why we argue – and how to do it properly protagoras comment

Marlon Brando as Mark Anthony in the 1953 film Julius Caesar. 'True persuasion is democratic.' Photograph: Cine

Text/Allstar

It's the weekend and you are heading out to meet friends at the cinema. You are looking

forward to seeing the new thriller by a favourite director. But then you discover that

some of your friends would rather see the latest superhero movie, or some a new

romantic comedy. Everybody pauses, uncertain how to proceed. You decide to get

everyone to see the thriller. You won't force them – after all, they are your friends and

unlikely to remain so if you threaten them. You could bribe them by offering to buy the

tickets – but movie-going is expensive enough as it is, and you don't want to set a

precedent. So you decide to try and persuade them – to get them to really want to go.

But how?

You could begin by telling your friends about reviews you have read recommending

your chosen film and trashing the others – or by pointing out the relative box office

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Why we argue – and how to do itproperlyThe internet provides ample space for stating opinions. But true

persuasion is an art – one this week-long series aims to teach

Protagoras

theguardian.com, Monday 9 September 2013 13.00 BST

Why we argue – and how to do it properly | Protagoras | Comment is free ... http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/09/how-to-argue...

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success of the movies on offer. But what reviewers do your friends trust? Do they want

to see a hit movie or are they the sort of people who like to "discover" hidden gems?

Perhaps you should remind them that on previous visits to the cinema your choices

have been good ones. And all you want is for everybody to have a good time.

Alternatively you might explain just how much you have been looking forward to the

movie after a really bad week. Are your friends likely to be moved by pity or should you

appeal to other feelings?

Perhaps these appeals – to the authority of reviewers, your own character, and to your

friends' emotions – seem too manipulative. You could try logic. Movie-going may not be

an exact science but there are degrees of reasonableness. If a director's movies have

been dire since that first breakout hit then it's a good bet that the new one will be weak.

You might argue that the superhero blockbuster is good but the genre can never be truly

great; that one of the movies has a lead actor with a bad track record; that the comedy is

so long the bar will shut before it ends.

However strong your convictions about quality cinema may be, these alone will not win

the day. You need to make an argument. And a successful argument must appeal not to

just anyone in general but to your friends in particular. It must be adapted to their

estimations of movie reviewers, feelings and beliefs about you and your character, and

rely on rational claims of a kind they will recognise.

What is true of the cinema is – in this case – also true in public and political life. In a

democracy, rather than force or bribe people to assent to our ideology, we try to win

them over through persuasion. That can be a challenge. It requires us to understand

where other people are coming from and to develop arguments that are outward-facing.

Not everyone thinks as we do. People have different experiences and possess different

information; they have different values and do not always share our criteria of

judgment. To persuade them we have to make connections with our audience – with

what they might think, feel and be familiar with. This is not about tricking people or

fooling them. It is about truly persuading them to share our views on a particular issue

– and that means developing a relationship.

A glance at the newspapers and much of the internet demonstrates, however, that many

people think the purpose of public communication is to reflect well on themselves – to

announce their own importance, specialness or cleverness. An infamous academic

chooses not to be convincing but to increase his brand value by performing

provocatively; a troll communicates publicly but seeks only private "lulz"; shouting

things your audience already believes, yet pretending that you're not allowed to say

them, seems to be an easy route to success on talk radio or the op-ed pages. But the only

thing such people are saying with their arguments is "look at me!"

Online communication makes easy the simple affirmation of our beliefs, the


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monetisation of strident "opinion" and the anonymous onanistic expression of inchoate

hostility. And that means more arguments – but less persuasion.

True persuasion is democratic. In giving people reasons to act with us we recognise that

they aren't inferiors who can be compelled but thinking, feeling and speaking beings.

And true persuasion is an art. Contrary to the books on the self-help and business

psychology shelves there are no magic "words that work". You have to cultivate an

"eye", developing a feel for situations and empathy for those you want to persuade. The

name of that art is "rhetoric".

Of course, you don't need to bother with any of this if you and your friends just go and

see your favoured films separately. But that is to give up on society, politics and

progress. If people cannot persuade or be persuaded then there can be no shared

beliefs, co-ordinated collective action or intellectual evolution. The only change will

come from force, bribery or manipulation.

In defiance of such a bleak outcome, Comment is free will over the coming week run a

series on how to argue in the spirit of Isocrates, the ancient Greek philosopher and

rhetorician: "the kind of art which can implant honesty and justice in depraved natures

has never existed and does not exist … But I do hold that people can become better and

worthier if they conceive an ambition to speak well, if they become possessed of the

desire to be able to persuade their hearers."

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