Mood and Mind! The Key

Argue.  Society does this frequently. Most of the people have no idea of how to do it, and what tricks and tips they should use.

In this chapter Heinrichs talks on how to “distinguish an argument [to] a fight” (15).  Before reading this chapter I thought that between arguing and fighting there was a no difference. This is a thing most of the human kind think, which is wrong.  

It is very different to have a fight than to have an argument, “you fight to win; you argue to achieve agreement” (17). Most of the time when two people don’t agree in some conflict they start to argue on who is right. After giving certain arguments they end up shouting at each other and leading themselves to a fight. This is something Heinrichs writes about. To win the argument one should manipulate the opponent’s feelings and thoughts. Most of the time the opponent has very unclear the concept of rhetoric, therefore you can manipulate him/her without them even noticing.

When arguing one should have clear what they want to do with their opponent. Do they want to “change their mood, their mind, or their willingness to carry out what you want?” (26). When having this clear one can start convincing the opponent, that what they are thinking is wrong, however what you think is right.

Knowing how to argue can safe a lot of problems. Being good at this is very important. Wining an argument can get people out of the way quicker. Some people know how to argue naturally, for those who don’t they should learn. When you are good at this you can manipulate people’s mind, making them think like you and do the things you want them to do. If you are good at this you can manipulate your opponent’s mind without them even noticing.

Arguing includes all the modes of rhetoric. You unconsciously apply all of them during your personal “battle”. You manipulate the opponents mind with logos; feelings with pathos and you convince the opponent with ethos. Throughout the book Heinrichs will specify and give tips for each mode.

I thought this was no big deal, but like everything in life, this has its tricks and tips that help you manipulate making you get what you want.