Debating by Premises

[ZodiacKiller]

I may be completely off base here, because nobody acts as if they agree, but I thought it was completely logical.

I thought in order to debate a political/philosophical topic, one had to lay basic premises by which we are arguing from. It doesn't matter whether you agree or not. The reasoning behind this is that in most debates there will be such a philosophical point where the only reply by either side is "that doesnt set with my values". That is, if you are debating communism (sorry, its all tht came to mind) you have to define if work deserves reward or not, because then you'll just end up with both sides repeating their opposing veiws, which is not a debate; its an argument.

As an example, in chat once i started talking about how reality could be a simulation of the mind. I don't beleive this, but I worked off that premise.

What do you think?

[huginnmuninn]

if someone starts a debate and states certain premises then the debate should follow those premises. If someone starts a debate in which we have to assume that god does exist i will pretend to believe in god for the sake of the debate or if i cant pretend to believe i wont post anything

[Azunite]

You have to come up with a superior idea, or the debate won't proceed.
And when people cant find anything to discuss, they just go offf topic and discuss apples under the title fascism ( for example )

[ZodiacKiller]

Im talking about the point where no idea is superior; where you can't "prove" anything logically. The point where your ideas are based on pure opinions that are not arguable (not saying that all opinions are not arguable).

[Sith Lord 13]

Yes, but in some debate topics it's a valid method of argumentation to attack the premises. It depends on the topic for debate. For example, if I want a debate on whether god is just or unjust, it's an accepted premise that God exists. If I want to debate whether or not communism is god, it's a valid method to debate the premise that work does/doesn't deserve a reward.

[CairAndros]

A debate works if one side believes the stated theme i.e. god exists - saw it further up the thread and thought i'd use it :P - and the other side doesn't.

But I do see where you are coming from; if someone puts forward an idea - such as Aliens exist then they must continue to argue in favour of that and not switch sides and start debating against it or else that defies the point of the debate.