The Value of Good Argument

What is the value of good argument?

1. Argument sharpens one's critical skills
2. Argument forces one to sharpen his ideas
3. Argument teaches communication skills
4. Argument forces debate into the public realm
5. Argument emphasizes that truth is not relative

1. To argue is to learn how to find inconsistencies in ideas. The more I try to defend an idea; the more I try to subdue someone else's idea; the more I come up against the laws of reason. I learn the habit of catching myself or others in contradictions, or in hasty assumptions that need to be explored. I learn how to use logical methods that help me get from premises to a conclusion. I'm convinced that this has less to do with taking a philosophy class and much more to do with actually doing the debating; putting my ideas out front where they can be challenged.

2. This point is related to the first. When someone challenges an idea of mine that I have put forth, I am not forced to abandon it if they show me some inconsistency. Instead, I am forced to think it through more critically and the more I do so the better I become at doing it and the less likely I am to make the same mistake a second time. I want my children well versed in how to evaluate their own thoughts and ideas as well that of others, which they come across in movies, music, peers, and the university.

3. Communication skills are important because they allow me to communicate my ideas clearly and intelligably. If I cannot convey an idea, I cannot argue it. Therefore I must learn to say what I mean. Most people think that they could communicate their ideas if they had to until they have to. Once we see that we had a hard go at communicating an idea, we are forced to sit down and clearly find the words to express it. The more I do this, the better I become at doing it and the more intelligably I speak about issues in every facet of life (like teaching or instructing my children).

4. The public realm is important because that is where our legislation is formed and where culture is affected. Truth is not for the private sector. Public debate allows the society itself to views ideas critically rather than having them infused into their brains through CNN.

5. We are being taught (our children are being taught) that dogma is a no no and that no one should think they are right about anything. But if we are all wrong, then so are those who tell us that we are all wrong. Instead, we must reaffirm our belief that truth is not an opinion but a facet of reality.

The art of argument

One important aspect of our heritage is the art of good argument. I want to lay out what is the value of this art and also how we might encourage it as a character trait for ourselves and then for our children. I will attempt this over the weekend but currently I want to lay out an introduction to where I intend to go.

My daughter has recently begun to say, "See, I was right!" It would be easy to dismiss her with a kind rebuke and some training in the area of humility saying, "Sweety, Jesus thinks that we shouldn't be concerned about who's right. Now now, go and apologize to your brother."

I wonder though what this would accomplish? Is there a difference between thinking too much of one's self and being proud that one has accomplished something such as being right about a given set of facts? I think there is.

If I take this approach I will encourage one of the most annoying aspects of contemporary culture among generation X: the absolute inability to publicly and openly and honestly argue about some idea, issue, or set of facts. How often I have been given the silent treatment at the very mention of a political or religious or doctrinal issue.

I remember challenging a class about the issue of God's foreknowledge. I had come across some disturbing new discoveries. I brought these questions to a class that was ready to stone me by the end. The class missed an important opportunity to further their own knowledge about the subject and also to correct my own. More importantly, what was at stake was our very ability to consider, evaluate, and critique some given idea.

I am not sure that we would have been equipped to evaluate such things even if we had wanted to. Where does one start? Some random Bible passage? But what about interpretating that passage? Then we are left wondering what it is exactly that we accomplished and where to go from there. We have never been trained in the difference between good and bad assumptions; how to point them out; what to do with them when we point them out; how to trace the logic that uses the assumptions for a conclusion; what are the different parts of a propositional statement or how the parts of an argument work.

Thus, we are amazed that our children wonder why there is anything wrong with abortion if capitol punishment is okay. Absurd!

Passing on a heritage, some ideas for fathers

So how do we get started?

Let me set out several goals:
1. Skills based on caretaking, husbandry, and value
2. Community consisting of other fathers and sons
3. Integration of skills with knowledge, history, and experience
4. Age appropriate

For anything that we do we must keep these goals in mind.

