Living in a post-modern, information-rich world should lead us to more civility rather than less – thought this might be interesting to readers - Both Nietzsche and Brecht understood the temptations of arguing in rage, but did not follow their own prescriptions; we should learn from their example.
posted by hopefulmidlifer on Sep 21, 2011 - 30 comments

Idiot Legal Arguments: A Casebook for Dealing with Extremist Legal Arguments: A minimal compendium of legal citations to frivolous arguments.
posted by Falconetti on Nov 14, 2007 - 31 comments

No, I'm sorry, it does. There are some arguments that never end. John or Paul? "Another thing coming" or "Another think coming?" But none has the staying power of "Is 0.999999...., with the 9s repeating forever, equal to 1?" A high school math teacher takes on all doubters. Round 2. Round 3. Refutations of some popular "They're not equal" arguments. Refutations, round 2. You don't have to a mathematician to get in on the fun: .99999=1 discussed on a conspiracy theory website, an Ayn Rand website (where it is accused to violating the "law of identity"), and a World of Warcraft forum. But never, as far as I can tell, on MetaFilter.
posted by escabeche on Sep 30, 2007 - 256 comments

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About
posted by holloway on Apr 30, 2002 - 34 comments

The Quadratic Law of Resentment If you combine N people, there are N(N-1)/2 possible ways in which arguments can break out. [via A&LD] This seems rather salient to a site like Metafilter...
posted by rushmc on Jan 12, 2001 - 9 comments

I just posted a pretty weak link on unsound and fallacious arguments. Here's a better one. If you participate in debate on the net, you probably ought to read this, so you know *how* they're snowing you.
posted by baylink on Apr 25, 2000 - 2 comments