The Art of Controversy (or: The Art of Being Right)

The Art of Controversy (or The Art of Being Right) (Die Kunst, Recht zu Behalten) is a short treatise written in 1831 by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in which he presents thirty-eight methods of gaining an unfair advantage in a debate and thereby being right even if you are wrong. Schopenhauer champions the virtue of dialectical argument, in his view wrongly neglected by philosophers in favour of logic, and goes on to discuss the distinction between our conscious intellectual powers and our will. The text is a favourite of debaters including the philosophers AC Grayling and Mary Warnock, and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. (Summary by Carl Manchester) (3 hr 13 min)

Chapters

Preliminary: Logic and Dialectic	24:38	Read by Carl Manchester
The Basis of All Dialectic	4:52	Read by Carl Manchester
Stratagems 1 to 10	15:59	Read by Carl Manchester
Stratagems 11 to 20	9:29	Read by Carl Manchester
Stratagems 21 to 30	19:03	Read by Carl Manchester
Stratagems 31 to 38	14:04	Read by Carl Manchester
On the comparative place...	22:31	Read by Carl Manchester
Psychological Observations	17:40	Read by Carl Manchester
On the Wisdom of Life: Aphorisms	36:51	Read by Carl Manchester
Genius and Virtue	28:24	Read by Carl Manchester

Reviews

be the one

(5 stars)

Ejmin

if you want to debate and win no matter what read this book. it will guide you how to argue and cope with any challenges your opponent comes up with. the only thing that you should know if you want this to be efficent is to practice as much as you can to develop these methods in your subconscious mind. By the way, a friendly reminder, be honest with yourself first, are you absolutely sure that you are right or you just want to win this debate? if you are then go for it.

Amazing

(5 stars)

Cameron

A wonderful reading, not to be argued :)

(5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

Pretty good book. The speaker did a good job at recreating the book audioly. There are no weird plause nor stumbling of words. Great audio book overall💪💪💪

Wonderful

(5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

Best to listen when you have maximum time to unpack all of the gems contained herein. Distracted listening will take many times to digest.

i havint red meny books but this has trooth

(5 stars)

Fudite

(5 stars)

Bobby Maxwell

First rate, all round! Librivox is a true gem! May it thrive and live long! Truly, the people's source for audio books! Shout it from the rooftops! I do!

great book and reading

(5 stars)

Camilo

very true on human nature, great insight especially on the nature of understanding and genious