Author Colin Marshall in conversation with José Jorge Mendoza

Just Hear Me Out

A guide to persuasion for people who want to change minds without manipulation or coercion.

Most of us have given up on persuasion. We say our problems are too pressing, people are too polarized, and success is too dubious—and it’s true! After all, when was the last time you heard someone actually change their mind? To improve our persuasive powers, self-help books often ask us to stoop to dishonest, manipulative tricks that rarely achieve lasting results. But perhaps there is a way to persuade people that is neither hopelessly misguided nor morally suspect.

Colin Marshall is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington, where he teaches classical German philosophy and the ethics of persuasion. His previous books include Compassionate Moral Realism and the edited volume, Comparative Metaethics. Raised in the high desert of northern New Mexico, he loves Seattle's trees, water, and more grungy coffee shops. Marshall's persuasive skills come mainly from teaching, political phone-banking, and parenting two persuasion-resistant young children.

José Jorge Mendoza is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Washington. He is book review editor at Radical Philosophy Review, treasurer for the Society for Mexican American Philosophy (SMAP), and author of The Moral and Political Philosophy of Immigration: Liberty, Security, and Equality (Lexington Books 2017). He has published extensively on the philosophy of migration and on philosophy of race. His current research centers on migration ethics, Latinx identity, and racial justice.