The first has to do with the heritage we are talking about. Men are not made to be thrill seekers but caretakers. The thrills should come from life itself and they are readily available (a topic of its own). Such a list might include animal husbandry, agriculture and small gardening, mechanics, home repair, and money management. It would also include such things as character, work ethic, manners, and so on. The idea of value incorporates meaningful activities such as boomerang throwing, sling throwing, whittling, hiking, knot tying, and so on.

The second has to do with creating a network of fathers and sons who provide accountability, mentorship (younger fathers or boys who do not have fathers, etc.), and a sense of belonging. These boys will grow up with peers who also have fathers involved in their lives with each father knowing and loving each boy and vice versa. Thus the boys are not primarily peer influenced but father influenced although they are not a part from peers. It is a controlled environment.

This will also prove to be an incentive and also an outreach. Think of how many boys would want to go with "Johnny" to fly falcons with his father/son group next Sat.?

The third makes experience an opportunity for knowledge. It is a rule of thumb that ignorance breeds lack of concern and that knowledge breeds desire. Boys do not simply learn how to train a falcon but what is the history of falconry (when did it start? why did it start? what country? what kind of birds?) and what are the details of the bird and how does one handle and respect the bird?

The fourth simply takes age into account. All of the above may begin with the youngest boy to the oldest (college age?). The youngest may simply show up and "watch dad do it". Seven to ten year olds might have the experience of squeezing the warm teats of a Jerzee cow with some interesting facts about the practice. A Jr. High student might be required to do a bit of reading on the subject (along with the father) while a college student commits to some unique research to share with the others (each boy/father studying a different topic about the subject in order to share it with the others).

This makes the experiences a part of passing on a heritage, increasing father/son time in both value and space, creating a good peer group, and using it for homeschooling (knowledge).

If begun early in a group of say six father/son commitments carried out through highschool then each boy (as well as father) has a multitude of experiences shared, a large experience bank for enjoying and approaching life, and something to guide the raising of his boys. Imagine being prepared to raise a Jerzee, shoe a horse, run a fence, tie 100 knots, start a fire with one match, clean a fish, arrange a budget, invest a dollar, go high country packing, catch and train a falcon, clean the head of a motor, fix leaks, and so on before going into marriage and fatherhood? Not to mention the value of those things in themselves.

A possible arrangement might be a commitment of father/sons to meet the first Saturday of each month. If the boys are young then give them a large range of experiences (something differing every month) with interesting facts attached to each experience. There might be a field trip to the dairy farm, horse ranch, hay farm (ride tractors?), fishing, whittling seminar, auction (animals and money investment in one), and so on.

As the boys get older make the experiences longerlasting. Concentrate one year on agriculture, then animal husbandry, then auto mechanics, then falconry, then slinging and the different ancient methods of hunting, and so on. Many of the arenas can be intermixed. As they get older and more disciplined so does the information part of the process increase.

One important focus, find a way serve Jesus in doing these things. Short devotionals at each meeting might prove helpful or doing mechanical projects for the elderly or allowing an elderly man to show off his lathing skills, etc. But the idea must be prominent that being a man means a call to the duty of manhood and that in so doing we honor Jesus.

This is simply an illustration and a website like the one I'm proposing might display more thorough research into age particular experiences in the setting of a 12 year pattern; how to integrate creativity and evangelism; and much more beside.

A little help from James Stewart on boys and manhood

What about the heritage that we pass on?

Tomorrow I'll offer some ideas but tonight I want to warm the muscles with James Stewart. In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Stewart plays the role of an idealist Ranger leader who loves the outdoors and loves his american heritage. He finds himself caught up in a political scandal and is appointed Senator by the Governor. Unexpectedly he carries his ideals to Washington to face the machine. On his first night as Senator he writes a bill for a boys ranch where the following dialogue takes place between Mr. Smith and city girl Saunders.

