Today, we’re going to talk about what is a good discussion and how to establish one.
A good discussion could be defined as a conversation between two people that accept to change their original conclusions and exposes their point of view in a respectful way.
Even you agree with that intuitive definition about what is a good discussion, maybe you are still asking: Why, sometimes, it seems so difficult two people agree about a subject, even they discuss accordingly the way as defined in this text?
Firstly, it is important to say that it’s perfectly normal and healthy to have different opinions. However, sometimes it’s necessary to achieve a common conclusion and, in that case, we need to reflect on how to set up a good discussion.
There are different reasons that could explain why sometimes is almost impossible to have an agreement about something. For example, emotional, social, financial, methodological, cultural, logic, etc. In this reflection, I want to focus on the logic aspect.
There are many angles of the logic aspect that we could discuss, but I would like to mention only two now, premises and meanings.
Premises are the start point of a discussion. So, if we need to achieve unanimity about something, it’s important to establish common truths.
About meaning, make sure that the words refer to the same concept. Maybe, misunderstandings about meaning occur with more frequency than we really consider.
That’s it, simple as that! These two simple perspectives can help us to achieve a considerable improvement in our discussions. I’ll explore other logic aspects in the second part of this text.
I hope this is helpful.
Continue reading:
WHAT IS A GOOD DISCUSSION? – PART II
Reference
Baronett, Stan. Lógica: uma introdução voltada para as ciências / Stan Baronett; tradução Anatólio Laschuk. – Porto Alegre: Bookman, 2009.
