Winning arguments versus understanding truth
The Art of Being Right by Arthur Schopenhauer is always described as a sarcastic take on how people win arguments for the wrong reasons.
I am really not sure I really agree with this summary. To me it is almost the “go to” text for politicians or anyone wanting to bully themselves into a position of appearing to be right.
So I really don’t want there to be more people learning specifically how to win arguments like this but I think it is important that the nice people out there know these tricks so they can prepare for them.
In summary, some of the tricks on how to win an argument are:
- Change the subject when you’re losing ground.
- Take your opponent’s specific point and stretch it to an absurd general case.
- Cite experts or respected names even if they aren’t relevant to the debate.
- Attack the opponent personally instead of their argument.
- Make your opponent angry. If they lose control of their emotions they lose credibility.
- Demand they prove their point, while avoid proving yours.
- Confuse the audience to appear more knowledgable.
- Declare victory before the opponent can fully respond.
It's worth having a look at debates in general, political, online, etc. and seeing if you can recognise some of these, or even combinations of them.
