Debate breaks the mindset 辩论打破思维定式

张晓明　暴煜华

This weekend， the debaters from seven de?partments gathered in the hall of Nanjing Audit University Jinshen College and participated in a splendid debate competition—Jinshen Cup Competition. Starting in 2015， this competition provided the platform for college students to fully show their communication skills and sharp thinking ability.

As a debate enthusiast， even if I was just an audience， I was still excited. Not only did the war of words inspire me， but also the debates showed me a new angle that I never got before looking back on the world or social problems. Take one of my most impressive arguments for example. In China， is the core cause of doctor?patient problem conceptual or institutional？ My first reaction to this argument was that “Oh， of course， it is the matter of  the system. ” In my view， the institutional problems directly lead to chaos in the health care market. However， the debaters supporting conceptual matters told us that this problem was due to the traditional culture of China. Opening old scriptures， we could see that how doctors should set up their own professional ethics and if they rejected patients， especially aristocrats， they would face some kind of punishment. But those books didnt tell us how to be a good patient. This led some people to hold a conception that the patient was the god of a doctor， and if the god unfortunately passed away， the doctor was the killer.

If I hadnt listened to the debate， I would have not analyzed the causes of this problem from the perspective of traditional culture. So， you see， the argument itself is not right or wrong， but it shows us how to see right and wrong in a rational way. Just as a famous debater said， “We even hope that debate will be a way of changing society， free from ignorance and numbness， free from fear and want， free and equal.” So the significance of debate is not only to win or lose， but to allow us to see the beauty and shortcomings of human civilization at the same time.