In any debate, there are three things available to each participant.
- Present arguments (to build a case).
- Attack arguments (to tear down the other side’s case).
- Defend and repair arguments (from attack).
Because debate happens linearly, these three things quickly become difficult to follow for both the participants and the audience.
Debate tends toward being asymmetric (someone always gets the first and last word), incomplete, chaotic, disorganized, disengaged, inefficient, equivocal, ambiguous, and prone to gamesmanship (ad hominem, strawman, dodging, etc.).
Unlike dialogue, debate lends itself to a more strict structure so we can use tools and technology to move from a state of chaos (obscurity) to order (clarity).
For example, live visual aids of the debate tree structure so everyone can follow along as arguments get sorted into agreements and disagreements which makes it very difficult to obscure anything (and obvious when it occurs).