Critical Reasoning

by Cederblom, Jerry; Paulsen, David

• ISBN13: 9780534605070
• ISBN10: 0534605079
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-19
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Did you know that mastering a few theories can help you make better choices and be more successful? CRITICAL REASONING shows you how to use easy-to-understand logical principles to solve problems in real-world situations. And, because it's loaded with examples from newspapers and popular essays, this textbook has all the interesting illustrations that will keep you turning pages. Study tools, review help, and easily understood concepts help you review and prepare for tests.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Deciding What to Believe	1	(18)
Critical Reasoning Versus Passive Reading or Listening	2	(1)
Critical Reasoning Versus Mere Disagreement	3	(1)
The Attitude of the Critical Reasoner	4	(1)
Critical Reasoning as a Cooperative Enterprise	5	(1)
Some Common Misconceptions About Critical Reasoning	6	(1)
Benefits of Critical Reasoning	7	(1)
Exercise 1.1 Taking Notice of Disagreements and Reasoning	8	(1)
The Main Techniques of Critical Reasoning	8	(11)
Exercise 1.2 A Beginning Step: Identifying Main Points and Supporting Points	13	(6)
The Anatomy of Arguments: Identifying Premises and Conclusions	19	(24)
The Key to Identification: Seeing What Is Supported by What	22	(1)
Clues to Identifying Argument Parts: Indicator Words	23	(4)
Exercise 2.1 Techniques for Marking the Parts of Arguments	25	(2)
What to Do When There Are No Indicator Words: The Principle of Charitable Interpretation	27	(4)
Exercise 2.2 Using the Principle of Charitable Interpretation to Pick Out Premises and Conclusions in Arguments Without Explicit Indicator Words	29	(2)
Patterns of Argument	31	(7)
Exercise 2.3 Using Argument Patterns to Pick Out Premises and Conclusions in Arguments Without Explicit Indicator Words	35	(3)
Identifying Premises and Conclusions in Longer Passages	38	(5)
Exercise 2.4 Reconstructing Explicit Arguments in Longer Passages	40	(3)
Understanding Arguments Through Reconstruction	43	(36)
Understanding Arguments by Identifying Implicit Conclusions	44	(2)
Understanding Arguments by Identifying Implicit Premises	46	(2)
Adding Both Conclusion and Premises	48	(1)
Guidelines and Warnings in Adding Implicit Premises and Conclusions	49	(12)
Exercise 3.1 Recognizing Argument Patterns and Adding Implicit Premises, Conclusions, or Both	53	(8)
Moving to Real-World Discourse	61	(5)
Exercise 3.2 Simplification and Paraphrasing: Making a First Approximation	63	(3)
Finding an Argument in a Sea of Words	66	(13)
Exercise 3.3 Putting All This into Practice	72	(7)
Evaluating Arguments: Some Basic Questions	79	(33)
When Does the Conclusion Follow from the Premises?	81	(12)
Exercise 4.1 Showing Invalidity	92	(1)
When Should the Premises Be Accepted As True?	93	(4)
Exercise 4.2 Casting Doubt on Premises	96	(1)
Sample Appraisals: Examples of Techniques of Criticism	97	(6)
Exercise 4.3 Distinguishing the Validity of an Argument (That Is, Whether the Conclusion Follows) from the Truth of Its Premises	101	(2)
Some Special Cases: Arguments That We Should or Should Not Do Something	103	(4)
The Rationale for Using These Critical Techniques	107	(5)
Exercise 4.4 Criticizing Arguments	108	(4)
When Does the Conclusion Follow? A More Formal Approach to Validity	112	(29)
Exercise 5.1 Formalizing	114	(2)
Statements Containing Logical Connectives: When Are They True? When Are They False?	116	(6)
Exercise 5.2 Evaluating Statements	121	(1)
Truth Tables As a Test for Validity	122	(7)
Exercise 5.3 Truth Tables	127	(2)
Representing Structures Within Statements: Predicates and Quantifiers	129	(5)
(Optional) A More Formal Way of Representing Statements with Quantifiers	134	(2)
Exercise 5.4 Venn Diagrams	135	(1)
A Glimpse at Natural Deduction	136	(5)
Fallacies: Bad Arguments That Tend to Persuade	141	(34)
Persuasiveness	141	(1)
What Is a Fallacy?	142	(1)
Distraction Fallacies: False Dilemma, Slippery Slope, Straw Man	143	(6)
Exercise 6.1 Identifying Distraction Fallacies	146	(3)
