Philosopher Daniel H. Cohen studies language and the way we argue through reason.

Why you should listen

Philosopher Daniel H. Cohen specializes in argumentation theory, the study of how we use reason (both verbally and in social contexts) to put forth potentially controversial standpoints. Cohen goes beyond just looking at how we plain ol' argue and looks specifically at the metaphors we use for this systematic reasoning. In his work Cohen argues for new, non-combatative metaphors for argument.

Cohen is a Professor of Philosophy at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Daniel H. Cohen’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Daniel H. Cohen

Culture

The upside of losing an argument and/or being wrong

August 5, 2013

My last fight came after, of all things, the movie Pacific Rim.  As my moviegoing companion and I walked out of the theater, he said of Guillermo del Toro’s latest, “That was awesome.” I, on the other hand, thought it was just okay, managing to slightly elevate its robots-versus-aliens premise. At first, we slightly disagreed. […]

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Q&A

The best argument I ever had: A short Q&A with Daniel H. Cohen

August 5, 2013

Daniel H. Cohen argues for a good argument. In today’s talk, given at TEDxColbyCollege, Cohen asks us to set aside our goal of winning arguments in favor of gaining a greater appreciation for the legitimate points being made by the other person. In an effort to gain more appreciation for that argument, we asked Cohen […]

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