The Art of Controversy

The Art of Controversy is an acidulous sarcastic treatise written by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and first published in 1831. In it Schopenhauer examines a total of thirty-eight methods of defeating one's opponent in a debate. He introduces his essay with the idea that philosophers have concentrated in ample measure on the rules of logic but have not (especially since the time of Immanuel Kant) engaged with the darker art of the dialectic of controversy. Whereas the purpose of logic is classically said to be a method of arriving at the truth dialectic says Schopenhauer ...on the other hand would treat of the intercourse between two rational beings who because they are rational ought to think in common but who as soon as they cease to agree like two clocks keeping exactly the same time create a disputation or intellectual contest.