Discussion - an exchange of knowledge or ignorance Compiled by Sohail Moughal 01 November 2006

A discussion is considering a subject with a group of people. Its an extended communication involving exchange of ideas. On the contrary an argument is an exchange of ignorance. Basics Everyone Has the Right to Be Uninterested. No one has an unconditional claim on your time or your attention. You can choose when and when not you will be interested or bother to care about the issues and events in the world. You can always say that you would not like to discuss the topic at that time and would rather discuss something else or nothing. The other person has the right to say as long as you are willing to listen, disagreed or agreed. Its mportant that the right to say is safeguarded. Everyone Has the Right to Be Uninformed. The worst thing you can do is to become embarrassed and fake knowledge you do not possess. Instead, exercise the intellectual right to say, "I am not familiar with that. Why don't you explain it to me?" In fact, in a world exploding with information, there will always be books you have not read and events you have not heard about. Everyone Has the Right to Make a Mistake. As a human being, you are a fallible creature without the godlike automatic knowledge of what is true and false, right and wrong. Yet many people will argue themselves (and everyone else) into the ground or into absurd intellectual corners rather than admit to the other person, "You're right. I'm obviously mistaken about that one point." Everyone Has the Right to Change their Mind. Changing your mind or your stated position on an issue is not a sign of intellectual indecision or weakness. Changing your mind is part of the learning process by which you discover errors and correct them. Everyone Has the Right Not to Understand. No one understands everything, and it is folly to pretend you do. There is a vast difference between being confused about a line of argument and being stupid. The fear of appearing stupid frequently underlies our reluctance to admit that we simply do not understand what is being said. Most of us spend a lot of time trying to avoid uttering the sentence, "I don't understand what you are saying." Too often, people see this statement as an admission of ignorance or inadequacy on their own part rather than considering the likelihood that the other person is either not explaining things well or holds a position that makes no sense. Moreover, most people are more than happy to expound at length in front of an attentive audience. Everyone has the Right to Disagree. Whenever you hear a statement or argument with which you disagree, you have the right to say so. Often we are in situations where our opinion would be unpopular if stated. Your alternatives are wider than either stewing in silence or getting involved in an intellectual brawl. Simply, but firmly state, "I disagree." You don't need to justify yourself. You needn't become either hostile or apologetic. Simply state "I disagree" and walk away. Or stay and argue. The option is yours. Everyone Has the Right to have and convey their Own Opinion. You do not need a diploma, permission from your spouse, a dispensation from the church: simply by being a human being, you have a right to reach your own conclusions and publicly state them. It is true: the more you know about a situation, through reading or direct experience, the more likely your opinions are to be correct. But this does not mean that you should not reach a conclusion right now based on what you know about the situation. In fact, that is all anyone ever does: form opinions based on their current level of knowledge. After all, as noted above, you also have the right to change your mind if more or better information arises. To acknowledge that a probability exists for an opinion to be formed is important. Now you have to decide if you will exercise these rules for yourself and for others justly. The expectation that others will follow the basics is a different issue. All you can do is stick to them, try to advocate the basics and probably you will be able to avoid letting the discussion go out of hands. Beware, there is immense frustration involved and controlling it is not quite easy. It is better to leave a discussion if you think you wont be able to follow the rules. A discussion is not intended to persuade but to try to understand. It has to be different from an argument and its important that you dont let a discussion transform into an argument, a dispute or a debate, which are almost the same thing. Argument stresses the advancement by each side of facts and reasons intended to persuade the other side. A Dispute implies animosity. A Quarrel stresses hostility. A Wrangle refers to loud, contentious argument. A Squabble suggests petty or trivial argument. A Bicker connotes sharp, persistent, bad-tempered exchange. A Discussion is just a discussion. Click for myRamblings on ONE-PPM