Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric The Use of Reason in Everyday Life

by Kahane, Howard; Cavender, Nancy M.

• ISBN13: 9780534524708
• ISBN10: 0534524702
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-08-13
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Intended for the undergraduate course in Critical Thinking, Critical Reasoning, or Introduction to Logic.

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
CHAPTER 1 GOOD AND BAD REASONING	1	(22)
1 Reasoning and Arguments	1	(5)
2 Cogent Reasoning	6	(2)
3 Two Basic Kinds of Valid Arguments	8	(2)
4 Deductive Validity and Invalidity	10	(3)
5 Inductive Validity (Correctness) and Invalidity (Incorrectness)	13	(5)
6 Fallacious Reasoning: How Reasoning Goes Wrong	18	(2)
Summary of Chapter 1	20	(3)
CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND BELIEFS AND WORLD VIEWS	23	(16)
1 Kinds of Background Beliefs	24	(2)
2 Insufficiently Grounded Beliefs	26	(1)
3 Are Unexamined World Views Worth Having?	27	(3)
4 Reading Between the Lines	30	(1)
5 Two Vital Kinds of Background Beliefs	31	(1)
6 Science to the Rescue	32	(4)
Summary of Chapter 2	36	(3)
CHAPTER 3 FALLACIOUS REASONING -- 1	39	(24)
1 Appeal to Authority	40	(5)
2 Inconsistency	45	(6)
3 Straw Man	51	(1)
4 False Dilemma and the Either-Or Fallacy	51	(1)
5 Begging the Question	52	(2)
6 Questionable Premise--Questionable Statement	54	(1)
7 Suppressed (Overlooked) Evidence	54	(2)
8 Tokenism	56	(1)
Summary of Chapter 3	57	(6)
CHAPTER 4 FALLACIOUS REASONING -- 2	63	(16)
1 Ad Hominem Argument	63	(3)
2 Two Wrongs Make a Right	66	(2)
3 Irrelevant Reason (Non Sequitur)	68	(1)
4 Equivocation	69	(2)
5 Appeal to Ignorance	71	(1)
6 Composition and Division	72	(1)
7 Slippery Slope	73	(1)
Summary of Chapter 4	73	(6)
CHAPTER 5 FALLACIOUS REASONING -- 3	79	(30)
1 Hasty Conclusion	79	(1)
2 Small Sample	80	(1)
3 Unrepresentative Sample	80	(1)
4 Questionable Cause	81	(3)
5 Questionable Analogy	84	(2)
6 Questionable Statistics	86	(2)
7 Questionable Uses of Statistics	88	(2)
8 Polls: An Important Special Case	90	(4)
9 False Charge of Fallacy	94	(2)
Summary of Chapter 5	96	(13)
CHAPTER 6 PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPEDIMENTS TO COGENT REASONING: SHOOTING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT	109	(24)
1 Loyalty, Provincialism, and the Herd Instinct	110	(2)
2 Prejudice, Stereotypes, Scapegoats, and Partisan Mind Sets	112	(2)
3 Superstitious Beliefs	114	(2)
4 Wishful Thinking and Self-Deception	116	(1)
5 Rationalization, Denial, and Procrastination	117	(2)
6 The Benefits of Self-Deception and Wishful Thinking	119	(2)
7 The Pull of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal	121	(4)
8 Lack of a Good Sense of Proportion	125	(2)
Summary of Chapter 6	127	(6)
CHAPTER 7 LANGUAGE	133	(28)
1 Cognitive and Emotive Meanings	133	(1)
2 Emotive Meaning and Persuasive Uses of Language	134	(6)
3 Other Common Rhetorical Devices	140	(5)
4 Those Who Control the Definitions	145	(4)
5 The Reform of Sexist Language	149	(3)
6 PC (Politically Correct) Terminology	152	(3)
Summary of Chapter 7	155	(6)
CHAPTER 8 EVALUATING EXTENDED ARGUMENTS	161	(28)
1 The Basic Tasks of Essay Evaluation	162	(7)
2 Quick Appraisals	169	(3)
3 The Margin Note and Summary Method	172	(5)
4 Dealing with Value Claims	177	(6)
5 Evaluating Ironic Works	183	(3)
Summary of Chapter 8	186	(3)
CHAPTER 9 WRITING COGENT (AND PERSUASIVE) ESSAYS	189	(24)
1 The Writing Process	189	(1)
2 Preparing to Write	190	(1)
3 Writing Essays	191	(5)
4 Some Hints for Effective Writing	196	(15)
Summary of Chapter 9	211	(2)
CHAPTER 10 ADVERTISING: SELLING THE PRODUCT	213	(30)
1 Promise and Identification Advertisements	215	(1)
2 Things to Watch Out for in Advertisements	216	(9)
3 New Marketing Wrinkles	225	(3)
4 Political Advertising	228	(10)
Summary of Chapter 10	238	(5)
CHAPTER 11 MANAGING THE NEWS	243	(48)
1 The Media and the Power of Money	243	(13)
2 News-Gathering Methods Are Designed to Save Money	256	(5)
3 Misdirection and Lack of Proportion	261	(1)
4 News Reporting: Theory and Practice	261	(7)
5 Devices Used to Slant the News	268	(5)
6 Television: The Only Truly Mass Medium (So Far)	273	(2)
7 The Non-Mass Media to the Rescue	275	(1)
8 Recent Developments	276	(7)
Summary of Chapter 11	283	(8)
CHAPTER 12 TEXTBOOKS: MANAGING WORLD VIEWS	291	(34)
1 History and Social Studies Textbooks	292	(2)
2 Textbooks and Indoctrination	294	(2)
3 Textbooks and Politics	296	(4)
4 Censorship	300	(7)
5 Textbooks Distort History	307	(4)
6 Textbooks Minimize the Great Gulf Between Theory and Practice	311	(5)
7 Textbooks Fail to Give Students Genuine Understanding	316	(2)
8 Postscript on College Texts	318	(1)
Summary of Chapter 12	319	(6)
APPENDIX MORE ON COGENT REASONING	325	(14)
1 Deductive Validity: A Review	325	(1)
2 Syllogisms	326	(2)
3 Indirect (Reductio Ad Absurdum) Proofs	328	(1)
4 Tautologies, Contradictions, and Contingent Statements	329	(1)
6 Possibilities, Impossibilities, and Necessities	330	(1)
7 Reasoning Cogently versus Being Right in Fact	330	(1)
8 More on Cause and Effect	331	(1)
9 Calculating Probabilities and Fair Odds	332	(3)
10 Scientific Method	335	(4)
Answers to Starred Exercise Items	339	(8)
Bibliography	347	(5)
Selected List of Periodicals	352	(6)
Indexes	358