Managing you, by Managing your Debate....

Managing you, by Managing your Debate…..

 

While watching BBC, last night; It just struck to my mind as "Why do We Debate" ?

And a deep thought process started…..

I believe, we debate not only to prove ourselves always right, but to get an constructive outcome too -  which is accepted by the other party (or society). A debate is actually about, how well you present what you believe or what logics you can offer to stand your belief.

Great Nelson Mandela once said “Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument…”

The debacle of debate is that in the present political forum, the debate becomes either personal attacks or News channel’s baby.

But in general, we debate to provide many opinions and work to provide reasoning so that society can function, or a logical discussion could make a point, whether political or social. We debate for fun, for learning, to work, and to satisfy a means for diplomatic solution. Debate is the foundation of humanity & for an open society, so that we can decide and present the best possible solution or option and move up with the best. There is always an objective or purpose for a debate, and the purpose can be satisfied through debate.

From the very beginning, the debate had been an integral concept of Open society.

In the Ancient Bharat (India), the Great ‘Brahmins’ (the Priests) were involved in ‘Tark – Vitark’ (Debates). The debate could be for winning something or to put your point of view before the king & the kingdom. It had the Objective or the Challenge, the Challenge period, the Opinion (debate) & the debate period. Ending either with convincing each other, the Opinion panel or by Voting of the jury panel. In Hindus the ‘debates’ were the part of society & mainly ‘Brahmins’ were involved in ‘Pratisphardha’ (Competitions) & ‘tark-vitark’ (Debates), by means of Vedic Poems, Answering the knowledge queries or by ‘mantrochaar’ (Chanting of Sanskrit Slokas). It was always a positive argument, as there was no winner – looser concept.  

Even today, the real debate carries these 4 important attributes – Challenge or Discussion point, Challenge Period, Opinions, Debate Period & the Judgment or Votes.

In early Greece too, there were a set of people called 'Sophist', those made their living out of debates, they used to argue for the sake of arguing, and amongst them, the most highly paid were those who could convince the audience as they were right; even if the audience were known to believe the opposite views.

The process of debate provides long lasting & deep benefits to Societies, Global Forums, Communities or Individuals. Debate helps society or individual thru Deep Analysis, Logical Thinking, Team Work, Forum Based Actions & Researches.  Debate help society to understand their Social or Political leaders & their capabilities – so society grow better. Rather we learn debate from our school days itself. And a good debater (speaker) knows as how to put his point of view, & with what logic, and When? So it not only teaches logical argument, but time management too. And upon winning, it boosts the Self Confidence of the team or the individual. Debate, too, helps us to find the root cause of problem & then to devise a structural plan or logical ideas to go ahead.

Mahatma Gandhi Said ~ “Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress”.

In Debate, we agree to disagree – plan & come back. Its helps us to understand & respect other’s point of view & teaches us principles of acceptance & patience. Rather some earlier taken major decisions can be either altered or changed, based on debate or costiveness of fresh opinions. We learn to come up with alternative ways or dialogues on various / different situations & to put our Challenge in very constructive manner.

So, In a debate or argument; it is suggested to be positive & tolerant, as it’s a debate & not a war.

A debate must be started by  :

-          Introduction or Acceptance of Topic or The Challenge

 

      -          Understanding the positives & negatives, of discussion

-          Research or Study on subject / discussion / debate

-          Time Tracking to match Challenge – Debate Period

-          Logical Judgment & putting forth next convincing argument.

-          Going decisive individually or thru voting from Forum

 

A debate – is not a mere argument.

It gives learning, it forces us to give clear and crisp justification for our beliefs and opinions, if We can't do so, then maybe we should re-evaluate our stance. The immense learning out of it, can be applied in our lives, at various situations.

And of-course, we gain knowledge. Better you debate, the better you communicate, give logics & gets into Win -win situation. Last, but not the least – No doubt, it is fun to debate too !!

“In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest.”   ~ William Penn

 

All the best………………..Mp (www.mahesh-pathak.blogspot.com)