The Positive Purposes of Arguments

It is not easy to master the skills of identifying and constructing arguments. As a coach, I
have dealt with different kinds of players, and I remember a team that I had three years ago,
which treated arguments as a kind of war. It was hard dealing with this team because they never
seemed to agree on anything. It became more complicated when they would have to train alone
in my absence. They would spend half the time arguing, and a few times, it would result in war.
When an argument results in a kind of war, people start imposing their opinions on others.
Everyone wants his or her opinion to count. The problem is that it becomes very hard to have a
meaningful conclusion. Even though very few arguments have nothing at all to recommend
(Hardy et al., 2015). There is usually a strength of an argument, even with the possibility of
many weaknesses. In this particular team, this approach was time-consuming, as it was hard to
agree on an issue. However, they came up with very many brilliant ideas, which after
implementing, made us shine in the field.
Politics is one area where I have experienced people treating arguments as a kind of
performance. In politics, arguments are the vehicle that we often use to receive information about
political candidates on issues that will affect the electorate directly. I pay close attention to
arguments made in politics. They are usually rhetorical in nature; they use appeals to ethos,
pathos, and logos so that they can persuade the electorate (Hardy et al., 2015). Political speeches
use logical arguments, and as a voter, I have the advantage of being knowledgeable as I am
better placed to distinguish good reasoning from the emotional appeal and mere persuasion. In
this case, arguments are a kind of a performance as I get to listen and evaluate facts from fiction
based on the delivered speeches. I found this approach effective because I acquired knowledge
on the most suitable candidate for me, and was able to make an informed choice when it was

time to cast my vote. As politicians present their arguments, the electorate has time to ponder on
the information being relayed and thus able to elect leaders that will make our country a better
place.
It is better to treat arguments as a venue for learning because it makes it possible to give
people the benefit of the doubt and let them hold onto their opinions without necessarily judging
them. learning from arguments is referred to as the principle of charity (Hardy et al., 2015).
Some of the good character traits in this instance would be to avoid emotional and verbally
heated discussion. If we live our lives according to this approach, we benefit as we are able to
listen from both sides of the argument before we can offer our opinions. Listening to both sides
enhances our thinking, opens our minds to view the argument more critically and objectively. we
give room for constructive criticism, and we are better placed to handle situations better.
Through criticism, we are able to look at things in a different way, and this could have
significant benefits in the long run.

References

Hardy, J., Foster, C., & Zúñiga y Postigo, G. (2015). With good reason: A guide to critical
thinking. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/