ERISTIC

Eristic

Eristic, from the ancient Greek word eris meaning "wrangle" or "strife", often refers to a type of argument where the participants fight and quarrel without any reasonable goal. According to T. H. Irwin, "1t is characteristic of the eristic to think of some arguments as way of defeating the other side, by showing that an opponent must assent to the negation of what he initially took himself to believe." That is, eristic arguments focus on being right, or being perceived as right or compelling. The aim usually is to win the argument and/or to engage in a conflict for the sole purpose of wasting time through arguments, not to ...

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eristic

Noun

  1. One who makes specious arguments; one who is is disputatious.
  2. A type of dialogue or argument where the participants do not have any reasonable goal. The aim is to argue for the sake of conflict, and often to see who can yell the loudest.

Adjective

  1. Of something or someone provoking strife, controversy or discord.
    A specimen of admirable special pleading in the court of eristic logic. — Coleridge.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: eristic
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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