Written By: Georgina Murphy

On October 24th during Community Forum, Harry Moss ‘26 gave a speech to the Upper School on the importance of debate and rhetoric and its connection to this year’s theme of courage. Moss has always recognized the value of surrounding yourself with opinions that differ from your own and the importance of debate. However, after attending Reason and Rationality, a summer program at Princeton University, which focused on the art of debate and philosophy, Moss learned how to articulate arguments and acquired a deeper appreciation of the importance of these two disciplines.

Moss explains that there are two different types of arguments: a persuasive argument and a good argument. A persuasive argument does not necessarily have to be factually correct, but rather it has to sway your audience’s opinions. He notes that a persuasive argument is often used in political debates, when the validity of politicians’ claims are unclear. On the other hand, he claims a good argument is structured in such a way that all of one’s premises are factually correct and one is able to convince an audience of a claim. Moss says that in order to develop “good debates,” one must surround themselves with philosophy. He believes American Rhetoric, an Honors English Seminar at RCDS, is an excellent way to do this. Through this course, students develop a clear and strong structure for their argument, which they can build on and deepen further.

In order to be a good debater, one must also listen to opposing ideas. Moss shared an anecdote of his experience with this over the summer. Before attending Reason and Rationality, Moss did not believe that God existed and was a devout atheist.  However, many of the philosophers at the program were religious. Moss said that the most convincing and powerful arguments that God is real was related to cosmological fine tuning. Cosmological fine tuning is the idea that the universe seems to be perfectly set up for life. The laws of physics, the forces of nature, and the conditions of our universe all have extremely precise values, and if any were even slightly different, life would not exist. The religious argument here is that this level of precision is unlikely to be luck or coincidence, and instead suggests the universe was designed on purpose by a higher power, like God. Moss shared that he found himself genuinely swayed by this line of reasoning, because he allowed himself to be open to a differing belief system.

And so, despite the fact that it is often easier to surround yourself with beliefs similar to your own, Moss encourages students to find the courage to challenge yourself and listen and debate opinions that differ from your own.