eristic

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a person who disputes; who is good at or enjoys controversy
noun the art of logical disputation (especially if specious)
adjective given to disputation for its own sake and often employing specious arguments

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐριστικός (eristikós, “eager for strife”). See also Eris.

Its use is not confined, as people commonly suppose, to arguments in the law courts and speeches in the assembly; it is rather a part of the art of disputation, under which are included both the rules of Gorgias and the eristic of Zeno. — Phaedrus, Plato
And if any one assails you there, you would not mind him, or answer him, until you had seen whether the consequences which follow agree with one another or not, and when you are further required to give an explanation of this principle, you would go on to assume a higher principle, and a higher, until you found a resting-place in the best of the higher; but you would not confuse the principle and the consequences in your reasoning, like the Eristics--at least if you wanted to discover real existence. — Phaedo, Plato

disputant, controversialist

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