Well you are right...most of the times debates are mostly ego driven and then the debate heads into a completely different direction :)

Such an important distinction! Especially today, in our age of anonymous posting on the internet, it's more important to than ever to respect debate and the evidence and realize we always have something to learn

Nice one

I see a lot of hot heads even in the scientific realm.  Look at the ostrisization of Rupert Sheldrake.  And conversely, a religious debate can be very fruitful, as long as certain rules of logic, order and a mutual desire to reach a deeper understanding are upheld.  Politics....well, okay a fruitful debate there may only be possible in theory ;p

Philosophy is queen, and she has many handmaidens.  

You make good points about the goals of respect being important.  I love figuring out that I am wrong because it allows me to continue to learn and reach ever more nuanced understandings.

Thanks for always having thought provoking articles Dana!

I coach a high school debate team the first and most important rule 
i teach my kids is we attack ideas not people! 

We are a policy debate team, so the debaters end up arguing both sides of the issue, this helps deepen their knowledge!

I think this is something many fail to understand. I personally enjoy religious discussion. However, during my attempts most of the time it leads to one being forceful about their beliefs.  

Well...

 I also enjoy political discussion but I _admit_ it's hard to reason with someone who has extreme views. 

Not to mention, being able to admit that we're lack of certain knowledge and possibly wrong, are  courageous act  which many fail to practice.

A debate is a perfect format for learning something. By engaging with someone with different views than oneself you get to learn so much more than you would otherwise never learn.

Well it is a part of our  way of letting our self grow but unfortunately this days most of us just think about winning rather learning.As this will be the ultimate gain that anyone can get !

We do should focus on letting our self grow rather than showing someone else down !

Well-stated.

*Now only if politicians could grok this... lol*

I think the important thing in a discussion is to listen to arguments and then try to come up with a better one..if you cant you should change your viewpoint.