Defining Our Terms

When the author was in college, a member of the debate team once told him that the best method he had found so far to stop a successful argument by members of an opposing team was to ask them to define their terms. This always struck him as obscure and unproductive advice: after all, isn't the point of a useful debate not just tactics, but arriving at the truth of the matter? After much reflection and subsequent experience, he decided that there might be more value hidden in his debate team friend's observation than he noticed at the time, or perhaps than even he had in mind. Collectively defining their terms is a crucial step toward fully understanding and illuminating any topic under discussion.