Gamesmanship of the mind
From our UK edition
Not a manual for omniscience; rather the aim is always to appear right, whether you are or not. Schopenhauer wants to keep the crooked in ‘straight and crooked thinking’, when most books on arguments assume that we should try to eliminate it. This assumption hides a value judgment as to what arguments are for. Is it a matter of winning — getting others to admit that they’re wrong and we’re right — or is it about finding the truth — getting to the right answer? It’s not obvious that the truth is always more important than winning. A good logical argument might convince no one; a bad illogical argument might convince everyone. One could just hope that this isn’t so.