Omar

The question : Claim: The best test of an argument is its ability to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint. Reason: Only by being forced to defend an idea against the doubts and contrasting views of others does one really discover the value of that idea. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based. The Essay: --------------- Debates are considered a very informative way to hear ideas from different point of views. It motivates critical thinking and expose the weak points in arguments and therefore encourage people to think critically about their beliefs. However, I don’t agree that this is always the best test for arguments. Although discussing ideas with others will most of the time be informative, this is not a general case. Sometimes debates can be misleading , other times the ideas itself can be very clear that you don’t have to be forced to discuss with others to strengthen your evidence. First, the reason discussed in the statement asserts that in order to discover the real value of your idea, you have to defend it against the opposite views. Although this reason can be true, in many cases you don’t have to do this. For example, in the scientific community there is a standard way of thinking and experimentation in order to verify your ideas. Once, your experiment outcomes agrees with the prediction of your hypothesis , you publish your work and you don’t have to discuss this in a debate to verify your idea. Actually, you might be experimenting on something new that no body else is knowing yet, So in this case there will be no opposing ideas at all and you can just say that you have discovered something new. For example, when scientist discover new antidote for a certain virus and they have experimented enough to verify the efficiency of this medicine and that it can be used on humans, there don’t have to discuss their ideas in debates but they just need to say their discovery to the world. Building on the reason discussed in the statement, it claims that the best test for arguments is try to convince someone with opposite point of view. Even if we assume that the reason is true, the conclusion is fallacious. What if the person you are discussing with is not a real expert and not a good representative of the opposing view. Is convincing him a good test for your argument ! actually may be your argument is weak and that he is not a good debater so you will gain the false feeling that you have verified your argument. Consider also a different situation in which the person you are trying to convince is refractory and not willing to be convinced even if you have impeccable evidence. Do this indicates that your idea is weak. For example, Although supported by equations and observations, Galileo could not convince the crush by his view that the earth was rotating around the sun. However this did not weakens his idea and his experimental evidence. Finally, considering other views is always a good habit. However, claiming that is the best test for all arguments is a very extreme statement which cannot be generalized in all cases as it depend on the idea itself as well as the kind of people you are debating with.