Preface: Why I Wrote This Book xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Our Cultural Rut 1
How Did We Get Here? 4
How Do We Get Out of Here? 5
Part I Why To Argue
1. So Close and Yet So Far 11
What Is Polarization? 13
Are the Poles Moving Apart? 16
Can't We at Least Agree on the Facts? 18
Do You Hate Your Opponents? 20
Has the Epidemic Gone Global? 22
2. Toxic Talk 25
Can We Be Civil, Please? 25
Who Doesn't Like a Good Caricature? 27
Are We All Crazy Clowns? 28
Are Insults Funny? 30
How Low Can We Go? 32
Is Europe Civilized? 34
How Much Is Too Much? 38
3. The Sound of Silencing 40
Why Try? 40
Where Did You Hear That? 41
Why Ask? 43
So What? 44
Isn't Silence Soothing? 46
4. What Arguments Can Do 48
Who Is the Slave? 48
Is There Any Hope? 52
What Do We Get Out of Arguing? 55
Learning 56
Respect 57
Humility 58
Abstraction 60
Compromise 61
Where Do We Stand Now? 63
Intermission: From Why To How
5. Why to Learn How to Argue 67
Do You Want to Make a Deal? 67
Will Your Wishes Come True? 68
Can You Trust Representatives? 69
Should You Turn Over a New Leaf? 71
Can We Get Better? 72
Part II How To Argue
6. How to Spot Arguments 77
How Much Would You Pay for an Argument? 77
What Is an Argument? 80
What Purposes Do Arguments Serve? 82
When Is an Argument (Being Given)? 84
7. How to Stop Arguments 88
Can We Stop Soon? 88
What If We Can't Stop? 91
How Can We Stop? 93
Guarding 93
Assuring 99
Evaluating 101
Discounting 104
How Can Words Work Together? 107
8. How to Complete Arguments 117
Which Arguments Are Valid? 117
When Is Validity Formal? 120
What Makes Arguments Sound? 122
What Are You Assuming? 122
Do These Methods Scale Up? 126
Without Argument 127
Justification 128
Explanation 137
9. How to Evaluate Arguments 142
Was Sherlock Holmes a Master of Deduction? 143
What's So Great about Deduction? 147
How Strong Are You? 149
How Do I Induce Thee? Let Me Count the Ways 151
How Can Dates and Polls Go So Wrong? 154
Generalization 155
Application 158
Why Did That Happen? 160
Hussein's Tubes 163
Part III How Not To Argue
10. How to Avoid Fallacies 173
What Do You Mean? 174
Double Entendre 174
Slip Sliding Away 178
Can I Trust You? 183
Attacking People 184
Questioning Authority 187
Have We Gotten Anywhere Yet? 194
Is That All? 197
11. How to Refute Arguments 200
Does the Exception Prove the Rule? 201
Is This Absurdity Made of Straw? 204
What Is Just Like Arguing …? 206
Conclusion: Rules to Live By 214
Notes 217
Index 229