At a historical moment when it seems obligatory to comment on any topic, it is very interesting to observe the debates, which appear as a natural element of the social relationship: we see them in different contexts on social media, on television and in other media, so it is important to have fundamental skills to participate in the debates: you never know when you are likely to get involved in one of them.
The ability to debate is a type of skill that many practice, but few think, so if we break with tradition we will realize that it is possible to develop skills to participate successfully in the debates.
- In the field of education.
- This training has been relegated to specific studies.
- Although we often talk about these competencies as cross-cutting.
- The truth is that because they are not specifically in the plans of a discipline.
- They end up being absent.
In addition, critical thinking and argumentation and rebuttal techniques are fundamental tools for defending an argument or idea, with social media being an ideal ground for the development of these skills.
Thus, when we analyze the disputes that unfold there, it is easy to identify different communication gaps, the most common being, and at the same time sad, the lack of respect for those who do not share the ideas defended.
Critical thinking is an important ability to participate in debates, that is, to be able to think thoughtfully, differentiating strong arguments from mere assumptions.
Being critical, we will see that opinions are often formed from the simple repetition of arguments created by campaigns specifically aimed at creating a certain current of opinion.
Critical thinking goes the other way, relies on logical thinking and critical analysis of ideas or dogmas so as not to draw hasty conclusions, avoids sesan analysis, euphemisms and arguments based on assumptions.
As we have already pointed out, the good news is that critical thinking can be formed, which begins by consciously choosing the source of information. On the other hand, it is important to separate the information from the medium in which we obtained it.
It is true that the medium may or may not inspire confidence, but this does not exempt us from critically analyzing information that we will use as an argument in a debate.
Making an argument, or a series of arguments, is to present information and reasons for defending an opinion, especially when the topic is a topic of debate or discussion.
We start from the basis of a critical thought with which we analyze and reflect on the idea to be defended. The argument has several elements:
Rebuttal is based on the discovery of inconsistency in the opposite argument, for example, we have all fallen into the temptation to generalize from personal experiences, to come to erroneous conclusions.
In addition to the deficiencies, it should be noted that for each argument there is a counterargument, the idea that refutes it, for this it is necessary to apply the same parameters of logic and critical thinking that we apply to the initial argument; otherwise, an inconsistency will be reported.
Therefore, one of the skills to participate in the discussions is to intelligently manage the counterarguments, that is, at some point it can be interesting, when someone has made the mistake of generalizing, to take the idea to a broader context.
For example, if the discussion is about an economic law that seems to be working well for one country, it may be good to see how it works in the economies of other countries, or even at other levels of the same country.
“It would be worth asking this person if he does not consider the world to be much broader than his point of view, and that his perception of a fact is not necessarily that of everyone on the planet. “Susan Sontag.
Acquiring skills to participate in debates is a force that will be useful to us countless times and in many areas of our lives, which requires intelligence for the analysis and application of well-trained resources.
Some of the resources that can help us are simple, such as the use of rational arguments based on ideas already accepted by society that generally link cause and effect or are based on analogies.
The ability to debate is an art that can be learned and trained, it is a social skill with a very high performance and that will pay off if we want to invest in it.
In this sense, there are training and vocational training courses to successfully participate in discussions that help to learn all the most important techniques and resources.