How do you get people to do what you want?
Short of force, ultimate sex appeal, or some other extreme behavior or quality, our most common tool is language. The use of words to influence each other. What I’d like to discuss today is the various ways in which we do that; to make ourselves conscious of them. What comes into play? From tone, to body language, grammar, or timing, there are many ways of getting your wishes across. Some of us are better at it than others, and some of us may even be trained in it.
Is it fair to call this manipulation? And if so, is it fair to call manipulation bad? Would we behave differently if we didn’t use words?
Let’s talk about the art and morality of everyday human communication.
EXISTENTIAL TUESDAYS
Existential Tuesdays are small weekly* lunch discussions in the Nook of the TUD Library. Practice your critical thinking skills, learn to see the world from different perspectives, and hang out with your fellow deep thinkers in Delft.
Interested in other events in the Nook? Sign up for the newsletter to find out what else we’re planning.
* no sessions during exam weeks or study weeks
Explore SG’s and the TUD Library’s related events this quarter on the theme: Language x Power
The stories we tell construct our reality, shaping our minds and the way we see the world, ourselves, and each other. But who wrote these stories, and to what end? Are we telling ourselves tales to liberate or dominate, to hope or despair? Can we tell those stories differently? And if so, what would we change?
11 Feb 12:45 | Existential Tuesday: What is language? @ TUD Library, the Nook
18 Feb 12:45 | Existential Tuesday: What would life look like in a scientific dictatorship? @TUD Library, the Nook
25 Feb 12:45 | Existential Tuesday: How do you become wise? @ TUD Library, the Nook
27 Feb 12:45 | Writing Huddle: Body Language @ TUD Library, the Nook
27 Feb – 27 May | Exhibition ‘In the Beginning was the’ @ TUD Library Hall
27 Feb 16:00 | Exhibition Opening Reception
3 March 20:30u | SG’s Critical Mass: Kolonialisme en taal: wie claimt het verhaal? @ Theater de Veste (in Dutch)
4 March 12:45 | Existential Tuesday: What is our culture’s grand narrative? @ TUD Library, the Nook
11 March 12:45 | Existential Tuesday: Why do we divide the world into opposites? @ TUD Library, the Nook
13 March 16:30-18:30 | Politics of the Unsaid | Negation x Writing Workshop @ TUD Library
18 March 12:45 | Existential Tuesday: Why does eye contact get weird? @ TUD Library, the Nook
25 March 12:45 | Existential Tuesday: How do you manipulate people with words? @ TUD Library, the Nook
20 March 19:00 | Documentary Film night | The Mindscape of Alan Moore | VOX Film Club @ TUD Library
29 March SG’s festival For Love of the World @ Theater de Veste
