Rational debate
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About
Rational debate is a process for determining the most likely truth when there is disagreement. It assumes that any party may be using invalid reasoning or incorrect facts, and relies on an ability to reliably reach consensus about whether reasoning is logical regardless of consensus on the conclusions.
Rules
- An argument is a set of assertions that logically draw a conclusion from a set of premises.
- Any argument is considered invalid if either the logic or the premises are disputed.
- Any such disputation is itself an argument, and may be further disputed.
- Any argument left undisputed may be assumed to be true.
Weakness
- /frequent spurious objections: Dishonest participants may repeatedly raise spurious objections solely for the purpose of keeping the correct conclusion in a state of presumed falsehood.
Related
- Structured debate is an attempt to create a system for enforcing these rules and indicating the current truth-status of any given conclusion.