Resemblance Fallacies: Affirming the Consequent, Denying the Antecedent, Equivocation, Begging the Question	149	(5)
Review	154	(3)
Exercise 6.2 Identifying Distraction and Resemblance Fallacies	155	(2)
Emotion and Reason in Argument	157	(1)
When Is an Emotional Appeal Illegitimate?	158	(1)
Emotion Fallacies: Appeal to Force, Appeal to Pity, Prejudicial Language	159	(5)
Exercise 6.3 Identifying Emotion Fallacies	163	(1)
Emotion and Resemblance Combined: Appeal to Authority, Attacking the Person	164	(4)
Note on Terminology	168	(1)
Review	169	(6)
Exercise 6.4 A Comprehensive Review of Fallacies	171	(2)
Exercise 6.5 Fallacious or Not?	173	(2)
``That Depends on What You Mean by . . .''	175	(33)
Unclear Expressions in the Premises: Looking for Shifts in Meaning	176	(3)
The Possibility of Misleading Definition	179	(1)
Kinds of Unclarity: Vagueness and Ambiguity	180	(2)
Interpreting and Evaluating: A Dialogue Process	182	(4)
Exercise 7.1 Criticizing Arguments That Contain Unclear Words or Expressions	185	(1)
Argument and Definition	186	(3)
Evaluating Definition-like Premises	189	(1)
Conceptual Theories	190	(2)
A Model for Conceptual Theories	192	(1)
Reconstructing Fragmentary Theories	193	(3)
Exercise 7.2 Reconstructing Conceptual Theories	195	(1)
The Criticism of Conceptual Theories	196	(7)
Exercise 7.3 Criticism of Conceptual Theories	200	(3)
Conceptual Clarification and Argument	203	(5)
Exercise 7.4 Reconstructing and Criticizing Conceptual Theories and Arguments Based on Them	204	(4)
Arguments That Are Not Deductive: Induction and Statistical Reasoning	208	(25)
Two Types of Inductive Arguments	209	(2)
Inductive Versus Deductive Arguments	211	(4)
Exercise 8.1 Generalizations, Descriptions of Particulars, and Inductive Arguments	214	(1)
Criticizing Arguments That Generalize: Sampling Arguments	215	(12)
Exercise 8.2 Criticizing Sampling Arguments	223	(4)
Arguments with Statistical Premises	227	(5)
Exercise 8.3 Criticizing Arguments with Statistical Premises	231	(1)
Review: Types of Inductive Arguments	232	(1)
Causal, Analogical, and Convergent Arguments: Three More Kinds of Nondeductive Reasoning	233	(33)
Causal Generalization	235	(1)
Five Ways in Which Causal Reasoning Might Fail	236	(3)
The Controlled Experiment: Handling the X-Factor	239	(3)
What Happens If Control Is Limited?	242	(8)
Exercise 9.1 The Faulty Move from Correlation to Cause	246	(4)
Arguments from Analogy	250	(5)
Exercise 9.2 Criticizing Arguments from Analogy	253	(2)
Convergent Arguments	255	(10)
Exercise 9.3 Reconstructing and Criticizing Convergent Arguments	264	(1)
Review: Types of Nondeductive Arguments	265	(1)
Explanation and the Criticism of Theories	266	(37)
``That's Just a Theory''	268	(1)
Picking Out Theories	269	(10)
Exercise 10.1 Identifying Theories and Regularities	274	(5)
Criticism of Theories	279	(1)
First-Stage Criticisms---Plausible Alternative; Doubtful Predictions	280	(7)
Exercise 10.2 Applying First-Stage Criticisms to Theories	282	(5)
Second-Stage Criticisms---ad Hoc Defense; Untestability	287	(5)
Exercise 10.3 Applying Second-Stage Criticisms to Theories	289	(3)
Review of Techniques for Criticizing Theories	292	(11)
Exercise 10.4 Criticizing Empirical Theories in Longer Passages	293	(10)
Putting It All Together: Six Steps to Understanding and Evaluating Arguments	303	(29)
A Sample Application of the Six-Step Procedure	306	(8)
A Second Application: A Convergent Argument Contained in a Linked Argument	314	(18)
Exercise 11.1 Applying the Six-Step Procedure	318	(11)
Exercise 11.2 Putting It All Together in the Classroom: ``Fishbowl'' Discussions and Critical Exchanges	329	(3)
Making Reasonable Decisions As an Amateur in a World of Specialists	332	(14)
Leaving It to the Experts	333	(2)
The Dilemma	335	(3)
Coping with the Dilemma	338	(2)
Creating Arguments and Theories in a World of Experts	340	(2)
The Strategy and Its Prospects	342	(1)
Can Information Technology Dissolve the Dilemma?	342	(2)
The Contemporary Problem of Knowledge	344	(2)
Exercise 12.1 Case Study for Individual Writing Exercise or Group Discussion	345	(1)
Glossary	346	(9)
Answers to Selected Exercises	355	(40)
Index	395