I want you to notice the idea of heritage, value, creation, rhetoric/passion, father/son relationship, ethics, and (what is a bit important to me right now) turning these over to the next generation through planning and doing.

". . . and something else Ms. Saunders. The, uh, the spirit of it. The idea. The, uh, how do you say it? [looking out the window at the lighted capitol dome] That's whats got to be in it! [in the boys ranch]. . . The capitol dome. . . . I want to make that come to life for every boy in this land. Yes and I'll light it up like that too.

"You see boys forget what their country means by just reading the land of the free in history books. Then they get to be a man and they forget even more.

"Liberty is too precious a thing to be burried in books Ms. Saunders. Men should hold it up in fron of them every single day of their lives and say, 'I'm free [a pause] to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't but I can and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.

". . . about 200 of the most beautiful acres that ever were [location of the camp]. You've never been out in that country have you Ms. Saunders?

"No."

"I've been over every single foot of it. You can have no idea, you just have to see it for yourself. I don't know [he's looking for words], the prairies, the wind leaning on the tall grass, lazy streams down in the meadows, . . . cattle moving down the slope against the sun. Campfires and snowdrifts.

"You know everybody ought to have some of that sometime in his life. My dad had the right idea. He had it all worked out. He used to say to me, 'Son, don't miss the wonders that surround you because every tree, every rock, every anthill, every star is filled with the wonders of nature.'

"And he used to say to me, 'Have you ever noticed how greatful you are to see the daylight again after coming through a long dark tunnel? Well,' he'd say, 'always try to see life around you as if you've just come out of a tunnel.'"

Congratulations Mr. Stewart! You've got the right idea!

What would sharing our fatherhood experiences look like?

Tonight I was working arduously to put in a bathroom cabinet. My daughter (age 5) was busy cleaning her desk, which was exceedingly messy this particular night. Discourages she said, "But Poppy, how can I do it real fast? It's so much!" I looked at her with a look that said, "well, you shouldn't have made such a mess of it!" but my mouth only said, "clean it up Evangeline".

What should I have noticed? What do I hope you fathers might learn from me? Evangeline asked me a real question. She gave me an opportunity to demonstrate that when things are really messy the best way to clean them up is to separate the items such as paper, crayons, books, and crafts and to then put these items where they go (and make it look nice too!). She had done nothing wrong only feeling the very discouragement that I was also feeling with my task.

Sound too technical for a child? Not at all. Evangeline would have soaked it up and remembered it forever. But I missed it. Listen to your children tonight.

What has this so called "women's movement" done and why do I admire it so?

The womens movement that I am enthused about centers around a way of thinking, doing, and nurturing. The following list reveals the substantive empheses that they have fanned into flame:

1. The Homeschooling movement and the role of classical education.
2. The Nurturing wife/mother/woman who has a specific biblical role with particular strengths and weaknesses
3. Related to 2. they have begun to revive a rich heritage of homemaking that emphasizes the practices of sewing, cooking, child-rearing, home-care, and health (which has led to grinding grains, canning, and many other natural food healthcare).
4. They have established this movement in the Scriptures and made it primarily a biblical and divine vocation rather than simply some ideal of a life.
5. They have propped themselves up with endless resources, materials, supplies, websites, seminars, and societies for training the next generation.

One of the primary reasons that I admire this movement is because it is precisely that: admirable. It is not grossly immature, rebellious, self-seeking, fake, or what is morally worse - cheesy. It is the peak of admirable qualities in womanhood.

Another reason that this movement is important is that it is the hope of the next generation for believers and nonbelievers in many ways. Their emphases on home education has revived both the intelligence in young people in our culture and specifically in our Church at large. It is stated that 90% of homeschooled children involve themselves actively in politics.

Also, they are among the most preferred of the greatest universities. Most homeschooling families have multiple children who grow up family influenced rather than peer influenced and this appraoch appears to me to produce more of a godly "next generation" than anything else I have seen. If Christian families did nothing else than raise children in this kind of livingsphere then I am convinced they would evangelize the world and society twice as fast. They are not trained in science only but also languages, logic, rhetoric/debate, and philosophy.

