The Art of Arguing

Jay Heinrichs, in his book: Thank You For Arguing introduces to us the art of productive argument, the art of rhetoric. He does so by presenting to us various examples, and in a way that surely secures our interest towards the subject. By reading simply the first chapter I already started reflecting back on times I have been part of an argument, either to get people to do something I want, or to try to prove a point in something I truly agree on. Miserably, now that I think back on those times, I have failed to win any argument completely, much less, cleverly.

In the second chapter when he talks about offense, we already start acquiring more detailed knowledge about rhetorical argument, and as we too did in the first chapter, he provides clear examples and tips for a triumphant argument.

Something that stood out to me the most was when he explained the difference between an argument and a fight: “…an argument, done skillfully, gets people to want to do what you want. You fight o win; you argue to achieve agreement” (Pg. 17).

Here I started thinking about a time I was debating with my mom whether I should drive to school in the mornings or not. At first my supporting argument was that my brother had been able to drive to school last year, but this didn’t help at all since last year he was a senior, while I’m just a junior right know. I also tried convincing them that I had improved my driving a lot and was perfectly able to drive to school with no problem at all. But their answered remained being no. At this point I was so mad we weren’t arguing anymore, instead we were fighting. And I, being the kid and having a weaker argument to my parents’, I obviously ended up losing.

If I had known more about the art of argument I would have known, first of all to please my parents by saying something like: “I know I’m young and shouldn’t be driving so much. Much less, alone so early in the morning, but…” I could then have convinced them of how me driving to school would not only improve my driving, but also would prevent any bus problems, and give us more time to sleep. Finally I could have motivated them that me driving my brothers and myself to school is a great, if not the finest idea. This way by setting my goals and applying what I have read and learned in these past chapters, I would have probably been closer to my parents letting me drive to school.