(quote from RealReality.org/Real_Faith_and_Reason_Vol_2_-_Scientia.pdf)

Debate as a way of knowing

Some people say debate improves critical thinking, enhances collaboration, and helps debaters identify problems with their own viewpoints. That’s the theory. Even if that were true, none of these benefits can lead us to the truth. However, it’s not true. What really happens in debate doesn’t even meet the expectations of the theory of debate. Debaters concern themselves with winning. They don’t concern themselves with truth. If we watch political debates, hot debates on news programs, or debates on Internet discussion groups, we find these debates are almost always filled with every sort of fallacy. The debaters use fallacies to fool their audiences. Debates quickly degenerate into contests of who has the most skill in blowing smoke up the noses of others.

(end quote)