Whenever you want to counter the indoctrinated thinking and rigid beliefs, try to find an antithetical character to support your position. For example, in an anti-smoking campaign, recruit a heavy-smoker favoring smoking restrictions or a tobacco sales tax increase. In an anti-war campaign, a former (or even better a current) military officer opposing a war … Read more
When refuting manipulative arguments or debunking false beliefs, it is best to avoid using weakly favorable reasons. As an illustration, consider two passages used in a 2011 study titled “When Good Evidence Goes Bad: The Weak Evidence Effect in Judgment and Decision-Making.” Participants read one of these passages: Widespread use of hybrid and electric cars … Read more
Joseph Story, an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court in the first half of the nineteenth century, may be somewhat known to American lawyers, completely unknown to non-American lawyers, and totally irrelevant to everyone else. And yet, his pithy advice on crafting effective arguments, such as “strike but a few blows, but strike them to … Read more