This one's for you, Jannet.What is the purpose of an argument to you? I believe that we argue as a way of getting inside the head of the person we're arguing with, like how you'd argue politics with a friend to see what he thinks of the Bush administration, etc.
The main purpose of arguments, however, is to enrich your mind by testing your ideas against the ideas of others. In a successful argument you will leave with not only a deeper understanding of the person you just argued with, but your own thoughts on the topic of debate will have evolved and adapted to the new information gleaned from the discussion. If one's ideas remain the same from debate to debate then those ideas are either absolute truth, or that person's mindset is too fixed on the idea that his or her ideas are absolute truth.
Arguments are fruitless when aproached with a black-and-white, right-and-wrong perspective. They go nowhere if your goal is to "win" the argument. To gain the most out of an argument, it is neccesary to understand that in an argument, all ideas are subjective unless presented from an official source. Including your own. A general rule of thumb is: "However unlikely as it may seem, it's alway possible that the other may be right, and you may be wrong, and vice-verca"
However, don't confuse my use of "right" and "wrong" as an absolute. "Right" and "Wrong" merely refers to the accuracy of your idea on a single point of an argument, not the totality of your ideas, for in the end there is rarely a "right" or a "wrong" (unless of course the information can be confirmed by an official source), there is only "sense" and "senseless"
That said, it is best to keep an open-mind, and understand that an argument is not a competition, but a quest for deeper knowledge. It helps test and strengthen your thoughts and ideas by adapting them to the thoughts and ideas of others.
