How to Win an Argument

5 weekly sessions online, on Tuesdays at 6 - 7.30pm, starting from Tuesday 10 November

Overview

This course comprises a weekly 1.5 hour live online meeting (via Teams) and online learning materials for you to engage with before and after each live session.

Do our lives have meaning? Are there moral rules? Does God exist? Does the world exist? Why is there something rather than nothing? These are questions typically associated with philosophy. But they are not the focus of this course. Rather, this course demonstrates how philosophical argument and analysis can help us in the everyday. How can philosophical method help you write your complaint letter? Is it better for my partner to mislead me than lie to me? Why should I listen when someone who smokes tells me not to smoke? Everyone on my social media feed seems to hold similar opinions to me, does that mean I’m right? Should I stop listening to my favourite band’s music because they did something bad? Can businesses be blamed and, if so, who should be punished? This course neither assumes nor requires any previous training or engagement with philosophy – all are welcome. The aim is to equip participants with the tools to assess, construct, and win arguments in everyday life.

Syllabus

Week 1. How to win an argument
Week 2. Calling out bullshit
Week 3. Everyday dilemmas
Week 4. Others and institutions
Week 5. Digital Life

Course lecturer

Harry Drummond completed his PhD in the Department of Philosophy at Liverpool in 2024. He has published work in aesthetics and the philosophy of mind, including on art and artificial intelligence, art and social institutions, art and social relations, art and eating, and art and architecture. Harry has taught a variety of philosophy courses for Continuing Education, from introductory courses covering philosophy generally all the way to how philosophy can help us ask and answer questions in contemporary crises such as war, pandemics, and injustice.

Course fee

Standard fee: £85
Concession fee: £45