Evening star., 1952-09-07
Applied Philosophy
Schopenhouer Outlined 1t 100 Years Ago,
Politicians Still Take 1t to Heart
By William Hines

With the great national rhubarb
now officially under way, the question
arises whether the tactics of the op-
posing candidates are the proper ones
to bring about the desired result,
namely, the achievement Of the presi-
dency Of the United States. Obvi-
ously, one set of tactics must be
wrong, since one of the two candi-
dates is doomed to defeat.
Conceivably. single set Of tactics
could be used by both, with one still
winning and one still losing. Then
the matter would boil down to one
mans meat being another mans
poison-a point that is so far up in
the stratosphere of political philos-
ophy that it is difficult to discern,
even by radar. Or perhaps both can
didates are going about it wrong: yet
one will win anyway. This would be
a case Of one mans poison being an
other mans meat-an even more diff
fuse idea than the first one.
Arthur Schopenhauer, were he
alive today. undoubtedly could make
it all crystal clear. What is more, If
Schopenhauer were managing the
campaign of one of the candidates,
that candidate could relax, do as he
was told. and be as certain of moving
into the White House next January
20 as Harry Truman is of moving out.
A Confirmed Cynic
Schopenhauer was one of the most
coldly cynical men ever to curl lip
at the human race. Just about 100
years ago he put the finishing
touches on short philosophical
work called '"The Art of Controversy"
This 10,000-word essay examines man
as he is and advises him that, being
such contemplate creature, he
might as well make the best of it.
1.-THE Art Of Controversy" tells him
how.
What Schopenhauer does is out
line about 80 ways of winning an
argument. Only one is valid, decent
and honest. But many Of the other
38 are far more effective. We have
already seen. in this campaign, many
of Schopenhauer's 38 illegitimate
strategems put to work; we shall see
more as things work around toward
election day. Perhaps We may even
see few isolated examples of the
honorable one-the politicians ad-
dressing themselves to the issues and
dealing factually with the facts. But
humans being as cussed as Schopen-
hauer finds them to be, the 80 in
valid arguments probably will per-
Suade more voters than the single
valid one.
The Loaded Statement
AS an example, Schopenhauer
points out that much can be done
toward making point by carefully
choosing ones words, or by loading"
the statement. A disinterested COM
mentator with no ak to grind, he
says, would. refer to public wor-
ship" or a. System or religion" An
adherent of the faith would speak
Of .piety" and "godliness', and an
opponent would say "bigotry'''.. and
"superstitution." The non-Roman
sects call themselves Protestants and
. the Catholics call them heretics, he
goes on. 1t all depends on where you
sit.
We have seen this carried over to
politics many times already. What
President Truman calls the Fair
Deal" is referred to by Gov. Nc
Keldin Of Maryland as the Mink
Dynasty" Col. Mccormick calls his
incipient political group the "Ameri- .
can Party" His foes call it the party
Of reaction or "neo-Fascist clique"
What the Democrats term the Tru-
man administration the Republicans
call the mess in Washington. What
is 100 per cent Americanism to cne
man is McCarthyism to another.
But choosing your terms in order