Introduction to Logic And Critical Thinking

by Salmon, Merrilee H.

• ISBN13: 9780534626631
• ISBN10: 0534626637
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-23
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Designed for students with no prior training in logic, INTRODUCTION TO LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING offers an accessible treatment of logic that enhances understanding of reasoning in everyday life. The text begins with an introduction to arguments. After some linguistic preliminaries, the text presents a detailed analysis of inductive reasoning and associated fallacies. This order of presentation helps to motivate the use of formal methods in the following sections on deductive logic and fallacies that mimic deductive arguments. Lively and straightforward prose assists students in gaining facility with the sometimes challenging concepts of logic. By combining a sensitive treatment of ordinary language arguments with a simple but rigorous exposition of basic principles of logic, the text develops students' understanding of the relationships between logic and language, and strengthens their skills in logic and critical thinking.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction to Arguments

Introduction

Arguments

Recognizing Arguments

Extended Arguments

Reconstructing Arguments

Review

Paying Special Attention to the Language of Arguments

Introduction

Ambiguity

Vagueness

Definitions

Use and Mention

Review

Deductive Arguments, Inductive Arguments, and Fallacies

Introduction

Deductive Arguments

Inductive Arguments

Fallacies

Review

A Closer Look At Inductive Arguments

Introduction

Statistical Syllogisms

Arguments from analogy

Arguments Based on samples

Extended Inductive Arguments

Pro and Con Arguments

Review

Causal Arguments

Introduction

Mill's Methods for Establishing Casual Claim

Controlled Experiments

Hume's Analysis of Causation

Casual Fallacies

Review

Probabilities and Inductive Logic

Introduction

The Rules of Probability

Using Probabilities to Plan a Course of Action-Decision The ory

Review

Confirmation of Hypotheses

Hypotheses

The Hypothetico-Deductive Method

Complexities in the Hypothetico-Deductive Method

Incremental Confirmation and "Absolute" Confirmation

Disconfirmation

Bayesian Confirmation

Review

Deductive Reasoning?Sentential Logic

Introduction

Properties of Deductive Arguments: Validity and the Importance of Logical Form

Conditional Sentences

Two Conditional Argument Forms

Fallacies Associated with these Conditional Forms

Additional Forms of Sentential Arguments

Symbolizing Connectives

Symbolizing English Sentences

Determining the Truth Values of Compound Sentence Forms Determining the Validity of Invalidity of Argument Forms

Taulologies, Self-Contradictions, and Contingent Sentences

Review

Categorical Syllogisms

Introduction

Categorical Sentences

Translating English Sentences Into Standard Categorical Forms

Testing for Validity with Venn Diagrams

Distribution of Terms-Fallacies of Distribution

Other Ways to test the Validity of Syllogisms

Reducing the Number of Terms in Syllogisms

Reconstructing Ordinary-Language Arguments as Syllogisms

Quasi Syllogism and Sorites

Review

Arguments In Which Validity Depends On Relationships

Introduction

Examples of Relational Arguments

Important Properties of Relationships

Using Quantifiers to Express Relationships

Symbolizing Arguments

Review

Appendix One: Proof Method for Truth-Functional Logic

Appendix Two: Index of Fallacies

Bibliography

Solutions to Even-numbered Exercises

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.