There Is A Better Way To Win Arguments

I disagree, therefore I am… an idiot?

Photo by Frank Busch

This article will be a mass accusation. I’m the accuser, sure, but also the first accused. We all do it: we disagree with someone and our first reaction is to attack them. You think like that? You must be an idiot!

Never mind trying to understand the argument first, we’ll be lucky if we get to the end of the first sentence once we’ve established our interlocutor is not right in the head. Never mind empathising with our adversary, we’ll be lucky if we look them in the eye when we launch our attack. It’s the oldest and cheapest argument to refute anything we don’t like: the ad hominem fallacy. Question the sanity, the relevance or the intelligence of our dialectic opponent, and the argument doesn’t even need to be won.

Unlike online troll hate, in certain more refined spheres there is space for discussion and debate. These are magnificent opportunities to put our beliefs to the test. It is easy to agree with oneself even if we are naturally sceptical and critical. It is easy to ignore certain arguments, it is inevitable to forget the points of views of others and the unintended consequences of our lines of thought. When we put our thoughts out there, we can see how they perform in the real world. Then we can listen to other thoughts and come up with new, better ones.