BAD DEBATE CULTURE! AND NOW WHAT?
Our debate culture is essentially person- and emotion-centered. The issue, that is, the actual topics and arguments, hardly play a role anymore. However, there are approaches to changing the debate culture and making it more fact-oriented again. Philosophizing can help with this.
By René Kanzler
By René Kanzler
How often do we hear every day about how bad our debate culture is? Well, not often enough, because most people don't care about such things. What is interesting, however, is that the majority of criticisms are made by those who are part of this debate culture and who promote it with their conversation, writing and posting behavior. This contradiction makes you sit up and take notice and suggests that the criticism actually refers to something hidden, unarticulated and irrelevant to the subject matter.
But what can be approaches to a better debate culture? One answer is: philosophizing. No matter what you want to philosophize about, philosophizing has special rules that we can use to our advantage today.
The best rule is probably: it is never about people, their gender, their religion, their origins or political and sexual orientation or whatever characteristics. They don't matter, they are not of interest. The focus is on the issue, the context, the arguments and theories, but above all on the desire to understand and explain something better. Just imagine how beneficial a discussion could be if one no longer had to use tactics to protect one's reputation or followers or to achieve certain goals such as reach or prestige.
Another rule is that all words and phrases used must be clear in their meaning for all participants in the discussion. It is therefore not enough to use fighting expressions and empty phrases that have no other purpose than to create a mood. First of all, it is necessary to clarify what someone understands by the term "constitutional state", "democracy" or "freedom", for example, and what can be discussed further. Philosophizing leads to becoming more skeptical and not being satisfied with hasty statements. Every debate can thus gain depth and we can protect ourselves from revealing our opinion on something too quickly and running the risk of saying something ill-considered.
Finally, the most difficult rule is probably: the best argument wins. This can also mean that when philosophizing, you have to admit that your own position was contradictory or not well-founded and that it is therefore advisable to rethink the position or perhaps even abandon it altogether. The winner is definitely not the one who shouts the loudest, leaves the discussion without saying a word or otherwise reacts emotionally. Amateur theater productions such as political talk shows would lose importance, as would pseudo-philosophical media contributions that only aim to demonstrate someone's eloquence and memorization of quotes. falsely labeled as knowledge and skills.
The rules of the game are not easy to implement. There is no need to kid ourselves! It requires a lot of practice, concentration and courage. But above all, everything takes time. Philosophizing is not something that can be done with a hashtag, a one-sentence statement or a bunch of phrases. The good thing about it, however, is that philosophizing is open to everyone - at any time. The more we manage to behave in accordance with these rules in conversation, the more factual and meaningful debates can become again.
10.01.25
©René Kanzler
René Kanzler (*1990) is a philosopher with a doctorate, a writer and a photographer. He deals with the philosophy of Stoicism, the ancient philosophy of the art of living and logic. In literary terms, he revives classic text genres with modern content as well as Karl Ranseier. It also provides texts on literary writing and cultural life in Germany in general - all in an effort to encourage more dialogue and enable a process of (self-)reflection.
But what can be approaches to a better debate culture? One answer is: philosophizing. No matter what you want to philosophize about, philosophizing has special rules that we can use to our advantage today.
The best rule is probably: it is never about people, their gender, their religion, their origins or political and sexual orientation or whatever characteristics. They don't matter, they are not of interest. The focus is on the issue, the context, the arguments and theories, but above all on the desire to understand and explain something better. Just imagine how beneficial a discussion could be if one no longer had to use tactics to protect one's reputation or followers or to achieve certain goals such as reach or prestige.
Another rule is that all words and phrases used must be clear in their meaning for all participants in the discussion. It is therefore not enough to use fighting expressions and empty phrases that have no other purpose than to create a mood. First of all, it is necessary to clarify what someone understands by the term "constitutional state", "democracy" or "freedom", for example, and what can be discussed further. Philosophizing leads to becoming more skeptical and not being satisfied with hasty statements. Every debate can thus gain depth and we can protect ourselves from revealing our opinion on something too quickly and running the risk of saying something ill-considered.
Finally, the most difficult rule is probably: the best argument wins. This can also mean that when philosophizing, you have to admit that your own position was contradictory or not well-founded and that it is therefore advisable to rethink the position or perhaps even abandon it altogether. The winner is definitely not the one who shouts the loudest, leaves the discussion without saying a word or otherwise reacts emotionally. Amateur theater productions such as political talk shows would lose importance, as would pseudo-philosophical media contributions that only aim to demonstrate someone's eloquence and memorization of quotes. falsely labeled as knowledge and skills.
The rules of the game are not easy to implement. There is no need to kid ourselves! It requires a lot of practice, concentration and courage. But above all, everything takes time. Philosophizing is not something that can be done with a hashtag, a one-sentence statement or a bunch of phrases. The good thing about it, however, is that philosophizing is open to everyone - at any time. The more we manage to behave in accordance with these rules in conversation, the more factual and meaningful debates can become again.
10.01.25
©René Kanzler
René Kanzler (*1990) is a philosopher with a doctorate, a writer and a photographer. He deals with the philosophy of Stoicism, the ancient philosophy of the art of living and logic. In literary terms, he revives classic text genres with modern content as well as Karl Ranseier. It also provides texts on literary writing and cultural life in Germany in general - all in an effort to encourage more dialogue and enable a process of (self-)reflection.
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