Good Reasoning Matters! A Constructive Approach to Critical Thinking

by Groarke, Leo; Tindale, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780195445756
• ISBN10: 0195445759
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-12-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Designed to help students develop the quality of their thinking and to respond effectively to often confusing and contradictory messages, Good Reasoning Matters! offers an indispensable guide to evaluating and constructing arguments. In addition to examining the most common features of faulty reasoning, the text introduces a variety of argument schemes and rhetorical techniques that will help students solve problems and construct sound arguments. Extensive exercises and examples taken from such sources as social media sites, newspapers, and topical news articles encourage students to consider a wide range of views and perspectives.

The fifth edition features a glossary, chapter summaries, extensive revised exercises, and a revamped Companion Website.

Author Biography

Professor Leo A. Groarke is professor of philosophy and provost at the University of Windsor. His research interests include the history of ideas, social and political philosophy, informal logic, and argumentation theory. He has published numerous books, chapters, and journal articles in these and other areas.

Professor Christopher W. Tindale is professor of philosophy at the University of Windsor. His research interests include argumentation theory, ethics, and ancient philosophy. He has published numerous book chapters and extensively in journals and is the author of Fallacies and Argument Appraisal (2007) and Rhetorical Argumentation (2004). He is co-editor of the journal Informal Logic.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. MAKING ROOM FOR ARGUMENT
1 Why Make Room for an Argument?
2 Defining Argument
3 Arguers and Systems of Belief
4 Audiences
5 Opponents and Proponents
6 Summary
2. BIAS: READING BETWEEN THE LINES
1 Bias
2 Detecting Illegitimate Biases
3 Difficult Cases
4 Summary
3. ARGUMENTS, WEAK AND STRONG
1 Burden of Proof
2 Strong Arguments
3 Logical Consequence: Deductive and Inductive Validity
4 Contextual Relevance
5 Schemes and Counter-Schemes
6 Summary
4. DRESSING ARGUMENTS
1 Simple and Extended Arguments
2 Inference Indicators: Distinguishing Arguments and Non-Arguments
3 Arguments without Indicator Words
4 Arguments and Explanations
5 Argument Narratives
6 Summary
5. ARGUMENT DIAGRAMS
1 Argument Diagrams: Simple Arguments
2 Diagramming Extended Arguments
3 Linked and Convergent Premises
4 Supplemented Diagram
5 Diagramming Your Own Arguments
6 Summary
6. HIDDEN ARGUMENT COMPONENTS
1 Speech Acts and the Principles of Communication
2 Hidden Conclusions
3 Hidden Premises
4 Non-Verbal Elements in Argument: Flags and Demonstrations
5 Symbols and Metaphors
6 A Note on Argument Construction
7 Summary
7. DEFINITIONS: SAYING WHAT YOU MEAN
1 Using Words Precisely
2 Vagueness and Ambiguity
3 Formulating Definitions
4 Rules for Good Definitions
5 Expressing Your Intended Meaning
6 Summary
8. WEIGHING EVIDENCE
1 Acceptable, Unacceptable, or Questionable?
2 Conditions of Acceptability
3 Conditions of Unacceptability
4 Internal Relevance
5 Sufficiency
6 Applying the Criteria
7 Summary
9. LOOKING FOR THE FACTS
1 Generalizations
2 Polling
3 General Causal Reasoning
4 Summary
10. MORE EMPIRCAL SCHEMES AND THE REASONS OF SCIENCE
1 Particular Causal Reasoning
2 Arguments From Ignorance
3 Scientific Reasoning
4 Summary
11. SCHEMES OF VALUE
1 Slippery-Slope Arguments
2 Arguments from Analogy
3 Appeals to Precedent
4 Two-Wrongs Reasoning
12. ETHOTIC SCHEMES
1 Pro Homine
2 Ad Populum Arguments
3 Arguments from Authority
4 Ad Hominem
5 Arguments Against Authority
6 Appeal to Eyewitness Testimony
7 Guilt (and Honour) by Association
8 Other Cases
9 Summary
13. ESSAYING AN ARGUMENT
1 The Good Evaluative Critique
2 The Good Argumentative Essay
3 A Student's Paper
4 Conclusion
5 Summary
Appendix A SYLLOGISMS : CLASSIFYING ARGUMENTS
1 Categorical Statements
2 Immediate Inferences
3 Categorical Syllogisms
4 Venn Diagrams
Appendix B PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC I
1 Simple and Complex Propositions
2 Disjunctions and Conditionals
3 Translation
4 Propositional Schemes and Proofs
Appendix C PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC II
1 Conditional Proofs
2 Reductio ad Absurdum
3 Dilemmas
4 De Morgan's Laws
5 Summary: Rules of Inference
Glossary
Credits
Index