Great debates
Where the best books disagree
Each debate shows both sides, their common ground, and how to reconcile them.
Does believing it make it happen?Belief creates results vs Fantasy can backfireCan you trust your gut?Intuition misleads vs Intuition is expertiseWhat really drives success: effort or circumstance?Effort and mindset vs Context and luckCan the future be predicted?Forecasting is a skill vs The big events can't beShould a leader be feared or loved?Power and realism vs Virtue and goodwillDo more, or accept your limits?Optimise and multiply vs Accept finitudeShould you care what others think?Win people over vs Have the courage to be dislikedBurning desire, or detachment from results?Want it intensely vs Act without attachmentWillpower, or design your environment?Push through vs Design the systemShould anyone steer your choices?Smart nudges help vs Liberty and skin in the gameMake a plan, or stay adaptable?Clear strategy vs Optionality and speedAre we really free to choose?We choose ourselves vs Behaviour has causesShould you chase happiness?Build happiness deliberately vs Happiness follows meaningSave for later, or live now?Save and compound vs Life is nowEmbrace struggle, or end suffering?Use the struggle vs Release sufferingCompete harder, or escape competition?Win the competitive game vs Create a new spaceThink big, or stay humble?Think big vs Ego is the enemyShould economic growth come before environmental protection?Grow first, clean later vs Nature sets the limitsWill AI and automation create more jobs than they destroy?Technology creates work vs This time is differentDoes India need stronger central control or more power to states?A strong centre vs Power closer to peopleHow much freedom should be given up for security?Order first vs Liberty firstDo good ends justify questionable means?Results matter most vs Means shape endsIs affirmative action compatible with merit?Equalising opportunity is merit vs Select purely on performanceAre welfare schemes empowerment or dependency?Welfare empowers vs Handouts can trapIs social media good for democracy?It gives everyone a voice vs It fractures the public sphereShould tradition guide a modernising society?Tradition anchors us vs Reason must reformShould a civil servant follow orders or conscience?Follow lawful orders vs Conscience has the last wordShould the state run businesses?Leave it to markets vs Some sectors need the stateNationalism or universal humanism?The nation comes first vs Humanity comes firstIs education for jobs or for life?Skills for employment vs Educate the whole personShould the death penalty be abolished?Retain for the gravest crimes vs Abolish itAre cities the engines of progress or of inequality?Cities drive growth vs Cities widen gapsShould science be limited by ethics?Free inquiry vs Ethics must guideShould citizens' duties matter as much as their rights?Rights are the core vs Duties sustain rightsHas globalisation helped or hurt developing countries?It lifted millions vs Gains were unevenWhy are so few women in India's workforce, and what fixes it?Remove barriers vs Create the right jobsIs judicial activism good for democracy?Courts protect citizens vs Courts overreachIs the only duty of business to make profit?Profit is the duty vs Business owes societyShould we measure progress by GDP or well-being?GDP matters vs Well-being mattersDoes a leader's private character matter in public life?Results define leaders vs Character is the foundationDoes progress come from competition or cooperation?Competition drives vs Cooperation buildsShould the state be able to access citizens' data for security?Security needs data vs Privacy is a rightShould an employee blow the whistle on wrongdoing?Loyalty and process vs Truth over loyaltyIs poverty mainly about individual choices or systems?Choices and effort vs Systems and structuresSelf-reliance or global integration?Self-reliance vs IntegrationShould the press be regulated?Self-regulation vs Accountability neededShould officials bend rules for compassion?Rules ensure fairness vs Compassion humanises