Dialogue is the sharing views in a
non-confrontational atmosphere

Debate is is adversarial argumentation
where each party attempts to persuade
the other of his/her position

Which is better debate or dialogue?

Problems with Dialogue:

1. Fosters an attitude of relativism or
subjectivism where all views are
considred equally valid

2. Allows a person the safety of holding a
poorly thought out view without worrying
about being criticized or "called" on it

Problems with Debate:

1. Becomes about winning and being
right instead of getting at the truth

2. Adversarial contests tend to radicalize
the opposing parties and push them into
polar opposite extreme positions.

3. Debate may simply more deeply
entrench false beliefs thorugh
through fostering defensiveness and
rationalization

4. Debate can get out of hand and end up
creating a climate of hostility, creating
strife among friends or
ideologically-based groups

Advantage of Dialogue: Pursuing truth in
an impartial way seems most likely to
lead to knowledge of objective truth

Advantage of Debate: Being on the losing
end of a debate can sometimes bring
about a change in one's belief system, if
one is beat badly enough.

Prof. Borrowdale
borrowdalej@lanecc.edu
541-463-5434