Claim: The best test of an argument is its ability to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint

Reason: Only by being forced to defend an idea against the doubts and contrasting views of other does one really discover the value of the idea.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which this claim is based.

Human thinking is not homogeneous. Different people have disparate views on things. The most conspicuous of them is within our democracy, the right-wing Republicans and the left-wing Liberals. The prompt claims that the best’ test’ of an argument is its ability to ‘convince’ someone with an opposing viewpoint. The reason being, that when we only discover the ‘value of an idea’ when we defend our idea against the opposition. The claim and the reasoning are filled with equivocal words, which makes his claim weak. Hence, I cannot fully agree with him.

To begin, let us look at ‘ the best test of an argument’- the validity of the argument is solely dependent on convincing someone with an opposing view. It is specious because the audience needs to clarify. It is easier to convince someone who is not good at critical thinking by providing misleading, incomplete facts. Although the person might convince the opposition with his flawed reasoning, his argument is not valid. To elucidate, when I was five, my mother has convinced me that the banyan tree was haunted. She supported her claim stating that her sister had experienced…