Debate or "stressing" is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case, or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion. Though logical consistency, factual accuracy and some degree of emotional appeal to the audience are important elements of the art of persuasion, in debating, one side often prevails over the other side by presenting a superior "context" and/or framework of the issue, which is far more subtle and strategic.

Noun

debate (countable and uncountable; plural debates)

1. (obsolete) Strife, discord.
2. An argument, or discussion, usually in an ordered or formal setting, often with more than two people, generally ending with a vote or other decision.

   After a four-hour debate, the committee voted to table the motion.

3. An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views.

   The debate over the age of the universe is thousands of years old.

   There was a bit of a debate over who should pay for the damaged fence.

4. (uncountable) Discussion of opposing views.

   There has been considerable debate concerning exactly how to format these articles.

5. (Frequently in French form débat) a type of literary composition, taking the form of a discussion or disputation, commonly found in the vernacular medieval poetry of many European countries, as well as in medieval Latin.

Verb debate (third-person singular simple present debates, present participle debating, simple past and past participle debated)

1. (obsolete) To fight. [14th-17th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:

     Well knew they both his person, sith of late / With him in bloudie armes they rashly did debate.

2. To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena. [from 14th c.]

Debate is a formal method of interactive and position representational argument.