N
noname223
Archangel
- Aug 18, 2020
- 6,162
Today I watched the debate between Mehdi Hasan and Michael Gove on Trump.
Mehdi obliterated Gove and humiliated him. It was very impressive. I kind of enjoy listening to Mehdi Hasan he knows his facts. I was surprised he only has a bachelor degree in Oxford though.
I was interested to learn more and found out he published a book in 2024. The title is "Win every argument".
So I downloaded it and I was pretty disappointed. I read an AI summery and then dived into the book. The letters are pretty big and the book has less than 200 pages.
There is a lot of anecdotale evidence and only very few empirical evidence. Further, is the empirical evidence pretty superficial.
I think though one has to remind oneself who the audience for this book is. No scientists but people in debate clubs or the mainstream consumer.
I have a problem with the original conditions of this book. The goal is to win the argument by all means. And fake it, till you make it is one advice. And I think that's bullshit. There is too much emphasis in this book on debate strategies that should not be used to frequently. Like the different types of ad hominem arguments and when to use them. I think it is good to know them for counterarguments. I think when you listen to Mehdi, there is one big lesson: learn your facts and do a thorough research. All these strategies are useless otherwise.
And I realized some strategies mentioned in the book are too toxic. You can use them for psychological warfare e.g. setting traps. But I want constructive and fair discussions. The internet is already full of trolls with their toxic behavior. I care more about finding out the truth than to win a debate by all means. And I think wanting to win the debate by all (also toxic) means can backfire pretty easily.
Mehdi obliterated Gove and humiliated him. It was very impressive. I kind of enjoy listening to Mehdi Hasan he knows his facts. I was surprised he only has a bachelor degree in Oxford though.
I was interested to learn more and found out he published a book in 2024. The title is "Win every argument".
So I downloaded it and I was pretty disappointed. I read an AI summery and then dived into the book. The letters are pretty big and the book has less than 200 pages.
There is a lot of anecdotale evidence and only very few empirical evidence. Further, is the empirical evidence pretty superficial.
I think though one has to remind oneself who the audience for this book is. No scientists but people in debate clubs or the mainstream consumer.
I have a problem with the original conditions of this book. The goal is to win the argument by all means. And fake it, till you make it is one advice. And I think that's bullshit. There is too much emphasis in this book on debate strategies that should not be used to frequently. Like the different types of ad hominem arguments and when to use them. I think it is good to know them for counterarguments. I think when you listen to Mehdi, there is one big lesson: learn your facts and do a thorough research. All these strategies are useless otherwise.
And I realized some strategies mentioned in the book are too toxic. You can use them for psychological warfare e.g. setting traps. But I want constructive and fair discussions. The internet is already full of trolls with their toxic behavior. I care more about finding out the truth than to win a debate by all means. And I think wanting to win the debate by all (also toxic) means can backfire pretty easily.