The Art of Being Right, by Arthur Schopenhauer, is a short, sharp and ironic book that takes the opposite path to that of logic manuals: instead of teaching how to think well, it catalogs the tricks that people use to appear to be right in an argument.
A manual for defense, not attack
The book brings together 38 stratagems, small rhetorical maneuvers and fallacies, described with the ironic detachment of someone who is exposing a scam, not teaching how to apply it in good faith. Read the right way, it works like a defense manual: anyone who knows the 38 stratagems starts to recognize each one of them the moment it appears, both in someone else's speech and in their own.
Why the reverse path teaches so much
Teaching logic inside out, showing errors rather than correct rules, has a practical advantage: errors are easier to remember because they appear more frequently in real life than perfectly constructed arguments. Many of Schopenhauer's stratagems describe, with proper names, fallacies that the tradition of logic has also named in other ways, such as the ad hominem, the strawman fallacy and the false dilemma.
How to read the book
The practical recommendation is to read one stratagem a day, rather than devouring the book in one sitting. In a few weeks of leisurely reading, the scams cease to surprise, because they have already been named and recognized before appearing in a real conversation.
The care that the book alone does not provide
Knowing Schopenhauer's 38 stratagems teaches you how to identify rhetorical maneuvers, but it does not replace examining the structure of a good argument. For this, it is worth making a deeper distinction between truth and validity: Knowing how to name a rhetorical trick is the first step, but the ultimate goal remains the truth, not just winning the argument.
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What is Schopenhauer's The Art of Being Right about?
The book catalogs 38 stratagems, small rhetorical maneuvers and fallacies, used to win arguments regardless of whether one is actually right. It works as a defense manual against these tricks.
Why did Schopenhauer write about how to "be right" rather than how to think well?
Because the reverse path teaches as much as the direct path: showing the rhetorical moves used to appear right helps you recognize them, in others and in yourself, the moment they appear.
Is the book related to classic logical fallacies?
Yes, several of Schopenhauer's 38 stratagems describe, under other names, fallacies such as the ad hominem, the strawman and the false dilemma, treated in their classic form in the tradition of logic.
Continue in the cluster of this class: What is ad hominem · What is the strawman fallacy · What is false dilemma
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