But it is equally true if both sides are careful in their analysis of the question, and in their discussion of it, it is much more likely that the actual facts will be discovered and a correct solution of the difficulties found. ”

“ It is not the business of the judges to teach etiquette or courtesy. I should, however, if I were acting as a judge, penalize the side the supporters of which deliberately seek to embarrass the opposing side.
The judge must, therefore, be fair and impartial. He must judge the debate and not the question. But what weight shall he give to matter and manner respectively? Obviously the manner of the speaker has a more immediate appeal than the subject matter. However, a debate is not a declamation contest. ”

“ Frank wished to have more in this preamble and urged that they write it so that it would state that they would be benefited by drill in discussion, in composition, in declamation, in elocution, in parliamentary practice; in fact, in many other ways growing out of their meeting as a club, but Henry Jordan, a quiet, unassuming member, asked if all that really was not included in the word “debate.” ”

“ There is no set way of addressing the audience. Good form and manners vary with the locality. Neither is there a set method of delivering an argument. Individual peculiarities vary so widely and the style of delivery adapted to the personality of the debater is so difficult to attain that we can only point out the most common faults and explain general rules regarding delivery. The best training in actual practice is debating under the direction of a competent instructor. ”

“ He will observe whether each member of the team shows a general knowledge of the question and whether he shows evidence of having done his own work. He will note also whether the important issues are selected for discussion and whether those issues are clearly defined and the line of argument indicated in the early portion of the speech. It is unfair for any debater to content himself with refutation—general denials and objections—and bring up his constructive arguments toward the end of the debate when there is little time left to the other side. ”