But those who try to reach agreement often fail precisely because they neglected that first necessary step of a good, healthy argument. Consensus isn't reached merely because those of good will decide they must together discover a solution to some problem. There are reasons to argue besides winning the point and trying to prove one's moral or intellectual superiority. A good debate participated in by people with passionately held differences of opinion can help clarify the issues and focus attention on areas of agreement and disagreement. It can help move us forward by showing us what we know that we can build upon.
T here are at least a couple of times, of course, when it is absolutely pointless to argue.
Yet how much energy is wasted on arguments at these two extremes. Recall all the college dormitory debates about whether there is or is not such a thing as objective reality or whether a tree falling with no one around would really make a sound. Personal choices can't be explained and shouldn't have to be defended. Perhaps because we waste so much intellectual energy at these two extremes of absolute certainty and mere choice, we seem to have little inclination or expertise to argue in the middle areas of opinion. A nd it is on precisely this kind of difficult decision that argument is the most fruitful.