To want to know the names for the rhetorical devices used on this forum.

[ringle]

Is anyone good at this stuff?

The ones that interest me in particular are:

"OP: I assert Xxxx
Poster: I disagree because of personal experience Y.
OP: you seem to imply that XXXX. Therefore you are zzzz and I give your opinion no weight"

I think people doing classics/Latin used to get taught names for these things? Maybe there is a dummies guide.

There's a great little book by Jamie Whyte called Bad Thoughts: A Guide To Clear Thinking, that I really liked. Amazon has this to say about it:

‘Philosopher Jamie Whyte exposes respectable bigots, priests and politicians in his guide to spotting bogus reasoning. This book lists the crimes against logic used to gain our votes, money and devotion – or simply to change the subject – in a witty and contentious appeal for the application of reason to public and private debate.

"The young men who frequent picture palaces
Have no use for psychoanalysis.
And although Dr Freud
Is greatly annoyed
They cling to their long-standing fallacies."

I always think that a good limerick is the clearest explanation.

Begging the question:

One of the premises involves an assumption having been made based on the conclusion being correct.

e.g. of course I wouldn't tell you to do something that was bad for you, because I only tell you to do things that are good for you. So if I tell you to do something it must be good for you.

Philosophy is great for learning how to argue and how not to argue.

Rubbish, I like that explanation.
Could you define premise also (if you don't mind).

Psychoanalysis would rhyme better with phalluses for starters.....

Book sounds good.timewise it's more realistic than taking a course for me as well.

Hi ringle

A premise is a statement used as the basis of an argument. Putting premises together allows you to draw a conclusion.

You can dispute the premises of an argument, or you can dispute that the conclusion follows on from them.

ok I think I get it. it is odd saying that because these are words I am used to, but I've never had to think about them systematically.

So - an argument is a .... a proferred conclusion? a possible conclusion?

I like the idea of combining the premises being the first step.