We all have beliefs, so it is safe to say that we all hold that beliefs are important. A belief, by definition, is some sort of statement about what is true, and therefore it is also safe to say that we all care about what is true. (Or we are all simply constant liars, which is an important concept but not one for this post.) So how do we get to such truth? The answer is always that we pick authorities and methods for getting truth from this. Possible authorities include God, nature, teachers, preachers, feelings, our conscience, community standards, religious consensus, etc. And possible methods include testing how we feel about things, what the Bible has to say, asking our parents, asking schoolteachers, looking for what the scientific community(ies) say(s), reading books, quoting verses, analyzing metanarratives, etc.
We all use a variety of authorities on a regular basis, and we all use a variety of methods for interpreting them on a regular basis. If you pretend otherwise I will laugh at you, as lovingly as possible.
How do we decide which authorities and methods to use to find truth? How do we decide when our authorities and/or methods give conflicting answers?
Whether we admit it or not, we always turn to argument, that is, reasoned confrontation between possible opinions. I believe A, because B and C imply it. You believe D, because E and F demand it. So then we must start asking, how do B and C imply A? How do E and F demand D? How certain are we of B and C? How certain are we of E and F? Are A and D mutually exclusive? Are A and D so significantly different as to demand that we exhaust every possible avenue of dispute and every possible bit of evidence? Are A and D significant but not worthy of such a level of attention, perhaps only meriting a basic overview of the involved arguments, and leading to a sort of guess? Are A and D simply a matter of taste or otherwise too irrelevant to discuss, perhaps so that we may have time for more important matters?
The key, then, is that whenever two ideas are in conflict, and we seek an answer, we must subject both ideas to consistent treatment, digging into pros and cons until we are sufficiently satisfied. And later, if our understanding or needs for certainty change, we might have to come back and revisit the issue.
We all believe things. Therefore, whether we realize it or not, we all believe that truth is important, that truth is to be found by using methods of evaluation, and that the process of argument used to find the truth as best we can is also therefore good. Whether you know it or not, you agree with me that argument is good, ideas are important, and truth is to be sought. And that’s a starting point.
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[...] Argument is nothing more than making an assertion and backing it up with reasons. Argument is vital and desperately [...]