Critical Thinking / Edition 3

by Richard L. Epstein, Alex Raffi, Carolyn Kernberger

Overview

Featuring its own cast of characters, a personal and accessible tone, and carefully crafted in step-by-step units, this book sets a new standard of clarity for presenting the subject matter. Extensively class-tested, the text uses an enormous number of everyday examples and exercises to illuminate key points and ideas. It is the only text in philosophy in which students work with cartoons to convert the non-verbal into arguments and arrive at conceptual understanding. It is also the only text-workbook-instructor's manual system designed and constructed simultaneously to provide the most fully integrated learning and teaching system available.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780534583484
Publisher:	Cengage Learning
Publication date:	01/05/2005
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Richard L. Epstein received his B.A. summa cum laude at the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. He held a postdoctoral fellowship in mathematics and philosophy at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, before an extensive career teaching mathematics and philosophy. He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Brazil and a National Academy of Sciences Scholar to Poland. He also owned and managed the Dog & Duck Coffee House. He is the author of the series of research texts THE SEMANTIC FOUNDATIONS OF LOGIC as well as CRITICAL THINKING and FIVE WAYS OF SAYING THEREFORE". Currently he is head of the Advanced Reasoning Forum in Socorro, New Mexico."

Table of Contents

Preface to the Student. Preface to the Instructor. Acknowledgments. PART I: THE FUNDAMENTALS. 1. Are You Convinced? 2. What Are We Arguing About? 3. What is a Good Argument? 4. Repairing Arguments. 5. Is That True? PART II: THE STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENTS. 6. Compound Claims. 7. Complex Arguments. 8. General Claims. PART III: AVOIDING BAD ARGUMENTS. 9. Concealed Claims. 10. Too Much Emotion. 11. Fallacies (A summary of bad arguments.) PART IV: REASONING ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE. 12. Reasoning by Analogy. 13. Numbers? 14. Generalizing From Experience. 15. Cause and Effect. APPENDICES. GLOSSARY. ANSWERS TO SELECTED EXERCISES. INDEX.

Editorial Reviews

Guides the college level student through the fundamentals of reasoning, the structure of arguments, how to avoid bad arguments, and the specific kinds of arguments used in reasoning. Intended for a one- semester introductory course, the text includes a particularly useful chapter discussing the principles of rational discussion and a guide to repairing arguments. Some 1,200 exercises and hundreds of relevant examples help clarify the concepts discussed. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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