If Free Thought is the forge of new ideas - the place where concepts are moulded, shaped and polished to a high shine - then Civilised Open Debate is the proving ground for those ideas. As pretty as it may look straight out of the machine-shop, any idea must be put through it's paces, compared with it's competition and allowed to fall foul of perspectives not yet considered.
The Idea Machine
Like any construct, an idea is formed of many pieces which interlock, influence and affect each other. If one of the pieces fails then the whole idea, much like an intricately engineered machine, could come grinding to a
smoking halt. The concepts, assumptions and assertions which come together to form a coherent idea are much like components in an engine and when these fail, the motor might no longer run as intended or stop altogether.
The "proving ground" of civilised, open debate is there to test these ideas out in the "real world". It is an opportunity to throw gravel at, pour acid on and blow dust into the finely-tuned mechanisms of reason and logic upon which an idea is based. Building a good-looking construct is great, but it is only by letting it get battered and dirty in a debate that we start to see it's true potential and it's pitfalls.
A Shiny New Idea
Forging your own ideas is the cornerstone of Free Thinking and it is okay to be proud of your ideas. But pride should never be allowed to become arrogance, dogma or hubris. To be so sure of your own idea that you refuse to even hold it up to scrutiny, by yourself or others, is to turn away from the essence of Free Thought itself.
Ideas are meant to be shared, they cannot and should not be owned. Just because you "have"an idea, it doesn't stop anybody else from having the same idea completely independent of you. It is even possible to argue that thoughts, which are collected together to form ideas, might not even be products of the brain itself. But that is another subject for another time.
Taking It for a Spin
Everything has a purpose and the purpose of an idea is to be considered carefully, from as many different perspectives as possible. It is a little like prototyping a vehicle, simulations are great for doing a lot of the work but - until you test it - you won't know how it performs in the "real world".
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When you publicly state an idea, you throw it open to debate, delivering it into the minefield of criticisms and questions. By the end of a debate your idea might have been reduced to a smoking ruin, or it might emerge battered but victorious. In either case it is not the success or failure of your idea to stand up to scrutiny which matters, but the way in which you move forward from that point.
You can return to the fray with a more refined machine, having learnt from the experience and taken the opportunity to view your construct from new angles. To see how others were able to bring it crashing down, or even understand why they failed to do so. Ultimately, the process will always be a learning experience and one from which your ideas will grow and develop.
It's About Progress
Debating isn't about being right, it is about holding an intellectual position without personally claiming that space. The very best debaters are the ones who can assume positions which they don't necessarily believe in, the ones who play devils advocate and ask questions of the proposer in order to clarify a position.
A great debater should have a certain amount of intellectual malleability, a fluidity to their ideas which allows them to yield like water and incorporate new information easily. They could even find that the position they personally hold is changed over the course of a debate, whether or not they are assuming that position at the time.
Always remember, as one of my favourite researchers, Andrew Johnson of www.checktheevidence.com says:
"Any conclusions can be reached about anything, but it's value will be inversely proportional to the amount of evidence ignored."
Namaste.
Fanfare for The Conscious
The Idea Machine
Like any construct, an idea is formed of many pieces which interlock, influence and affect each other. If one of the pieces fails then the whole idea, much like an intricately engineered machine, could come grinding to a smoking halt. The concepts, assumptions and assertions which come together to form a coherent idea are much like components in an engine and when these fail, the motor might no longer run as intended or stop altogether.
The "proving ground" of civilised, open debate is there to test these ideas out in the "real world". It is an opportunity to throw gravel at, pour acid on and blow dust into the finely-tuned mechanisms of reason and logic upon which an idea is based. Building a good-looking construct is great, but it is only by letting it get battered and dirty in a debate that we start to see it's true potential and it's pitfalls.
A Shiny New Idea
Forging your own ideas is the cornerstone of Free Thinking and it is okay to be proud of your ideas. But pride should never be allowed to become arrogance, dogma or hubris. To be so sure of your own idea that you refuse to even hold it up to scrutiny, by yourself or others, is to turn away from the essence of Free Thought itself.Ideas are meant to be shared, they cannot and should not be owned. Just because you "have"an idea, it doesn't stop anybody else from having the same idea completely independent of you. It is even possible to argue that thoughts, which are collected together to form ideas, might not even be products of the brain itself. But that is another subject for another time.
Taking It for a Spin
Everything has a purpose and the purpose of an idea is to be considered carefully, from as many different perspectives as possible. It is a little like prototyping a vehicle, simulations are great for doing a lot of the work but - until you test it - you won't know how it performs in the "real world".
When you publicly state an idea, you throw it open to debate, delivering it into the minefield of criticisms and questions. By the end of a debate your idea might have been reduced to a smoking ruin, or it might emerge battered but victorious. In either case it is not the success or failure of your idea to stand up to scrutiny which matters, but the way in which you move forward from that point.You can return to the fray with a more refined machine, having learnt from the experience and taken the opportunity to view your construct from new angles. To see how others were able to bring it crashing down, or even understand why they failed to do so. Ultimately, the process will always be a learning experience and one from which your ideas will grow and develop.
It's About Progress
Debating isn't about being right, it is about holding an intellectual position without personally claiming that space. The very best debaters are the ones who can assume positions which they don't necessarily believe in, the ones who play devils advocate and ask questions of the proposer in order to clarify a position.A great debater should have a certain amount of intellectual malleability, a fluidity to their ideas which allows them to yield like water and incorporate new information easily. They could even find that the position they personally hold is changed over the course of a debate, whether or not they are assuming that position at the time.
Always remember, as one of my favourite researchers, Andrew Johnson of www.checktheevidence.com says:
"Any conclusions can be reached about anything, but it's value will be inversely proportional to the amount of evidence ignored."
Namaste.
Fanfare for The Conscious
