如何贏得辯論，總統(tǒng)辯論或其他

President Obama and former governor Mitt Romney have teams of advisors and aides to help them prepare for their three debates. But what about the rest of us who would like some help winning an argument—at work， at school or at home？

For advice， we asked two experts at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem， North Carolina. Allan Louden chairs[任教授職位] the Department of Communication. Assistant professor Jarrod Atchison is the director of debate. His first piece of advice is to know your audience.

Jarrod Atchison： Before you know if youve won or you lost， you have to know who the audience is or who the judge is. And so in everyday argumentation some people think that logic alone will prevail[占上風] when sometimes thats not the most persuasive[有說服力的] form of argument in a given situation. So you have to know your audience and what they consider to be relevant[相關(guān)的] information for the debate at hand[即將到來].

Second， find a “universal principle” that everyone in the room—from the audience members to your opponent[敵手，對手]—can agree to. Jarrod Atchison says if you argue from that principle， “then you do not have to fight the fight about the basics of the evidence.”

Third， he says the best debaters are the best listeners. They listen to what their opponent is saying， instead of just repeating their own position.

And fourth， he says， “be very careful in deploying[使用] history in argumentation.” Some people think that having one strong historical example to support their side will win the argument. But their opponents may have other historical examples to support their side.

Atchison： And a very good debater will always use that to their advantage by saying， “Well， you may have identified one example that supports your direction. But heres a larger， more important example that supports my side.”

奧巴馬總統(tǒng)和前州長米特·羅姆尼都有各自的顧問團隊來幫助他們準備三場（總統(tǒng)）辯論。但對我們這些想在工作場合、學校里或者是家里贏得辯論的人又有什么好的建議呢？

我們請來了（美國）北卡羅來納州溫斯頓-賽納姆市的維克森林大學的兩位專家——傳播系教授艾倫·勞登和擔任辯論總監(jiān)的助理教授賈羅德·艾奇遜——為我們指點迷津。艾奇遜的第一條建議是了解你的觀眾。

賈羅德·艾奇遜：在了解辯論是成是敗之前，你必須先了解你的聽眾或者評委。因此，在日常的辯論中，有人認為邏輯這個單一元素就會讓自己占上風，但在某些特定情況下，邏輯并不是最有說服力的論證形式。所以，你必須了解你的觀眾，以及對他們來說什么是即將到來的這場辯論的相關(guān)信息。

第二，找到一個能讓現(xiàn)場每一個人——從全場觀眾到你的對手——都同意的“通用法則”。賈羅德·艾奇遜說如果你以這一法則為出發(fā)點辯論，“那么你不需要與基本的知識作斗爭?！?/p>

第三，他說最好的辯論家也是最好的聆聽者。他們聆聽對手講的話，而不只是重復(fù)自己的論點。

第四，他說，“在辯論過程中引用歷史（事件）要非常謹慎?！庇腥苏J為用一個有力的歷史事例來支持己方論點就能夠贏得辯論。但對方可能提出其他歷史事例來支持他們的論點。

艾奇遜：一個優(yōu)秀的辯手總會說“好吧！你可能有一個有用的論據(jù)來支持你方觀點。但我們有一個（影響）更深遠的、更重要的例子來支持我方論點?！币源俗鳛樽约旱膬?yōu)勢。

Next， some advice about terms to avoid. Atchison： Where people tend to get in trouble is they try to use phrases like “always”or “never，”and we find these in our relational[相關(guān)的] arguments as well， that nothing draws the ire[忿怒] of an audience than an overstated[夸張的] claim. Because then all the other person has to do is to make a little bit more nuanced[有細微差別的] argument about where under certain conditions a particular argument or Plan A makes sense versus[與……相對] Plan B. So one of the major mistakes people make is they try to think that theyre arguing in absolutes[絕對真理] to sound more persuasive， when in actuality it comes across[給人……印象] as too ideological[意識形態(tài)的] and not nuanced enough.

Professor Alllan Louden says debaters should be careful not to underestimate[低估] their audiences ability to follow the arguments.

Allan Louden： Theyre kind of assuming the first-time audience that doesnt know much， and they tend to pander[迎合]， when in fact if you were to step it up a notch[等級] and actually say what your position was and defend it with support， etcetera[等等] would be well-received[受到歡迎的，被認可的].

In the end， he says， people have to make up their mind for themselves.

