Interesting. Maybe there's a problem because of differing expectations then. I can also see parallels in the legal system, and in differing legal systems: the

Interesting. Maybe there's a problem because of differing expectations then. I can also see parallels in the legal system, and in differing legal systems: the adversarial system used in English common-law countries is not universal, for instance. Personally, I think the adversarial system is inherently and downright bad and wrong. The idea isn't to get to the actual truth, it's merely to win the argument at all costs. There might be an idea that this efficiently gets to the truth, but I don't think it does at all; this system just finds who's better at arguing. An inquisitorial system I think is superior at getting to the actual truth. See your own comment about "good for lawyering, bad for truth-seeking": I think this is exactly what's wrong with the common-law system. Personally, do like to play devil's advocate a fair amount, but not to the extent where I need to actually win the argument, I just want to make sure all sides are covered and that people aren't missing something major by hopping on a bandwagon or engaging in group-think. There's a big difference between this and just endlessly arguing one side without actual regard to the truth or the merits of the other sides (and there may be many--another problem with this adversarial approach that always assumes only 2 sides). Also related, personally I think formal academic debates are similarly bad and wrong, though not quite as bad as lawyering because at least with academic ones someone's life or welfare is not directly impacted by the contest over who's a better arguer.