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13 ways to win an argument

When you want to ace a debate, turn to Aristotle for help. He identified “13 Fallacies” used to win arguments. Here’s how to benefit from them
BY NICKY WILLIAMS

1. ACCENT OR EMPHASIS Aka Emphasising words
“Stressing key words can have a huge impact on the strength of your argument,” says Alex Just, former president of the Oxford Union debating team. “Clinton did it famously with his use of ‘that woman’ to distance himself from Monica Lewinsky.”

The situation An email using visual prompts.
Use it “I’m grateful for your professional opinion.”

2. FIGURE OF SPEECH Aka Modifying words
Aristotle argued that if a word is constructed similarly to another, people assume they have a similar meaning. So by tacking “ism” or “ist” at the end of a word, you convey your meaning without having to explicitly state it.

The situation You want to accuse your opponent of being prejudiced.
Use it “That sounds like a fat-ist viewpoint to me.”

3. ACCIDENT Aka Making sweeping generalisations
“A sweeping generalisation is a mental shortcut,” says Dr Christopher Tindale, the author of Fallacies and Argument Appraisal.
“Our brains do not compute that the rule may only hold true for a minority of cases.”

The situation You’re running out of evidence to support your case.
Use it “Women are much worse drivers than men. They are always crashing.”

4. AFFIRMING THE CONSEQUENT Aka Stretching the meaning of a word
“This argument works because at first it makes sense,” says philosopher Dr Gary Curtis, of fallacyfiles.org, a website cataloguing logical fallacies. “It relies on stretching the context of a word to its limits, then hiding behind it.”

The situation You need to justify your bad behaviour.
Use it “It says ‘healthy eating’ on the box for this cake, so it’s fine if I eat half of it in one go.”

5. CONVERSE ACCIDENT Aka Finding the exception to the rule
“The exception to the rule is always an efficient weapon to poke holes in an opponent’s argument,” says Just. No matter how strong their case is, you can bring it to its knees with an unequivocal piece of fact.

The situation You are in the wrong and need an escape route. Quick.
Use it “Of course I’m romantic – I bought you flowers on Valentine’s Day.”

6. AMPHIBOLY Aka Using ambiguous grammar to create confusion
“If you deliberately use unclear grammar, what you say can be taken in a number of ways depending on your opponent’s prejudices and agenda. And you can use this to your advantage, putting your opponent off balance,” says Austin Cline, philosophy expert for
problem-solving website about.com.

The situation You need a witty retort to silence a smug opponent.
Use it “I often talk about sex with your girlfriend.”

7. EQUIVOCATION Aka Supporting an argument with an argument
“You can boost your argument by inferring that if A is true then B is, too. And if B is true, therefore A is true,” says Curtis.

“Your opponent won’t realise the arguments are supported by each other, rather than hard fact.”

The situation You want to flatter yourself – or others.
Use it “If you can make women laugh, they find you attractive. I’m funny, so she fancies me.”

8. COMPOSITION Aka Thinking a group is defined by its parts
“People assume a group takes on the characteristics of its members,” says Cline. “So mention upstanding actions of friends and your opponent will assume that together they’ll act the same.”

The situation You want a night out with your mates, but your partner isn’t keen.
Use it “I’ll be going out with Tim, he never drinks too much, so I won’t be back late.”

9. DIVISION Aka Success by association
“This is the opposite of Composition,” says Cline.

“You apply the attributes of a group to yourself and bask in its reflected glory. It works best when you want to make yourself stand out and shine.”

The situation A job interview or on your CV.
Use it “My attention to detail and work ethic are illustrated by the many awards my department has won recently.”

10. IRRELEVANT CONCLUSION Aka Unrelated arguments
“You can sometimes use two unrelated facts to prove a point,” explains Tindale. “When people are emotional, they are often so fired up they fail to realise two facts aren’t linked.”

The situation You want to oust someone from power.
Use it “Since Gordon took over, productivity is down while complaints are up.”

11. BEGGING THE QUESTION Aka Using an unproven “fact” to prove your point
“This happens when you use an unproven but commonly believed fact to prove your case,” says Just. “If you place enough emphasis on it, your opponent won’t try to argue against it.”

The situation You want to end the argument.
Use it “Of course, if Tim Cahill played as an out and out striker, he would score even more goals than he does at the moment.”

12. FALSE CAUSE Aka Assuming there’s a consequential connection between events in time
“This method works on the assumption that one event wouldn’t have happened without the other,” says Madsen Pirie, the author of How To Win Every Argument.

The situation An argument in which your knowledge is poor.
Use it “The week Rob became manager, fewer people came into the cafe, so it stands to reason that it’s because of him.”

13. THE FALLACY OF MANY QUESTIONS Aka The loaded question
“This catches you off guard,” says Douglas Rushkoff, the author of Why We Listen To What “They” Say. “Shop assistants are trained to ask, ‘How may . . . ’, not, ‘Can I help you?’, as it makes you think you asked for help.”

The situation You think your girlfriend is cheating on you.
Use it “Are you still seeing other people?”