"Instructive and entertaining."-Wall Street Journal
Learn how to argue from the masters. This book is a complete course on the art of argument, taught by the greatest practitioners of it: Churchill, Lincoln, and hundreds of others from the golden age of debate in England and America.
The book's concise chapters provide lessons in all aspects of give and take-the syllogism and the slippery slope, the argumentum ad hominem and reductio ad absurdum, the fallacy and the insult. Ward Farnsworth shows how the full range of such techniques can be used or repelled, and illustrates them with examples that are fascinating, instructive, and fun to read.
The result is a browsable reference in which every page is a pleasure. It will leave you better able to win arguments and to defend yourself under fire. It's also an entertaining reminder that argument can be a source of beauty and delight. As Farnsworth says of the illustrations, they show talented advocates "crossing analytical swords and exchanging abuse when those things were done with more talent and dignity than is common today. They made argument a spectator sport of lasting value and interest."
Farnsworth's Classical English Argument is the fourth book in a series about the ideas and methods embedded in the best speech and writing of an earlier time. Previous titles in the series are Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric, Farnsworth's Classical English Metaphor, and Farnsworth's Classical English Style. Each book is a treasury of insight and an essential reference for all users of language.
Table of Contents:
Farnsworth’s Classical English Argument
Offense and Defense
Insult and Invective
Irony
Demand and Response
Belligerence
Justifying Aggression
Deploying Emotion
Antidotes to Aggression and Emotion
Ethos
Humility
Magnanimity
Empathy and Related Uses of Imagination
Inference and Fallacy
Deduction and Induction
Circularity
Ad Hominem Arguments
More Fallacies
Reductio ad Absurdum
Slippery Slopes
Consistency
Abuses and Exceptions
Abduction and Related Forms of Inference
Causation
Judgments and Tradeoffs
Burden of Proof
Bias
Weighing Evidence
Costs and Benefits
Choice of Evils
Compromise and Degree
Moderation and Concession
Interpretation
Words
Illustration
Futility
About the Author :
Ward Farnsworth is Professor and W. Page Keeton Chair at the University of Texas School of Law. He is author of The Socratic Method, The Practicing Stoic, and the Farnsworth Classical English series which includes Argument, Rhetoric, Metaphor, and Style-all published by Godine.
Review :
Praise for Farnsworth’s Classical English Argument
“Mr. Farnsworth explains, among many other things, how the most gifted controversialists have used irony and humility in debates, deployed legitimate ad hominem arguments and countered fallacious ones, counseled caution and urged immediate action, and shifted the burden of proof to their opponents. . . . An instructive and entertaining measure of what we’ve lost.”
—Wall Street Journal
“A master class on the art of argument from someone who grades them for a living. You should need a permit to carry it.”
—Senator John Cornyn (R-TX)
“In this brilliant and useful book, Professor Farnsworth brings the spirit of the Stoics to public discourse. It’s a set of lessons for the ages—in analysis, rhetoric, civility and wit.”
—Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO)
“The man who composed and orchestrated Farnsworth’s Classical English Argument and its three preceding volumes, is among the few living Americans I know who qualify as truly learned—beyond erudite, deeper, subtler, of greater breadth and wider culture.”
—Claremont Review of Books
“It’s delightful to be reminded of the expressiveness, the pertinence, and the close reasoning that once typified political and literary argument....The clinical perspective we get from the temporal distance is a distinct gain in objectivity, but the biggest advantage is in enhanced eloquence. By hearkening back to the golden age, we see nimbler minds that are comfortable handling words and ideas. We’re truly observing speakers ‘with all the best words.’ ”
—Bryan A. Garner, Los Angeles Review of Books
