What you described might as well be construed as the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectics , may it not? But yes, I agree, dialectics is my prefered method of reaching new insights. I tend to prepare my argument in advance so that it's worthy of the my and the other debatant's time by having a possible direction to move in. If anything should be encountered along the way, then every nook and cranny will be explored during the back-and-forth argument.