38 Ways To Win An Argument | Page 5

m ost of you r pre mi se s, do no t ask h im or her dir e ctly to
ac cep t you r con clu sion.
R ath er, d ra w th e con clu sion you rs e lf as if it too h ad b ee n ad mi tt e d.
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W hen you r oppon en t use s an arg u m en t t hat is s uperf ic ia l and you se e th e fa ls e hood, you ca n re fu te
i t by se tti ng fo rth its s uperfic ia l ch ara c te r.
B ut it is bette r to m ee t the oppon en t w ith ac ou nte r- argu men t t hat i s ju st as s uperfic ia l, and so d is po se of
h im .
F or it i s w ith v ic to ry th at you are con cern ed, no t w ith tr u th.
E xam ple : If th e oppon en t app eals to p re jud ic e , em oti on o r att ac k s you p ers on ally, re tu rn th e att ac k in th e
s a m e m ann er.
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If you r oppon en t ask s you to ad mit so m eth ing from whic h th e po in t in d is pu te w ill i mm ed ia te ly
f o llo w , you must re fu se to do s o, dec la ring th at it beg s th e qu esti on.
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C on tr a d ic ti on and con te n ti on ir r ita te a pers on in to ex agg era ti ng th eir sta te m en ts .
B y con tr a d ic ti ng you r oppo nen t you may d riv e him i nto ex te nd ing th e sta te m en t beyond its natu ra l limit .
W hen you th en con tr a d ic t th e ex agg era te d fo rm of it , you look as though you h ad re fu te d th e orig in al
s ta te m en t.
C on tr a ril y, if you r oppon en t tr ie s to ex te nd you r ow n sta te m en t fu rth er th an y our in te nd ed, re d efin e you r
s ta te m en t's limit s and sa y, "T hat is w hat I sa id, no more ."
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S ta te a fa ls e sy ll og is m .
Y ou r oppon en t m ak es a propo siti on, an d by fa ls e in fe re n ce and d is to rti on o f his id eas you fo rce fro m t he
p ropo siti on o th er propo sit io ns th at are no t in te nd ed and th at app ea r ab su rd.
I t th en app ears th at oppon en t's propo siti on g av e ris e to th ese in con sis te n cie s, and so app ears to b e
i nd ir e ctl