Rule 1: The topic must be clear.
A clear theme is the premise of argument.
The theme of the argument is the judgment that we need to confirm as true.
If we don't know the judgment that needs to be confirmed as true, we will not be able to find appropriate arguments and correct methods to prove it. In other words, it is impossible to demonstrate.
If we argue in a muddle, the result won't matter. What has been demonstrated is not what we want to demonstrate, and what needs to be demonstrated is not demonstrated at all.
In the debate, because the topic is not clear, it often leads to meaningless arguments.
Sometimes, the two sides of the debate bring irrelevant issues together and regard non-conflicting opinions as conflicting opinions. After arguing for a long time, I found that there was no difference between the two, which wasted precious time and energy.
A topic is a judgment. In order to make the topic clear, we should understand: what is the judgment form of the topic, what is the connotation and extension of the concept contained in the topic, and what are the true and false conditions of the topic; If you want to make the topic clear, you need to have logical knowledge and specific scientific knowledge involved in the topic.
Rule 2: Don't change the subject or change the subject.
In the process of argumentation, the original judgment that needs to be demonstrated is inadvertently or intentionally replaced by another judgment, which is to shift or change the subject.
It is a logical error to shift or steal the topic and replace the judgment that needs to be demonstrated with another judgment, and the result is that the judgment that we need to demonstrate has not been demonstrated.
Changing the subject is often caused by unclear topic. Because the topic is not clear, it will confuse several different but similar judgments. So in the process of argumentation, sometimes this judgment is argumentation, sometimes another judgment is argumentation, that is, sometimes this topic is argumentation, and sometimes another topic is argumentation.
In a complex argument, we derive some non-basic arguments from the basic arguments, and from these non-basic arguments we derive other non-basic arguments. In this way, because of the long argumentation process, it is easy to unconsciously replace the original judgment with another judgment. In the whole process of argumentation, the topic should be consistent. No matter how long the presentation process is, we should closely focus on the theme and pay attention to avoid digression.
A false proposition cannot be turned into a true proposition through argument. In order to demonstrate a false topic, the discussant sometimes shifts or steals the topic.
The arguer seldom changes the original topic into another topic that he doesn't want to do at all. It is common to change the original topic to another similar topic. Sometimes the discussant uses another topic instead of the original topic to make more judgments, which is called "over-proof"; Sometimes the arguer replaces the original topic with another judgment with less judgment, which is called "too little proof"