Bulverism

In this essay Lewis explains that "you must show that a man is wrong before you start explaining why he is wrong." What he is saying is that you can't just start rattling off reasons why a person is wrong based on motive or the person. You must first work out the problem yourself and prove he is wrong first. Then you must state the reasons why he is wrong. Using motive or other emotions to say someone is wrong is not valid.

Most arguments now are not even argued on the original argument. They instead try to win the argument by bashing each other. I was playing a game online and one player wasn't as good as the others. He was told that he wasn't good. He then began to try to defend himself by insulting the other player. This went on back and forth of insult after insult and they didn't accomplish anything. They never addressed the issue, but instead shot insults back and forth.

Lewis points out how bulverism is used today in many different ways. Politics for example is a big issue. Instead of addressing the issue they just bash each other and the winner is whoever was able withstand the verbal beating the best. Bulverism today needs to be stopped and be replaced with real argument.