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Arguing With Emotion

Posted on March 9th, 2011 by Staks

Often times I use emotion and passion in my arguments. I find that when dealing with theists, this generally works best. But I think it is important to remain unemotional while doing it. To put it another way, one can argue with emotion while remaining unemotional.

People (especially religious people) tend to be swayed by emotion and passion, but the problem is that emotions can cloud rationality. This is why I think it is important to remain unemotional while arguing. I think it is important to not take anything personally and to remain calm and rational as long as it is done passionately.

Using passion and emotion in arguments is generally a good way to start the discussion because it gets attention and focus, but then it is important to transition that passion into rational discourse.

It is also important to monitor the level of emotion in the other party so that they are just passionate enough to keep focus, but don’t get so overly emotional that they can no longer think rationally. This can be tricky and different people have different thresholds.

When we lose out cool, then we have lost the argument. Theists often count on this and that is why many times they intentionally try to provoke anger and frustration in atheists. I will admit that in a recent argument in the comments of multiple Examiner articles, a particular Christian did get me frustrated to the point where I could no longer argue effectively. So it does happen but we have to try to be as patient as we can.

Luke: “But how am I to know the good side from the bad?”
Yoda: “You will know… when you are calm, at peace, passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.”