ingrained in your thinking the idea that arguments are like battles to be fought and won, and the loudest, most aggressive combatants win. Perhaps because of experiences like this, you now recoil at the thought of engaging in an argument. It is vital to understand that the conception of argumentation we just described is a misconception. Some people do indeed argue that way, but that isn’t what an argument is all about. Our definition of an argument is the process of giving a systematic account of