Argument versus Discussion

Discussion is always superior to argument because argument is to prove who is right and discussion is to prove what is right. The former is egoistic whereas the later is realistic. In today’s world everyone believes that he/she is right. That doesn’t matter, but when someone says that only he/she is right, that matters a lot. As once Sam Pitroda has said in his article “The magic of teamwork” that no one can be right all the time. The most famous Greek Philosopher Socrates once said answering the question of one of his disciples about the secret of his success that he knows only one thing that he knows nothing. This gave him the opportunity to enquire about more and more knowledge and he became so wise.

Discussion is sharing of thoughts with others. So if we have a discussion on any contemporary topic, we can have update knowledge on that and also share our view point because no one knows everything, but everyone knows something. 

To convey the matter more clearly we may have the story of a donkey and a jackal arguing on the colour of the sky.

The donkey said, “The sky is white.”

The jackal said, “The sky is blue.”

The argument crossed the limit and both of them started abusing each other. Finally they decided to go to the king of forest, the lion.

They approached before the lion and his courtiers and explained the matter clearly.

The lion listened to them and said, “This foolish jackal is to be punished because of his ignorant attitude."

The jackal requested, “Your Majesty, but I am innocent. I have done nothing wrong. The colour of the sky is actually blue. Can’t you see Milord!!!?”

The lion said, “Yes, you are right. The sky is blue, but you are being punished because you argued with the donkey. By doing this you proved yourself to be a fool. So you must be punished. The donkey is always a donkey. When a cunning animal like you argues with a donkey, it is really difficult to identify the fool between the two.”

Then the lion ordered his courtiers to put the jackal in the prison.