In my experience, the most interesting and valuable debates happen when the debaters are about 60-70% in agreement about a significant issue, but have significant differences in their prioritization of issues, their values and world-views, their professional backgrounds, and/or their preferred strategies and policies.
And, of course, steel-manning the opponents’ arguments should be an important and formalized part of any debate.
Nathan—good idea.
In my experience, the most interesting and valuable debates happen when the debaters are about 60-70% in agreement about a significant issue, but have significant differences in their prioritization of issues, their values and world-views, their professional backgrounds, and/or their preferred strategies and policies.
And, of course, steel-manning the opponents’ arguments should be an important and formalized part of any debate.