Why Do the Clergy Avoid Discussion, and the Philosophers Discountenance It?

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J. Watson, 1852 - 43 páginas

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Página 39 - There is no learned man but will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies, his senses awakened, his judgment sharpened, and the truth which he holds more firmly established. If then it be profitable for him to read, why should it not at least be tolerable and free for his adversary to write...
Página 39 - Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.
Página 29 - ... favourable for placing my own conclusions, and the grounds of them, more clearly and completely before the reader. Truth, on these subjects, is militant, and can only establish itself by means of conflict. The most opposite opinions can make a plausible show of evidence while each has the statement of its own case ; and it is only possible to ascertain which of them is in the right, after hearing and comparing what each can say against the other, and what the other can urge in its defence. Even...
Página 22 - Your sole business is with what he says, not how he says it, nor why he says it. Your aim should be that the audience should lose sight of the speakers and be possessed with the subject, and that those who come the partisans of persons shall depart the partisans of principles. The victory in a debate lies not in lowering an opponent, but in raising the subject in public estimation. Controversial wisdom lies not in destroying an opponent, but in destroying his error; not in making him ridiculous so...
Página 22 - Now the object of discussion is not the vexatious chase of an opponent, but the contrastive and current statement of opinion. Therefore endeavour to select leading opinions, to state them strongly and clearly, and when your opponent replies, be content to leave Ms arguments side by side with your own, for the judgment of the auditors.

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