Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric : The Use of Reason in Everyday Life

by Cavender, Nancy M.; Kahane, Howard

• ISBN13: 9780495804116
• ISBN10: 0495804118
• Edition: 11th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-09
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

Strengthen your reasoning skills with LOGIC AND CONTEMPORARY RHETORIC: THE USE OF REASON IN EVERYDAY LIFE, 11E. This logic book puts critical-thinking skills into a context that you'll remember and use throughout your life.

Author Biography

Cavender and Kahane's classic text has introduced tens of thousands of students to the principles of sound reasoning. The authors' witty and invigorating writing style enlivens their discussions of current, relevant, and stimulating topics from television, politics, newspapers, and magazines, bringing each concept to life in a memorable, meaningful way. More important, Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric puts critical thinking skills into a context that you'll remember for years to come, giving your new knowledge a lifetime of usefulness.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. x
Good and Bad Reasoning	p. 1
Reasoning and Arguments	p. 2
Exposition and Argument	p. 4
Cogent Reasoning	p. 6
Two Basic Kinds of Valid Argument	p. 9
Some Wrong Ideas about Cogent Reasoning	p. 12
Background Beliefs	p. 15
Kinds of Background Beliefs	p. 15
Worldviews or Philosophies	p. 16
Insufficiently Grounded Beliefs	p. 18
Two Vital Kinds of Background Beliefs	p. 23
Science to the Rescue	p. 24
Summary of Chapter 1	p. 27
More on Deduction and Induction	p. 31
Deductive Validity	p. 31
Deductive Invalidity	p. 34
Syllogisms	p. 35
Indirect Proofs	p. 37
Tautologies, Contradictions, and Contingent Statements	p. 37
Inductive Validity (Correctness) and Invalidity (Incorrectness)	p. 38
A Misconception about Deduction and Induction	p. 42
Reasoning Cogently Versus Being Right in Fact	p. 42
Summary of Chapter 2	p. 43
Fallacious Reasoning-1	p. 47
Appeal to Authority	p. 48
Inconsistency	p. 52
Straw Man	p. 57
False Dilemma and the Either-Or Fallacy	p. 57
Begging the Question	p. 59
Questionable Premise-Questionable Statement	p. 61
Suppressed (Overlooked) Evidence	p. 61
Tokenism	p. 64
Summary of Chapter 3	p. 64
Fallacious Reasoning-2	p. 73
Ad Hominem Argument	p. 73
Two Wrongs Make a Right	p. 75
Irrelevant Reason (Non Sequitur)	p. 79
Equivocation	p. 80
Appeal to Ignorance	p. 83
Composition and Division	p. 84
Slippery Slope	p. 84
Summary of Chapter 4	p. 85
Fallacious Reasoning-3	p. 93
Hasty Conclusion	p. 93
Small Sample	p. 94
Unrepresentative Sample	p. 94
Questionable Cause	p. 95
Questionable Analogy	p. 99
Questionable Statistics	p. 101
Questionable Uses of Good Statistics	p. 103
Polls: An Important Special Case	p. 105
False Charge of Fallacy	p. 108
Summary of Chapter 5	p. 110
Psychological Impediments to Cogent Reasoning: Shooting Ourselves in the Foot	p. 123
Loyalty, Provincialism, and the Herd Instinct	p. 124
Prejudice, Stereotypes, Scapegoats, and Partisan Mind-Sets	p. 126
Superstitious Beliefs	p. 129
Wishful Thinking and Self-Deception	p. 130
Rationalization and Procrastination	p. 132
Other Defense Mechanisms	p. 136
The Benefits of Self-Deception, Wishful Thinking, and Denial	p. 138
The Pull of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal	p. 140
Lack of a Good Sense of Proportion	p. 143
Summary of Chapter 6	p. 145
Language	p. 151
Cognitive and Emotive Meanings	p. 151
Emotive Meanings and Persuasive Uses of Language	p. 152
Other Common Rhetorical Devices	p. 159
Language Manipulators	p. 165
Language Revision	p. 170
Summary of Chapter 7	p. 175
Evaluating Extended Arguments	p. 181
The Basic Tasks of Essay Evaluation	p. 182
The Margin Note and Summary Method	p. 190
Extended Evaluation of an Argument	p. 190
Dealing with Value Claims	p. 195
Evaluating Ironic Works	p. 201
Summary of Chapter 8	p. 204
Writing Cogent (and Persuasive) Essays	p. 207
The Writing Process	p. 207
Preparing to Write	p. 208
Writing the Essay	p. 209
Supporting Reasons Effectively	p. 213
Summary of Chapter 9	p. 231
Advertising: Selling the Product	p. 233
Promise and Identification Advertisements	p. 234
Things to Watch Out for in Advertisements	p. 236
The Upside of Ads	p. 246
Marketing Strategies	p. 247
Political Advertising	p. 254
Summary of Chapter 10	p. 265
Managing the News	p. 271
The Media and the Power of Money	p. 272
News-Gathering Methods Are Designed to Save Money	p. 286
Misdirection and Lack of Proportion	p. 288
News Reporting: Theory and Practice	p. 289
Devices Used to Slant the News	p. 299
Television, Film, and Electronic Information Sources	p. 305
The Non-Mass Media to the Rescue	p. 310
Recent Developments	p. 312
Summary of Chapter 11	p. 317
Textbooks: Managing Worldviews	p. 323
High School History Textbooks	p. 324
Social Studies (Civics) Textbooks Minimize the Great Gulf between Theory and Practice	p. 331
Textbooks and Indoctrination	p. 333
Textbooks and Politics	p. 335
Censorship	p. 341
Textbooks Fail to Give Students Genuine Understanding	p. 350
Postscript on College Texts	p. 351
Summary of Chapter 12	p. 353
	p. 359
More on Cause and Effect	p. 359
Scientific Method	p. 360
Calculating Probabilities and Fair Odds	p. 363
Answers to Starred Exercise Items	p. 368
Bibliography	p. 375
Glossary	p. 385
Indexes	p. 391
Credits	p. 411
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