Their emphasis on health and food is invaluable and the return to a "homesteading" lifestyle has recognized the neurotic tendecies of our culture and battled them with living therapeutics.

It is not obvious at all that men have done this same thing on their end. Being the head of our homes this ought to be an exciting movement that awaits our own stepping up to the plate. How might we begin to do this?

First, we can find our part in the things already established by the women's movement: becoming knowledgeable about child rearing, money management, time organization, health and food, agriculture and husbandry.

Second, we can ground our own pursuit in the Scriptures. In other words, we can make it a specifically Christian aspiration rather than a "health" aspiration. In this way, "health" is a by-product responsibility of our vocation to manage our bodies well. The qualities of working with animals becomes not an end itself but an offspring of our Christian vocation to be involved with creation.

Third, we can not only re-establish a heritage of manhood but also work toward passing them on by teaching our children (think about teaching your son how to tie all the workable knots or how to skin a deer or how to make a dovetail joint or how to train a falcon?).

Fourth, we can open up for pursuit those distinguishing qualities of being a man (analyzing, debating - every son should know how to argue well, resolve, suffering, hunting, etc.).

Finally, and this is where this blog comes in, we can start a website with resources such as book lists (for father/son projects), seminars, blogs where men can share their insights and struggles, and articles geared specifically toward these issues as they pertain to men.

I want this blog to be an experiment before a plunge. I wonder how many of you feel that there are "tools" of manhood that are missing. The Wesley's had their holy club, Ben Franklin his own society, the inklings (C.S. Lewis) their Socratic club, and I think we too might do best if we have a society. But we must have desire before we can have anything at all.

For Christmas this year I got my Julie a Champion Juicer. Although this might land some husbands in the doghouse, my Julie happens to love homemaking. I ordered the juicer from www.urbanhomemaker.com from which Julie also received twelve free lectures on nurturing children, cooking healthy, and ordering the home.

After burning the cds for her I took my MP3 and secretly listened to them at work. They were oozing with cooing over recipes and scrapbook ideas and although they kept referring to the "ladies" who were joining the phone seminar, I myself was enjoying it all quite enthusiastically.

What, you fellas are wondering, was I listening too? I was listening to women who had a vision about the home and their own vocations in it. During a time when persons have lost all sense of duty, purpose, and calling these have a concrete picture of who they are to be, how they are to be it, and a theology and philosophy to defend it. They are not looking for themselves, they have found themselves and seek only to make it so.

They talked about how to train children in diligence and resolve; about gardening and the beauty of sitting around a table for meals.

Here it struck me how womanized these concepts have become and how unappreciative men are of these very aspects of life. Why, in other words, are no men involved in similar pursuits? Where are the seminars on caretaking and on the economics of home management? Where are the gatherings for discussions on decision managment for our children, vocations, and evenings at home? Have we men simply let the women go on and become heroes of all these virtues?

I am glad for these women but two things are noteicable: first, these concepts are not feminine concepts though they are practically becoming so. Second, men are not taking note of the first.

Have we no theology as men of what the home is, how it functions, what our roles are, and how to raise up our children? Have we relegated this to women? Do we even admire such things anymore?

I'm jealous of these women. I am jealous of Julie who gets to homeschool our children. I would love so to do!

Many men leave home economics to their wives without realizing what has happened. Women have simply grown tired of waiting on their husbands to lead the way. In the process, men have lost their guts. They have glued themselves to TV and football and sluggish habits or else to endless ambition in their careers or strivings. Are we surprised that our children grow up with little admiration for our ways?

I would like to see men wake up and quit being a bunch of children whom their wives must take care of all the time. Let us learn again to be men, to debate, to think, to learn the wisdom of husbandry, caretaking, and home rearing. To take the reigns again as compitent and tested leaders. But we must first become compitent.