Monday, May 16, 2005

Am not!

Since some of us nerds tend to lean toward argumentative, I thought Thirty - Eight Ways to Win an Argument from Schopenhauer's "The Art of Controversy" might be enjoyed.

3 comments:

forkev said...

i beleive number 38 was the tactic of a used car salesman i talked to a few years ago.

he knew i had him, so he turned into a jerk to get rid of me so he would not have to admit he was wrong and i knew what i was talking about.

k2h said...

very interesting! I can see many of the techniques used by my bosses. one that I think was mentioned, but I'll restate in my own words:


sit and listen to the argument, as if you agree with it, go along with it and even make statements to support it. you have two options
1) slowly turn their argument to something you can win
2) mine for facts that you can dispute

I think much of winning an argument is the air of authority. even someone that can truly win an argument out right, if they conceide the authority to the perceived leader the case is lost.

heres another method I use: find out what is really motivating the argument. it is often because people are lazy and trying to get out of something, so they will argue against it so they don't have to do it. if you point blank accuse someone of trying to get out of it, they may give you examples of why they WOULD do it, you then use that as ammo to TELL them to do it. a nice trick!

forkev said...

if people can't fess up and say thay are lazy they should be stuck with their what-if 'i could' rebutles.
nice trick.