De La Hoya: Pacquiao makes fighters lose on the scales 1st

[Kev]

Debating 101 kids. Never answer a question by asking a question. Whether in a essay, report, or regular debating. It shows poor critical thinking skills.

thats the biggest load of bosh ive ever heard soz

of all the crazy opinions on this thread / forum you have to come up with a corker thats not boxing related

No it's the simple facts of debating. You don't answer a question by asking a question, it usually means the other party has no rebuttal or seriously lacks critical thinking skills.

Answering a question is 'not' poor critical thinking skills. It's just the basics taught in sociology by a structured thinkers. Answering a question with a question is complex thinking that implies an understood you. The fault of the understood you is that it assume all parties have the same evidence and premise. This is where comprehensive communication fails and why structured arguments are used in Law.

Question: Are you going to eat that? Answer: Would you eat that? What is the "understood you"? Mold, fungus, aesthetically displeasing? Or perhaps "Would you eat that?" is really a command rather than a question.

Typically answering a question with a question is directed at the originator to think more about the original question, rather than the superficial.

To be fair to GB, I would argue that if a genuine question is asked, then you are obligated to provide an answer to the best of your ability. To have a question and then randomly retort a quick fire question back. Well, that does imply a complete lack of ability to come to terms with the question that was being asked.

You should provide a decent response and only then fire back with a question of your own. Your own post is interesting, but in terms of the back and forth from earlier, I see no reason why a decent response could not have been produced rather than a quickfire question back whence the response that GB himself gave. I'm taking no sides in the argument as I think Hornfinger has at times made good points, but a question followed by a question? It's not the best way to stimulate debate. "I'll ask you a question!". "Well, I will ignore your question and ask another one!". I would rather ignore the person after that kind of exchange.

I don't disagree that answering a question with a question is an incomplete response to the subject or premise behind the question. I mean to point out that it doesn't mean the responder is not a "critical thinker" or suggests the responder has "poor critical thinking skills".

Arguing is natural to everyone, and many people don't structure their arguments when 'writing' responses. A person can be very good at critical thinking and analysis but may have complex thoughts that are difficult to organize in a structured response. They may have lazy communication skills, making it difficult for them to get their point across and thus resort to that laziness by answering a question with a question. It can also mean as I've stated before questioned response that is by design. It does not imply that they are poor critical thinkers as sociology educators teach, i.e. that application is for a structured rules that are followed by the participants.

You do not answer a question with a question, just the basics of debating. You're talking about some sociology class you took, I"m talking about some debating/speech class that I took for my general ed years ago in college. 2 entirely different fields.

It seriously implies not being able to give a decent rebuttal on the question and a complete sidetracking of it in this case to another topic. And I'm pretty sure the guy I was debating with isn't some deep critical thinker.

I asked how come there were barely any outrage over other recent catchweight bouts and got fired right back with some question that has no relation at all to the topic. Now this topic has veered into Pacquiao taking drugs by the same guy who can't answer other people's questions, when the topic was originally about catchweights.

You missed the point completely. Answering a question with a question is done all the time in the real world. In your educated world, it is a rule you learned about in your "debating/speech class" that apparently has labeled people incorrectly outside of the structure in which you were taught. Inside of the rules you follow, the definition may work, but not outside of the rules. And It may very well be the guy you are talking about is a mindless idiot. however, I'm not defending him.

My point is, Answering a question with a question is common and has it's applications. It does not mean a person using this method of debating does not have critical thinking skills. Since you don't believe me, here is a general link about the methodology. Socratic method - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. You can easily find others in a google search explaining the methodology and the history of the definition.

BTW: Debating and Speech are taught under the category of Social Sciences.

Sorry for the OT, Guys...

GB is completely and utterly wrong on this. Deflecting questions with questions of your own is an essential part of debating in the real world. Clearly he has never watched prime ministers question times, or witnessed a trial.