The Elements of Reasoning

by Corbett, Edward P.J.; Eberly, Rosa A.

• ISBN13: 9780205315116
• ISBN10: 0205315119
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-08
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

The second edition of The Elements of Reasoning retains the accessible and succinct approach that made the first edition the best treatment of the essentials of argumentation.It presents the principles that govern the composition of effective argumentative discourse and includes brief examples, with analyses that show students the underlying structure of the argument presented and the ways in which the rhetoric was persuasive.For anyone interested in rhetoric and reasoning.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Reasoning: Are You For It or Against It?	1	(20)
The Powers of Reasoning	1	(1)
Elemental Questions	2	(1)
Pluto and Plato	3	(4)
Fine Language and Geometry	7	(3)
Ethos, Logos, and Pathos	10	(1)
The End of Reasoning	11	(2)
Internal and External Reasoning: An Example	13	(3)
Rhetorical Inventions: Beyond ``For or Against''	16	(2)
Reasoning Practice	18	(3)
Invention: Places, Paths, and Structures of Reasoning	21	(28)
An Introduction to the Specific Elements	21	(2)
Places of Reasoning: Topoi	23	(3)
Paths of Reasoning: The Stases	26	(6)
Structures of Reasoning	32	(14)
Induction and the Example	33	(4)
Deduction and the Enthymeme	37	(4)
Missing Premises and From Whom They Are Missing	41	(2)
Toulmin: The Enthymeme Unfurled	43	(3)
From Invention to Judgment	46	(1)
Stases and Time	46	(1)
Reasoning Practice	47	(2)
Conjectures: Places to Begin	49	(20)
The Primary Stasis	49	(2)
A Trove of Conjectural Claims	51	(4)
How to Spot a Conjectural Claim	55	(1)
Three Types of Conjectural Claims	56	(10)
Observations	56	(2)
Expressions	58	(3)
Narratives	61	(5)
Reasoning Practice	66	(3)
Definitions: They Can Change Everything	69	(14)
Rhetoric and Definitions	69	(2)
Dictionary Definitions	71	(1)
Neologisms	72	(1)
Stipulative Definitions	72	(2)
Specific Means of Defining	74	(6)
Synonym	74	(1)
Etymology	74	(1)
Description	75	(1)
Analysis	76	(1)
Classification	76	(2)
The Negative	78	(1)
Metaphor and Simile	78	(2)
Reasoning Practice	80	(3)
Causes and Consequences: A Sense of How the World Works	83	(12)
How Could This Happen?	83	(2)
Reasoning from Effect to Cause	85	(1)
Reasoning from Cause to Effect	86	(1)
Antecedence-Subsequence	87	(1)
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc	87	(1)
Chance as a Causal Factor	88	(1)
Chance and Causality, Myth and Cosmology	89	(1)
Some Guidelines for Causal Reasoning	90	(3)
Causality and the Ends of Reasoning	93	(1)
Reasoning Practice	93	(2)
Values: Judgments Grounded in Nature and Consequences	95	(16)
Criteria	97	(2)
Supporting Value Claims: Nature and Consequences	99	(1)
One Example of Claims about Value: Music	99	(2)
Another Example: Family Farms	101	(6)
Weighting Criteria	107	(1)
Guidelines for Reasoning about Values	107	(2)
Reasoning Practice	109	(2)
Procedures and Proposals: Actualizing the potential for Change	111	(10)
Ready?	111	(1)
``Houston: We Have a Problem''	112	(2)
A Modest Proposal	114	(2)
Feasibility, Plausibility, Credibility	116	(2)
Guidelines for Reasoning about Procedures and Proposals	118	(1)
Reasoning Practice	119	(2)
Becoming a Citizen Critic: Where Rhetoric Meets the Road	121	(18)
Diversions of Reasoning	124	(6)
Overgeneralizing	124	(1)
Begging the Question	125	(1)
Personal Attacks	125	(1)
WYSIWYG	126	(1)
False Analogy	126	(1)
Pandering	127	(1)
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc	127	(1)
Faulty Use of Authority	127	(1)
Red Herring	127	(1)
Equivocation	128	(1)
False Dilemma	128	(1)
Slippery Slope	129	(1)
Straw Man	129	(1)
Scapegoating	129	(1)
Spectator Culture, Consumer Culture, Democratic Culture	130	(2)
Reasoning to Invoke Citizen Critics	132	(1)
What Is a Citizen? And a Citizen of What?	133	(2)
The Enthymemes of This Book	135	(1)
Reasoning Practice	136	(3)
Index	139