英语辩论赛技巧【英文版】.docVIP

英语辩论赛技巧【英文版】 英语辩论赛技巧【英文版】 on debating clarity: avoid use of terms which can be interpreted differently by different readers. when we are talking to people who substantially agree with us we can use such terms as “rednecks” or “liberals” and feel reasonably sure that we will be understood. but in a debate, we are talking to people who substantially disagree with us and they are likely to put a different interpretation on such words. evidence: quoting an authority is not evidence. quoting a majority opinion is not evidence. any argument that starts with, “according to einstein...” is not based on objective evidence. any argument that starts with, “most biologists believe...” is not based on objective evidence. saying, “the bible says...” is not evidence. authorities and majorities can be wrong and frequently have been. emotionalism: avoid emotionally charged words--words that are likely to produce more heat than light. certainly the racial, ethnic, or religious hate words have no place in rational debating. likewise, avoid argumentum ad hominem. personal attacks on your opponent are an admission of intellectual bankruptcy. also, slurs directed at groups with whom your opponent is identified are usually nonproductive. try to keep attention centered on the objective problem itself. there is a special problem when debating social, psychological, political, or religious ideas because a persons theories about these matters presumably have some effect on his own life style. in other words, rather than saying “and thats why you are such an undisciplined wreck” say, “a person adopting your position is, i believe, likely to become an undisciplined wreck because ...” causality: avoid the blunder of asserting a causal relationship with the popular fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc which declares that because some event a happened and immediately afterward event b happened that event a was the cause of event b. also avoid the popular fallacy that correlation proves causation.