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The Art of Being Right
The Art of Being Right
29/11/2016, 01)12
Arthur Schopenhauer
Contents
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Publication
Synopsis
See also
Notes
References
External links
Publication
In Volume 2, 26, of his Parerga and Paralipomena, Schopenhauer wrote:
The tricks, dodges, and chicanery, to which they [men] resort in order to be right in the end, are
so numerous and manifold and yet recur so regularly that some years ago I made them the
subject of my own reflection and directed my attention to their purely formal element after I had
perceived that, however varied the subjects of discussion and the persons taking part therein, the
same identical tricks and dodges always come back and were very easy to recognize. This led
me at the time to the idea of clearly separating the merely formal part of these tricks and dodges
from the material and of displaying it, so to speak, as a neat anatomical specimen.
He "collected all the dishonest tricks so frequently occurring in argument and clearly presented each of them
in its characteristic setting, illustrated by examples and given a name of its own." As an additional service,
Schopenhauer "added a means to be used against them, as a kind of guard against these thrusts."
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However, when he later revised his book, he found "that such a detailed and minute consideration of the
crooked ways and tricks that are used by common human nature to cover up its shortcomings is no longer
suited to my temperament and so I lay it aside." He then recorded a few stratagems as specimens for anyone
in the future who might care to write a similar essay. He also included, in Parerga and Paralipomena,
Volume 2, 26, an outline of what is essential to every disputation.
The Manuscript Remains left after Schopenhauer's death include a fortysix page section on "Eristic
Dialectics". It contains thirtyeight stratagems and many footnotes. There is a preliminary discussion about
the distinction between logic and dialectics. E. F. J. Payne has translated these notes into English.[2]
A. C. Grayling edited T. Bailey Saunders' English translation in 2004.[3]
Synopsis
The following lists the 38 stratagems described by Schopenhauer, in
the order of their appearance in the book:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
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18.
19.
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21.
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23.
24.
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26.
27.
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29.
30.
31.
32.
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33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
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See also
Big Lie
Informal logic
Logical fallacies
Philosophical logic
Reasoning
Notes
1. `The Truth` by AC Grayling in The Art of Always Being Right: Thirty Eight Ways to Win When You Are Defeated,
(2004), Gibson Square Books, ISBN 1-903933-61-7
2. Arthur Schopenhauer, Manuscript Remains in Four Volumes, Edited by Arthur Hbscher, Translated by E.F.J. Payne,
Vol. III, "Berlin Manuscripts (1818-1830)," Berg, Oxford/New York/Munich, 1989, ISBN 0-85496-540-8
3. The Art of Always Being Right: Thirty Eight Ways to Win When You Are Defeated, (2004), Gibson Square Books,
ISBN 1-903933-61-7
References
Grayling, A. C. (2004) The Art of Always Being Right: Thirty Eight Ways to Win When You Are
Defeated ISBN 1-903933-61-7
Parerga und Paralipomena, 1851; English Translation by E. F. J. Payne, Clarendon Press, Oxford,
1974, Vol 2, ISBN 0-19-924221-6
Arthur Schopenhauer, Manuscript Remains, Volume III, English Translation by E. F. J. Payne, Berg
Publishers Ltd., ISBN 0-85496-540-8
External links
Online version (http://coolhaus.de/art-of-controversy/) from Coolhaus.de, translated by T. Bailey
Saunders in 1896. It shows the English translation parallel to the German text.
The Art of Being Right (https://librivox.org/search?title=The+Art+of+Being+Right&author=Schope
nhauer&reader=&keywords=&genre_id=0&status=all&project_type=either&recorded_language=&so
rt_order=catalog_date&search_page=1&search_form=advanced) public domain audiobook at
LibriVox
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Art_of_Being_Right&oldid=722901970"
Categories: Works by Arthur Schopenhauer
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