In
philosophy and
rhetoric,
eristic (from
Eris, the ancient Greek
goddess of chaos, strife, and discord) refers to
argument that aims to successfully dispute another's argument, rather than searching for
truth. According to T.H. Irwin, "It is characteristic of the eristic to think of some arguments as way of defeating the other side, by showing that an opponent must assent to the negation of what he initially took himself to believe." Eristic is arguing for the sake of conflict, as opposed to resolving conflict.