Philosophy

2 NOTES 1. PERSUASION. Public speaking or rhetoric is an art of persuasion. One must keep in mind that it is more important to win a person than to win the argument; therefore, humility, gentleness, and meekness count a lot. Jesus, when giving the call to discipleship, said “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). He made the learning situation easy and bereft of all egotistic tensions. How we treat the audience determines how they take us. An Indian maxim avers “Do not cut someone’s nose [i.e. insult him/her] and then give a rose to smell.” The speaker’s attitude speaks louder than his words. 2. IMPACT. “There are three kinds of speakers,” says Indian Christian Leader and International Speaker Dr. Matthew Thomas, “the first are those who speak from their intellect – they reach the intellect, the second are those who speak from their heart – they touch the heart, the third are those who speak...

Have you ever wondered what a heap really is? Well, I don't think so. But, let's look at this. Suppose you removed a grain of sand from a heap a sand, will it still remain a heap? Of course, it will. Now, you go on removing each grain of sand until you think you have removed that grain by which the heap stops to be a heap anymore. Oh, you say that is impossible. So how many grains does it actually take to make a heap? This is a kind of paradox of vagueness and is commonly referred to as the Sorites paradox. For more information check Sorites Paradox at SEP.