We argue when we want to give people good reasons to change what
they do or think. In school or the workplace, people argue
because they agree on a problem but not its solution. These
arguments are best when they are collaborative rather than
confrontational: the goal is not to have winners and losers but
to find good solutions to shared problems. When you make a
professional or academic argument, others expect you to give
them good reasons to change what they do or think because they
expect to be treated as rational agents who do and think things
because they believe they are right, not because they are forced
to (coercion), lied to (propaganda), or paid off (negotiation).
People make arguments when they want to change what others do or
think. We engage in casual argument all the time. When you hear
the word argument, you might envision politicians trading
criticisms to "win" public support, or debaters trying to win a
contest, or a couple fighting about whose turn it is to do the
dishes. But you should not