38 Ways To Win An Argument | Page 8

en ti ca l w it h, o r at l ea st con ta in ed in, th e c ate go ry cit e d ;
a nd
2 )T he sy ste m re fe rr ed to h as bee n en ti re ly re fu te d by th e cu rr e n t aud ie n ce.
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Y ou ad mit your oppon en t's pre mi se s bu t deny th e con clu sion.
E xam ple : " That's all very well i n th eo ry, bu t it won' t w ork in p ra cti ce ."
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W hen you sta te a qu esti on o r an argu men t, and you r op pon en t giv es you no d ir e ct an sw er, o r ev ad es
i t w ith a coun te r qu esti on, o r tr ie s to ch an g e th e sub je c t, it i s sure sign you h av e tou ch ed a w eak spo t,
s o m etim es w it hou t inte nd ing to do so.
Y ou h av e, as it were , re du ced you r oppon en t t o sile n ce .
Y ou must, th ere fo re , u rg e th e po in t all t he m ore , and no t let you r oppon en t ev ad e it, ev en when you do
no t kno w where th e w eakn ess th at you h av e hit upon re all y lie s.
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I n stea d o f w ork ing on an oppon en t's in te lle ct or th e rigo r of his argu men ts , w ork on h is m oti ve.
If you su cce ss in m ak ing you r opp onen t's op in ion, shou ld it prov e tr u e, se e m dis ti nctl y p re jud ic ia l t o h is
o w n in te re st, h e w ill drop it imm ed ia te ly.
E xam ple : A cle rgy man is defe nd ing so m e ph ilosoph ic al dog ma.
Y ou sho w him th at his propo siti on con tr a d ic ts a fund am en ta l do ctr in e of his chu rc h.
H e w ill ab andon th e argu men t.
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Y ou may als o pu zzle and b ew ilder you r oppon en t by mere bo mbast.
If you r op pon en t i s w ea k o r do es no t w is h to app ear as if he has no id ea what you r are ta lk ing abou t, you
ca n easil y im po se upon h im so m e argu men t t hat sound s very d ee p o r le a rn ed, o r th at sound s
i nd is pu ta b le .
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S hou