Not every disagreement deserves an argument.
Bo Seo, a two-time world debate champion and former coach of the Australian national and Harvard debate teams, says arguments can grow from one difference into a tangle of unrelated grievances. His response is a filter to use before debating: RISA.
Four questions before the first rebuttal
- Real: Is there an actual disagreement, rather than a misunderstanding or imagined slight?
- Important: Does resolving it matter enough to justify the effort and strain?
- Specific: Is the issue narrow enough for the conversation to make progress?
- Aligned: Do both people have compatible reasons for having the conversation?
The last question tests purpose. People may disagree sharply yet both want to understand, persuade, or decide. If one person mainly wants to hurt or humiliate the other, better debating technique alone may not help.
A filter, not a guarantee
Seo says checking RISA cannot guarantee a good conversation. It gives one a better chance. There is also a practical limit: if a necessary decision involves people with incompatible aims, the checklist may diagnose the obstacle without resolving it. That is our editorial reading of his framework, not a result he claims to have proved.
The first question, then, is not “How do I win?” It is “Is this worth arguing about, and are we arguing about the same thing?” Only after that does the quality of a rebuttal matter.
Source: Big Think’s full interview and transcript with Bo Seo.