Opening the Doors to the

Arguments Clinic

You may well have been brought up not to argue. At school

you were probably encouraged to sit quietly and write down

facts — I was. When I was five, one teacher even used sticky

tape to shut children’s mouths up in class! (Yes, I was one of

them.) Since then I’ve had some very enlightened teachers,

who encouraged me to use my imagination, to solve some

problems or do research. But still not to argue.

So welcome to a very different way of seeing the world —

Critical Thinking. This is truly the ‘arguments clinic’ in which

punters can pay for either 5‐minute or hour‐long arguments

(as the famous Monty Python sketch has it). No, it isn’t. Yes

it is. Still say that it isn’t? But, yes it is! (If you like, check out

Chapter 17 now to discover ten of the world’s most influential

arguments — don’t worry, I’ll still be here when you get back!)

Of course, as the sketch says, this isn’t proper argument at

all, merely contradiction: nothing like a connected series of

statements intended to establish a proposition. If an ability to

contradict people is all you come away with after reading this

book then you, like the man in the sketch, would be entitled

to your money back. Don’t worry, here you will find so many

new ways of looking at issues that you’ll soon be having the

full, hour‐long arguments on everything under the sun.

My aim by the end of this section is to give you the big picture

of Critical Thinking