Argument - Quotes
I may accept every point in your argument, but will never agree with your inescapable conclusion.
The only necessary argument against believing in God is simply that there is no evidence that any gods exist. An atheist doesn`t need to justify her lack of belief any further.
If things go the believer`s way, it`s a sign of God`s grace and intervention; if they don`t, then God moves in mysterious ways, and maybe he has a lesson to teach that we don`t understand, and it`s not up to us to question his will. No matter what happens, it can be twisted to prove that the belief is right. That is a sure sign of a bad argument.
The strongest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter.
If you need to invoke your academic pedigree or job title for people to believe what you say, then you need a better argument.
In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that`s a really good argument; my position is mistaken", and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn`t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
When you`re reading or skimming argumentative essays, especially by philosophers, here is a quick trick that may save you much time and effort, especially in this age of simple searching by computer: look for "surely" in the document, and check each occurrence. Not always, not even most of the time, but often the word "surely" is as good as a blinking light locating a weak point in the argument.
The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
If someone doesn`t value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide that proves they should value evidence? If someone doesn`t value logic, what logical argument would you invoke to prove they should value logic?
When you come to look into this argument from design, it is a most astonishing thing that people can believe that this world, with all the things that are in it, with all its defects, should be the best that omnipotence and omniscience have been able to produce in millions of years.
When a man finds a conclusion agreeable, he accepts it without argument, but when he finds it disagreeable, he will bring against it all the forces of logic and reason.
All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.
Behind every kiss looms the secret desire for annihilation, for an ultimate happiness that is no longer in the mood for argument but knows that to be happy is to cease entirely and surrender to feeling.
Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of ignorance.
The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.