A haunting question for all debaters

[Desert Walker]

Is uncritical bias impossible to avoid?

I think the answer is "yes."

Here are a few points to consider:

1. All humans possess the ability to "reason" in some way

2. The existence of information which remains independent of human judgement (or reasoning) is an objective fact

3. The primary difficulty in discussing a problem with any human is that all humans possess varying amounts of this information

4. The other difficulty is that it is apparently IMPOSSIBLE to possess a totality of this information

5. Yet another difficulty is that few humans are aware of the underlying assumptions on which their judgements/opinions/decisions are based

The following point is crucial to remember:

6. No decision about anything can be made without first making a personal assumption

"Personal assumptions" are also PHILOSOPHIES.


Now, what do people think?

[Azriel]

Yes.

[Didacus]

Yes, though as difficult as obtaining Holiness during this earthly life.

[OLAM Dad]

Generally I agree with your assertions but not always.

I think it is possible that both parties could have NO knowledge of the issue at hand thereby allowing for a totally uncritical debate so long as the debate remained within the realm of total ignorance by both parties.

It wouldn't be a very interesting debate but I suppose it could be possible.

[OLAM Dad]

further, I submit my reply above as evidence.

[Desert Walker]

So the only safeguard is a SYSTEM of some kind.

If the gathering, analysis and judgement of information was done SYSTEMICALLY, and EVERYONE agreed upon the system to be used, then the human race, or a group of people like Catholics, would make positive advance upon advance.

The main difficulty today, as I see it, is that the system that was once almost universally agreed upon by Catholics for doing this has been systematically removed from Catholic institutions of learning and replaced by incoherencies.

The traditional system to which I'm referring is Scholastic Philosophy.