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Debate Score:4
Arguments:4
Total Votes:4
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Does political polarization harm the search for truth?

It is my estimation that the truth always lies somewhere between (or outside) any two standpoints. Both sides of any issue usually have some nugget(s) of truth that the other doesn't acknowledge. As such, does strict adherence to ones own partisanship reduce ones ability to find the truth of any given matter?

Yes

Side Score: 3
VS.

No

Side Score: 1
2 points

Absolutely it does. From the extreme ends you're either:

a) looking to your ideology's basic principle or story line to find your solution, or

b) automatically rejecting any opposing principle or story line because it isn't yours, or

c) simply trying to win at any cost

None of a, b, or c will lead you to the truth. In actuality they're overt attempts to keep the truth out of the picture entirely.

Side: Yes
outlaw60(15368) Clarified
1 point

Does political polarization harm the search for truth?

If you could ask the Leftist from Illinois what do you think me might say ?

Side: Yes
1 point

Yes, it does, at least the way I see it. Polarisation encourages extremes, which results in blind acceptance of the "dogma" of that political side.

Extreme liberals have a social justice warrior attitude in which everything is peddled as absolute truth. It paints everyone in a bad light as it ignores freedom of choice and makes you look either like an evil oppressor or a helpless victim.

Extreme conservative views are equally dogmatic. They tend to ignore a lot of social problems, especially those that comprise the wider picture. For example, they might blame problems in the inner city with lazy parenting, completely ignoring the wider factors like poverty, low employment rates and racism.

We can learn from both the right and the left. It's quite difficult to learn from the extremes, but I think there is truth on both sides.

For example, low educational achievement.

There is a large factor of individual choice at play here (conservative).

A teenager might perform poorly at school because they lack a good work ethic and can't be bothered or motivated to achieve good grades.

There is also a wider societal problem (liberal).

That same teenager might be performing poorly because educational achievement is not valued in their community. They might not want to work hard because there's no employment prospects for them anyway. They might be missing school because their family's welfare has been cut and they have to work several jobs to support them.

There are also individual contexts which tend to go ignored by the extreme ends of the spectrum. For example, mental health issues and a family history of poverty which makes them feel like they'll never be able to get a better life.

So yes, while liberals and conservatives are calling each other names and likening them to communists and Nazis, the moderates are going to feel compelled to pick sides or be disassociated from the political discourse.

And I think that's a huge loss. We can learn from all sides of the debate, and if we take a middle ground we can incorporate more ideas and solutions, which are likely to be more effective.

Side: Yes
1 point

I definitely feel that being ideologically polarized harms one's own search for truth. However, if we as an individual aren't ideologically polarized we can use other people's polarized views to help us find the truth of any given matter.

Polarized individuals are deeply motivated to prove the veracity of their own ideology. This leads to them devoting their time, logic, research skills and persuasion skills to the support of their views. On the other side oppositely polarized individuals do the same, resulting in a figurative battle to the death of ideas, with the ideas most grounded in fact rising supreme. By watching these "battles" impartially one can glean nuggets of truth that may otherwise have been unobtainable to them.

Side: No