下面介紹一些需要避免的錯誤。艾奇遜：使人們陷入困境的往往是他們試圖使用諸如“總是”或“從不”等短語，而我們發(fā)現(xiàn)這些現(xiàn)象也存在于我們的相關(guān)辯論中，沒有什么比一個夸張的論點更能惹怒觀眾的了。因為那樣一來，其他人所要做的就是為論點做些微調(diào)整，使其在某些情況下，一個特定的論點或“計劃A”在與“計劃B”的對抗中顯得有理。因此，人們會犯的一個重大錯誤就是為了使論點聽起來更有說服力，他們設(shè)想自己所辯論的話是絕對真理。事實上，這讓人覺得過于意識形態(tài)，而且留下不夠細致的印象。

艾倫·勞登教授認為辯論者應(yīng)該小心，不要低估觀眾了解辯論的能力。艾倫·勞登：他們假定第一次聽的觀眾知道得不多，他們傾向于迎合（觀眾）。但事實上，如果你提高自己的層次，確實地講出己方論點、在事例的支持下辯論等等，那么你就會得到觀眾的認可。

最后，他說，人們不得不自圓其說。

Louden： Ultimately[最終，根本] everybody persuades themselves， and the best message is that which solicits[慫恿] the person to whatever part of their cognitive[認知的]makeup[構(gòu)造] says that this is a good idea. Typically people see things from a point of view， so you pick a language which is in their language and you argue from a perspective[觀點] which says “This is to your advantage because，” things that they kind of agree with. People ultimately persuade themselves.

So what should you do if you feel like you are losing an argument？ Jarrod Atchison says the first thing to do is to be willing to recognize what parts of your opponents arguments are persuasive.

Atchison： The best debaters in the country， from an academic[學術(shù)的] perspective and in our daily lives， are the people that can acknowledge what parts of their opponents arguments are correct， make sense， are persuasive—“however，” and then provide a warrant[根據(jù)] after the however that explains why their position is still more persuasive in the end.

Professor Atchison says everyone can improve their argumentation skills. There are lots of books that people can read.

Atchison： But in my experience the best resource is evaluating your own arguments in action. And that can be something as self-reflective[反思的] as sitting back[休息] and asking yourself， “How did that conversation go？ Was it where I wanted it to end up？ Were there moments when I found myself acting reactionary[反動的] rather than conceding[棄權(quán)讓步] that my opponent may have had something to say there？”

That was Jarrod Atchison， director of debate at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Oh， and one more thing. He tells us that his wife is one of the top debaters in the country. So we wondered what the conversations are like around the dinner table.

Atchison： Well， the best debaters know what arguments are worthy to argue about， and so we find that oftentimes[時常] we dont have as many arguments as our peers[同齡人] because we know what the nuclear[核心的] option looks like.

勞登：從根本上說，每個人都在說服自己，而最佳信息就在于慫恿自己“這是個好主意”的認知構(gòu)造的任一部分中。通常人們都是從一個角度看事情的，所以你用他們能聽懂的語言，并從一個人們都同意的“這是對你有利的，因為……”的角度展開辯論。人們最終會自己說服自己。

那么如果覺得自己好像要輸?shù)艮q論時，你應(yīng)該做些什么呢？賈羅德·艾奇遜認為你首先要做的是樂于承認對手的哪些論點是有說服力的。

艾奇遜：這個國家的最佳辯手——從學術(shù)辯論到我們的日常生活——是那些能夠承認對手的部分觀點是正確的、言之有理的和有說服力的人——“但是”，在“但是”之后提供合理的證據(jù)來最終解釋為什么他們的論點仍然更有說服力。

艾奇遜教授說每個人都能提高自身的辯論能力，有許多書是人們可以閱讀的。

艾奇遜：但就我個人的經(jīng)驗而言，最好的辦法是在實戰(zhàn)中提高自己。抽空坐下來反思，問自己“對話進行得如何？是在我想結(jié)束的地方結(jié)束的嗎？在哪些時刻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己反應(yīng)過激，而不是考慮到那時我的對手也許有話要說？”

這就是賈羅德·艾奇遜——北卡羅來納州維克森林大學的辯論總監(jiān)。噢，還有一件事，他告訴我們，他的妻子也是美國最佳辯手之一。因此我們想知道他們用餐時的談話是怎么樣的。

艾奇遜：哦，最優(yōu)秀的辯論家知道什么論題值得辯論，所以我們常常發(fā)現(xiàn)自己不像其他夫婦，我們沒什么好爭辯的，因為我們知道核心選項是什么。