Good Reasoning Matters!: A Constructive Approach to Critical Thinking / Edition 5

by Leo Groarke

Overview

Designed to help students develop the quality of their thinking and to respond effectively to often confusing and contradictory messages, Good Reasoning Matters! offers an indispensable guide to evaluating and constructing arguments. In addition to examining the most common features of faulty reasoning, the text introduces a variety of argument schemes and rhetorical techniques that will help students solve problems and construct sound arguments. Extensive exercises and examples taken from such sources as social media sites, newspapers, and topical news articles encourage students to consider a wide range of views and perspectives.

The fifth edition features a glossary, chapter summaries, extensive revised exercises, and a revamped Companion Website.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900195445755
Publication date:	12/19/2012
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Professor Leo A. Groarke is professor of philosophy and provost at the University of Windsor. His research interests include the history of ideas, social and political philosophy, informal logic, and argumentation theory. He has published numerous books, chapters, and journal articles in these and other areas.
Professor Christopher W. Tindale is professor of philosophy at the University of Windsor. His research interests include argumentation theory, ethics, and ancient philosophy. He has published numerous book chapters and extensively in journals and is the author of Fallacies and Argument Appraisal (2007) and Rhetorical Argumentation (2004). He is co-editor of the journal Informal Logic.

Table of Contents

, Preface, Acknowledgements1. MAKING ROOM FOR ARGUMENT1. Why Make Room for an Argument? 2. Defining Argument3. Arguers and Systems of Belief4. Audiences5. Opponents and Proponents6. Summary2. BIAS: READING BETWEEN THE LINES1. Bias2. Detecting Illegitimate Biases3. Difficult Cases4. Summary3. ARGUMENTS, WEAK AND STRONG1. Burden of Proof2. Strong Arguments3. Logical Consequence: Deductive and Inductive Validity4. Contextual Relevance5. Schemes and Counter-Schemes6. Summary4. DRESSING ARGUMENTS1. Simple and Extended Arguments2. Inference Indicators: Distinguishing Arguments and Non-Arguments3. Arguments without Indicator Words4. Arguments and Explanations5. Argument Narratives6. Summary5. ARGUMENT DIAGRAMS1. Argument Diagrams: Simple Arguments2. Diagramming Extended Arguments3. Linked and Convergent Premises4. Supplemented Diagram5. Diagramming Your Own Arguments6. Summary6. HIDDEN ARGUMENT COMPONENTS1. Speech Acts and the Principles of Communication2. Hidden Conclusions3. Hidden Premises4. Non-Verbal Elements in Argument: Flags and Demonstrations5. Symbols and Metaphors6. A Note on Argument Construction7. Summary7. DEFINITIONS: SAYING WHAT YOU MEAN1. Using Words Precisely2. Vagueness and Ambiguity3. Formulating Definitions4. Rules for Good Definitions5. Expressing Your Intended Meaning6. Summary8. WEIGHING EVIDENCE1. Acceptable, Unacceptable, or Questionable? 2. Conditions of Acceptability3. Conditions of Unacceptability4. Internal Relevance5. Sufficiency6. Applying the Criteria7. Summary9. LOOKING FOR THE FACTS1. Generalizations2. Polling3. General Causal Reasoning4. Summary10. MORE EMPIRCAL SCHEMES AND THE REASONS OF SCIENCE1. Particular Causal Reasoning2. Arguments From Ignorance3. Scientific Reasoning4. Summary11. SCHEMES OF VALUE1. Slippery-Slope Arguments2. Arguments from Analogy3. Appeals to Precedent4. Two-Wrongs Reasoning12. ETHOTIC SCHEMES1. Pro Homine2. Ad Populum Arguments3. Arguments from Authority4. iAd Hominem/i5. Arguments Against Authority6. Appeal to Eyewitness Testimony7. Guilt (and Honour) by Association8. Other Cases9. Summary13. ESSAYING AN ARGUMENT1. The Good Evaluative Critique2. The Good Argumentative Essay3. A Student's Paper4. Conclusion5. SummarybAppendix A. SYLLOGISMS: CLASSIFYING ARGUMENTS/b1. Categorical Statements2. Immediate Inferences3. Categorical Syllogisms4. Venn DiagramsbAppendix B. PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC I/b1. Simple and Complex Propositions2. Disjunctions and Conditionals3. Translation4. Propositional Schemes and ProofsbAppendix C. PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC II/b1. Conditional Proofs2. Reductio ad Absurdum3. Dilemmas4. De Morgan's Laws5. Summary: Rules of Inference, Glossary, Credits, Index