+79.  Cautions in Debating.+—­When we have made a further study of argument we shall need to consider again the subject of debating.  In the meantime a few cautions will be helpful.

1.  Be fair.  A debate is in the nature of a contest, and is quite as interesting as any other contest.  The desire to win should never lead you to take any unfair advantage or to descend to mere quibbling over the statement of the proposition or the meanings of the terms.  Win fairly or not at all.

2.  Be honest with yourself.  Do not present arguments which you know to be false, in the hope that your opponent cannot prove their falsity.  This does not mean that you cannot present arguments in favor of a proposition unless you believe it to be true, but that those you do present should be real arguments for the side that you uphold, even though you believe that there are weightier ones on the other side.  Do not use an example that seems to apply if you know that it does not.  You are to “tell the truth and nothing but the truth,” but in debate you may tell only that part of the “whole truth” which favors your side of the proposition.

3.  Do not allow your desire for victory to overcome your desire for truth.  Do not argue for the sake of winning, nor develop the habit of arguing in season and out.  In the school and outside there are persons who, like Will Carleton’s Uncle Sammy, “were born for arguing.”  They use their own time in an unprofitable way, and what is worse, they waste the time of others.  They are not seeking for truth, but for controversy.  It is quite as bad to doubt everything you hear as it is to believe everything.

4.  Remember that mere statement is not argument.  The fact that you believe a proposition does not make it true.  In order to carry weight, a statement must be based on principles and theories that the audience believes.

5.  Remember that exhortation is not argument.  Entreaty may persuade one to action, but in debate you should aim to convince the intellect.  Clear, accurate thinking on your own part, so that you may present sound, logical arguments, is the first essential.

+Theme XLIV.+—­Prepare a written argument for or against one of the following propositions:—­

1.  Boys who cannot go to college should take a commercial course in the
   high school.

2.  Novel reading is a waste of time.

3.  Asphalt paving is more satisfactory than brick.

4.  Foreign skilled labor should be kept out of the United States.

5.  Our own town should be lighted by electricity.

6.  Athletic contests between high schools should be prohibited.

(Consider your argument with reference to the cautions given in Section 79.)

SUMMARY

1.  The purpose of discourse may be to inform or to entertain.