The Argument Ninja Podcast

If we think of rational persuasion as a martial art, what kind of martial art should it be? In this episode I argue that a mixed martial arts approach is the only one that makes sense. But there’s a problem. Philosophical principles play an obvious and important role in traditional martial arts practices, like Taekwondo. They don’t seem to play an important role in mixed martial arts (or if they do, it’s not obvious.) An MMA program for Argument Ninjas needs a philosophy grounded in core critical thinking principles. In this episode I explore these issues. - The clash of martial arts styles and the emergence of mixed martial arts - Taekwondo as an example of a traditional martial art - Rules of Taekwondo sparring - Why would anyone choose to train in a single martial art style? - Lessons learned from sparring and competition - Examples of Taekwondo philosophy - What would a philosophy of mixed martial arts (MMA) look like? - Bruce Lee’s influence on MMA - Bruce Lee’s philosophy of martial arts -...

When is it worth your time to try to have a rational conversation with someone? When should you give up? What are the conditions that have to be satisfied for a rational conversation to even be possible? That's the topic of this episode. Overview: - the problem that Sam Harris is struggling with - a Q&A question from Essi on what to do when people “just don’t get it” - my original answer to the question “what conditions must be satisfied to have a rational conversation with someone?” - my first amendment: (1) what to do after you’ve recognized that there’s a problem - my second amendment: (2) what to do in light of the fact that our capacity to reason comes in degrees - my latest video course project (“Is Your Brain a Computer?”) and how you can get early access to those videos

In this episode we look at persuasion through the eyes of seduction experts and the pickup artist community. - why critical thinking educators need to talk about persuasion - why scientific rationality is a social achievement that takes effort and vigilance to maintain - preparing students for life outside the dojo - summarizing our list of persuasion topics - Ross Jeffries as pioneer of the seduction community - NLP, hypnosis and "speed seduction" - Tom Cruise, Frank T.J. Mackey, and "Seduce and Destroy" - the seduction community's approach to the science of persuasion - the difficulty of answering the question "does it work?"

If I was asked to teach a graduate seminar in the philosophy and methods of persuasion, how would I organize the content? What would my syllabus look like? In this episode I answer that question, and start working my way down the syllabus (we cover the first two items in this episode). Here are the topic categories on my syllabus: 1. people skills 2. selling and marketing skills 3. seduction skills (including "pickup artist" skills) 4. magic and mind reading skills 5. confidence games and the skills of the con artist 6. persuasion in advertising 7. persuasion in politics 8. persuasion in the internet age 9. power and propaganda Topics discussed in this episode: - Dumbledore gets it. Why Hogwarts needs a "Defense Against the Dark Arts" class. - the science and practice of persuasion is not a unified thing - Robert Cialdini's six principles of influence, and the nature of his research project - persuasion practices as guilds, and the guild mentality - "people skills": how to make people like you - Dale...

In this episode I explore reasons why standard critical thinking textbooks say almost nothing about the psychology of human reasoning and persuasion. Topics include: - argumentation as rhetoric vs argumentation as tool for philosophical reasoning - why Plato was so hard on the Sophists - what it was like being socialized into philosophy as a student - the martial arts training hall as a ritualized space - why the classroom is like a dojo for training in the martial art of rational argumentation - understanding the rules inside the dojo vs the rules outside the dojo - argumentation and the dream of universal reason - why critical thinking needs both approaches to argumentation

Is it ever okay to intentionally use unconscious persuasion techniques to get people to like you? We explore this case study in the ethics of persuasion as we follow Derek and Carla on a lunch date. We also discuss persuasion ninjas Dale Carnegie and Robert Cialdini's principles for getting someone to like you, and lessons from South Park on how to get bigger tips.

In this episode I talk about the relationship between critical thinking and rational persuasion, and why, even though I identify as a critical thinking educator, and I have a website called The Critical Thinker Academy, the focus of this podcast is rational persuasion, rather than critical thinking more broadly. In this episode I push the martial arts theme a little further, and give some reasons to think of rational persuasion as a martial art. And finally, I give an example that illustrates the distinction I want to draw between rational argumentation and rational persuasion.

Welcome and introduction to the show. What has drawn me out of podcast retirement to start a new show. Scott Adams on Donald Trump, and the sorry state of political discourse today. Why critical thinking education needs both a theory of how we ought to reason, and a theory of how we in fact reason. Reasons to think of rational persuasion as a martial art.