Reply To: Does anyone’s mind change, or is it argue for the sake of argument?

I understand that both of them heard the other side (that was not CR!), but BH would present the other position first, showing that they respect them and also avoiding the bias. We can see here how often people bring arguments solely supporting their own side, leaving it to the opponent to present theirs. This is a sign of how assimilated we are: such approach is common in American/Western “free speech” debate, but not the best in Jewish tradition. This is also alluded in the gemora that compares talmidei chachamim of Bavel with roosters and others – meaning people who learned how to argue but not how to strive for emes.