How to Think Logically, 2nd edition

Published by Pearson (July 28, 2011) © 2012

  • Gary Seay City University of New York
  • Susana Nuccetelli St. Cloud State University
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Concise Principles of Reasoning

Concise, yet covering all the basics of a 15-week course in informal logic or critical reasoning, this text engages students with a lively format and clear writing style. The small scale of the book keeps the cost low, a vital consideration in today’s economy, yet without compromising on logical rigor.

The author’s presentation strikes a careful balance: it offers clear, jargon-free writing while preserving rigor.  Brimming with numerous pedagogical features, this accessible text assists students with analysis, reconstruction, and evaluation of arguments and helps them become independent, analytical thinkers.  Introductory students are exposed to the basic principles of reasoning while also having their appetites whetted for future courses in philosophy.

Teaching and Learning Experience

Improve Critical Thinking - Abundant pedagogical aids -- including exercises and study questions within each chapter -- encourage students to examine their assumptions, discern hidden values, evaluate evidence, assess their conclusions, and more!

Engage Students - Chapter and section outlines, summaries, illustrative examples, special-emphasis boxes and key terms present new ideas in manageable-sized units of information so students can digest each concept before moving on to the next one, and ensure students key-in on crucial points to remember.

Support Instructors -Teaching your course just got easier!  You can create a Customized Text or use our Instructor’s Manual, or PowerPoint Presentation Slides.  Plus, this concise textbook contains only as much material as you can cover in a course, creating an affordable alternative you can assign with confidence to a cost-conscious student population.  Additionally, each chapter in How to Think Logically is designed as a self-contained unit so that you can choose the combination and order of chapters according to the needs of your courses; making the text a flexible base for courses in logic, critical thinking, and rhetoric.

IN THIS SECTION:

1.) BRIEF

2.) COMPREHENSIVE


BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF REASONING

Chapter One What Is Logical Thinking? And Why Should We Care?

Chapter Two Thinking Logically and Speaking One’s Mind

Chapter Three The Virtues of Belief

PART II: REASON AND ARGUMENT

Chapter Four Tips for Argument Analysis

Chapter Five Evaluating Deductive Arguments

Chapter Six Analyzing Inductive Arguments

PART III: INFORMAL FALLACIES

Chapter Seven Some Ways an Argument Can Fail

Chapter Eight Avoiding Ungrounded Assumptions

Chapter Nine From Unclear Language to Unclear Reasoning

Chapter Ten Avoiding Irrelevant Premises

PART IV: MORE ON DEDUCTIVE REASONING

Chapter Eleven Compound Propositions

Chapter Twelve Checking the Validity of Propositional Arguments

Chapter Thirteen Categorical Propositions and Immediate Inferences

Chapter Fourteen Categorical Syllogisms

Appendix: Summary of Informal Fallacies

Answers to Selected Exercises

Glossary/Index


COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF REASONING

Chapter One What Is Logical Thinking? And Why Should We Care?

1.1 The Study of Reasoning

1.2 Logic and Reasoning

1.3 What Arguments Are

1.4 Reconstructing Arguments

1.5 Arguments and Non-arguments

1.6 Chapter Summary

1.7 Key Words

Chapter Two Thinking Logically and Speaking One’s Mind

2.1 Rational Acceptability

2.2 Beyond Rational Acceptability

2.3 From Mind to Language

2.4 Indirect Use and Figurative Language

2.5 Definition: An Antidote to Unclear Language

2.6 Chapter Summary

2.7 Key Words

Chapter Three The Virtues of Belief

3.1 Belief, Disbelief, and Non-Belief

3.2 Beliefs’ Virtues and Vices

3.3 Accuracy and Truth

3.4 Reasonableness

3.5 Consistency

3.6 Conservatism and Revisability

3.7 Rationality vs. Irrationality

3.8 Chapter Summary

3.9 Key Words

PART II: REASON AND ARGUMENT

Chapter Four Tips for Argument Analysis

4.1 A Principled Way of Reconstructing Arguments

4.2 Missing Premises

4.3 Extended Arguments

4.4 Types of Reason

4.5 Norms and Argument

4.6 Chapter Summary

4.7 Key Words

Chapter Five Evaluating Deductive Arguments

5.1 Validity

5.2 Soundness

5.3 Cogency

5.4 Chapter Summary

5.5 Key Words

Chapter Six Analyzing Inductive Arguments

6.1 Reconstructing Inductive Arguments

6.2 Some Types of Inductive Argument

6.3 Evaluating Inductive Arguments

6.4 Chapter Summary

6.5 Key Words

PART III: INFORMAL FALLACIES

Chapter Seven Some Ways an Argument Can Fail

7.1 What Is a Fallacy?

7.2 Classification of Informal Fallacies

7.3 When Inductive Arguments Go Wrong

7.4 Chapter Summary

7.5 Key Words

Chapter Eight Avoiding Ungrounded Assumptions

8.1 Fallacies of Presumption

8.2 Begging the Question

8.3 Begging-the-Question-Against

8.4 Complex Question

8.5 False Alternatives

8.6 Accident

8.7 Chapter Summary

8.8 Key Words

Chapter Nine From Unclear Language to Unclear Reasoning

9.1 Unclear Language and Argument Failure

9.2 Semantic Unclarity

9.3 Vagueness

9.4 Ambiguity

9.5 Confused Predication

9.6 Chapter Summary

9.7 Key Words

Chapter Ten Avoiding Irrelevant Premises

10.1 Fallacies of Relevance

10.2 Appeal to Pity

10.3 Appeal to Force

10.4 Appeal to Emotion

10.5 Ad Hominem

10.6 Beside the Point

10.7 Straw Man

10.8 Is the Appeal to Emotion Always Fallacious?

10.9 Chapter Summary

10.10 Key Words

PART IV: MORE ON DEDUCTIVE REASONING

Chapter Eleven Compound Propositions

11.1 Argument as a Relation Between Propositions

11.2 Simple and Compound Propositions

11.3 Symbolizing Compound Propositions

11.4 Defining Connectives with Truth Tables

11.5 Truth Tables for Compound Propositions

11.6 Chapter Summary

11.7 Key Words

Chapter Twelve Checking the Validity of Propositional Arguments

12.1 Checking Validity with Truth Tables

12.2 Some Standard Argument Forms

12.3 Formal Fallacies

12.4 A Simplified Approach to Proofs of Validity

12.5 Chapter Summary

12.6 Key Words

Chapter Thirteen Categorical Propositions and Immediate Inferences

13.1 What Is a Categorical Proposition?

13.2 Venn Diagrams for Categorical Propositions

13.3 The Square of Opposition

13.4 Other Immediate Inferences

13.5 Chapter Summary

13.6 Key Words

Chapter Fourteen Categorical Syllogisms

14.1 What Is a Categorical Syllogism?

14.2 Syllogistic Argument Forms

14.3 Testing for Validity with Venn Diagrams

14.4 Distribution of Terms

14.5 Rules of Validity and Syllogistic Fallacies

14.6 Chapter Summary

14.7 Key Words

Appendix: Summary of Informal Fallacies

Answers to Selected Exercises

Glossary/Index

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