How important are facts in debates? How should you deliver facts when you’re arguing with someone?
Trey Gowdy believes that facts provide a stronger basis for an argument than emotion. This is because they’re fixed and can be universally understood, even by people with opposing worldviews.
Learn more about Gowdy’s strategies for presenting facts to win a debate.
Know the Facts
While facts in debates can be attacked on the basis of their credibility (he advises that you always investigate who discovered a fact, how, and under what conditions) and alternative interpretations can be provided (he advises that you consider alternative interpretations, even if only to dismiss them as less logical than your own), they aren’t as easily twisted as appeals to emotion or to shared values.
| Facts Versus Fake News Despite Gowdy’s framing of facts as objective and only sometimes conducive to alternative interpretations, disagreement on how to interpret the same facts is a common source of conflict. To illustrate this, just look at the lack of scientific consensus on issues like what caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs or how the Covid-19 outbreak originated. Additionally, it’s long been observed that people are resistant to facts that contradict their pre-established worldview, however well-supported. The last few years have seen a rising trend of anti-intellectualism in American culture in particular, with many people actively distrusting experts, buying into conspiracy theories, and dismissing criticism of their leaders as “fake news.” In this landscape, some analysts have concluded that facts are a less effective basis for an argument than appeals to strong emotion or to prejudice. |
Gowdy advises that armed with the facts about your topic, you should find ways to make those facts stick in your opponent’s and audience’s minds—namely through constant repetition, organizing your argument in such a way that you begin and end with your strongest pieces of evidence, and delivering them with emotion and sincerity. While he insists that emotion shouldn’t be the basis of an argument, establishing an emotional connection between your listeners and your facts can make a stronger impression than just a dry recitation of facts. For example, emphasizing the tragedy implied by a high drunk driving mortality rate is more memorable than simply providing the statistics without context.
(Shortform note: Again, Gowdy tends to downplay the importance of performance in rhetoric, but many other experts emphasize organization and stage presence, arguing that how you present your information is just as important as what you say. For example, in the public speaking guide Talk Like TED, Carmine Gallo echoes Gowdy’s advice about repetition and speaking with emotion, but he also suggests organizing your argument into a series of compelling “stories” that your audience will find memorable, humorous, or shocking. Other guides focus entirely on how to use non-verbal communication to project confidence and trustworthiness, such as social psychologist Amy Cuddy’s book Presence.)
