Is this the right room for an argument?
Labelling is a rather strange tactic in argument; it’s popular but weak and mostly a poor tactic because of the ease with which it can be dragged into verbal nihilism. [Read more…]
Sextus Empiricus’ “Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Part 1” Chapter 15:
The later Sceptics hand down Five Modes leading to suspension, namely these: the first based on discrepancy, the second on regress ad infinitum, the third on relativity, the fourth on hypothesis, the fifth on circular reasoning.
I frequently use fencing terms in Argument Clinic. That’s because fencing has a lot of
Is this the right room for an argument?
the same properties as a battle of words. There are a lot of useful words from the school of the rhetoricians, but I would feel weird saying, “nice anadiplosis.” Because my opponent might reply, “gesundheit!”
Chiitaanibah Johnson of California State University, Sacramento says she was disenrolled from her U.S. History class for disagreeing with her professor over the existence of North American genocide.
I’m skeptical of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, hypnosis, and other tricks of mental manipulation involving triggers, rythms, repeating phrases, rhymes, etc. But I enjoy watching Derren Brown’s performances because I wonder how much is stage “magic” and how much is mentalist tricks. My guess is, it’s mostly stage magic.
So, when I saw this I thought it was very interesting because it’s somewhat similar to the kind of treatment Brown supposedly uses on his subjects.
This clinic is going to be a bit less prescriptive and more theoretical.
Is this the right room for an argument?
We are going to look at a powerful technique for pulling your opponent into a discussion-ending quagmire; it’s the rhetorical equivalent of sneaking off the battlefield under cover of darkness.
Saying something nasty and following it with “I’m just joking” is a form of verbal abuse that’s passive-aggressive. I.e: it’s semi-concealed aggression, intended to give the target pause as to whether or not they can successfully counter-attack.
Is this the right room for an argument?
It’s a technique that can be employed in a strategy of verbal abuse but succeeds if it’s fairly consistent, and only then against unsophisticated targets.
Verbal abuse and written abuse are important social tools. If you’re going to use them (or defend against them) you may as well do a good job and be properly equipped. In this series, I am going to offer some of my opinions about strategy regarding verbal abuse. To be clear: this is not a canonical treatment; I welcome your feedback – especially if it’s well-aimed and cruel.
Is this the right room for an argument?
I hope to expand this into a full series including a variety of techniques as subtle as eye-gouging and groin-kicking are in a street-fight. This section is groundwork and throat-clearing, so it’s going to be delivered more in the tone of a short lecture than as strategic or tactical maxims. As Anne Elk said, “This is a theory, which is mine. And this is it.”
We start with the 5 minute argument.