Preface.
1. DECIDING WHAT TO BELIEVE.
Critical Reasoning Versus Passive Reading or Listening. Critical
Reasoning Versus Mere Disagreement. Critical Reasoning as a
Cooperative Enterprise. Some Common Misconceptions About Critical
Reasoning. Benefits of Critical Reasoning. The Main Techniques of
Critical Reasoning.
2. THE ANATOMY OF ARGUMENTS: IDENTIFYING PREMISES AND
CONCLUSIONS.
The Key to Identification: Seeing What Is Supported by What. Clues
to Identifying Argument Parts: Indicator Words. Marking the Parts
of Arguments. What to Do When There Are No Indicator Words. The
Principle of Charitable Interpretation. Patterns of Argument.
Identifying Premises and Conclusions in Longer Passages.
3. UNDERSTANDING ARGUMENTS THROUGH RECONSTRUCTION.
Understanding Arguments by Identifying Implicit Conclusions.
Understanding Arguments by Identifying Implicit Premises. Adding
Both Conclusion and Premises. Guidelines and Warnings about Adding
Implicit Premises and Conclusions. Moving to Real World Discourse.
Simplifying and Paraphrasing. Finding an Argument in a Sea of
Words. Reconstructing Arguments with Subordinate Conclusions.
4. EVALUATING ARGUMENTS: SOME BASIC QUESTIONS.
When Does the Conclusion Follow from the Premises? The
Counterexample Method of Showing that an Argument’s Conclusion Does
Not Follow. When Should the Premises Be Accepted as True? Sample
Appraisals: Examples of Techniques of Criticism. Some Special
Cases: Arguments That We Should or Should Not Do Something. The
Rationale for Using These Critical Techniques.
5. WHEN DOES THE CONCLUSION FOLLOW? A MORE FORMAL APPROACH TO
VALIDITY (OPTIONAL).
Statements Containing Logical Connectives: When are They True; When
are They False? Truth Tables as a Test for Validity. Testing
Validity of Arguments Containing Quantifiers. A More Formal Way of
Representing Statements with Quantifiers. A Glimpses at Natural
Deduction.
6. FALLACIES: BAD ARGUMENTS THAT TEND TO PERSUADE.
Persuasiveness: Legitimate and Illegitimate. Types of Persuasive
Fallacies. Distraction Fallacies: False Dilemma, Slippery Slope,
Straw Man. Resemblance Fallacies: Affirming the Consequent Denying
the Antecedent, Equivocation, and Begging the Question. Review.
Emotion and Reason in Argument. When Is an Emotional Appeal
Illegitimate? Emotion Fallacies: Appeal to Force and Appeal to
Pity, Prejudicial Language. Emotion and Resemblance Combined:
Appeal to Authority and Attacking the Person. Note on Terminology.
Review.
7. THAT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY . . . ".
Unclear Expressions in the Premises: Looking for Shifts in Meaning.
The Possibility of Misleading Definition. Kinds of Unclarity:
Vagueness and Ambiguity. Interpreting and Evaluating: A Dialogue
Process. Argument and Definition. Evaluating Definition-like
Premises. Reconstructing Conceptual Theories. A Model for
Conceptual Theories. Reconstructing Fragmentary Theories. The
Criticism of Conceptual Theories. Conceptual Clarification and
Argument. Review.
8. ARGUMENTS THAT ARE NOT DEDUCTIVE. INDUCTION AND STATISTICAL
REASONING.
Two Types of Inductive Arguments. Deductive versus Nondeductive
Arguments. Criticizing Arguments that Generalize: Sampling
Arguments. Attacking the Premises (Disputing the Data). Questioning
the Representativeness of the Sample. Pointing to a Shift in the
Unit of Analysis. Challenging the Truth of the Conclusion. Summary
of Criticisms. Arguments with Statistical Premises. Criticism of
Arguments with Statistical Premises. Identifying Inductive and
Deductive Arguments in Natural Prose Passages. Review: Types of
Inductive Arguments.
9. CAUSAL, ANALOGICAL, AND CONVERGENT ARGUMENTS: THREE MORE KINDS
OF NONDEDUCTIVE REASONING.
Causal Generalization. Five Ways in which Causal Reasoning Might
Fail. Supporting Causal Arguments. Problems with Generalizing
Causal Claims. Arguments from Analogy. Convergent Arguments.
Evaluation of Convergent versus Deductive Arguments. Representing
Convergent Arguments and Counter-considerations. Applying Criticism
to Convergent Arguments with Counter-Considerations: A Four-Step
Process.
10. EXPLANATION AND THE CRITICISM OF THEORIES.
"That’s Just a Theory." Picking Out Theories. Criticism of
Theories. First-Stage Criticisms—Plausible Alternative; Doubtful
Predictions. Review of Techniques for Criticizing Theories.
11. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: SIX STEPS TO UNDERSTANDING AND
EVALUATING ARGUMENTS.
A Sample Application of the Six-Step Procedure. A Second Sample
Application of the Six-Step Procedure.
12. MAKING REASONABLE DECISIONS AS AN AMATEUR IN A WORLD OF
SPECIALISTS.
Leaving It to the Experts. The Dilemma. Coping with the Dilemma.
Creating Arguments and Theories in a World of Experts. The Strategy
and Its Prospects. Can Information Technology Dissolve the Dilemma?
The Contemporary Problem of Knowledge.
Glossary.
Answers to Selected Exercises.
Index."
David Paulsen received a Ph.D. in philosophy and humanities with an emphasis on philosophy of science from Stanford University (1971), and he is Emeritus faculty at The Evergreen State College, where he has taught and continues to teach courses in philosophy and cognitive science with an emphasis on philosophy of science and related topics in logic as well as the history and philosophy of science with focus on cognitive neuroscience. Dr. Jerry Cederblom serves in The University of Nebraska-Omaha Philosophy Department, teaching courses in moral and political philosophy, epistemology, history of philosophy, critical reasoning, and logic. He received his B.A. in philosophy from Whitman College and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the Claremont Graduate School. He is co-author of two books'CRITICAL REASONING and ETHICS AT WORK (both published by Wadsworth)--and co-editor (with William Blizek) of a third book: JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENT.
Preface. 1. DECIDING WHAT TO BELIEVE. Critical Reasoning Versus Passive Reading or Listening. Critical Reasoning Versus Mere Disagreement. Critical Reasoning as a Cooperative Enterprise. Some Common Misconceptions About Critical Reasoning. Benefits of Critical Reasoning. The Main Techniques of Critical Reasoning. 2. THE ANATOMY OF ARGUMENTS: IDENTIFYING PREMISES AND CONCLUSIONS. The Key to Identification: Seeing What Is Supported by What. Clues to Identifying Argument Parts: Indicator Words. Marking the Parts of Arguments. What to Do When There Are No Indicator Words. The Principle of Charitable Interpretation. Patterns of Argument. Identifying Premises and Conclusions in Longer Passages. 3. UNDERSTANDING ARGUMENTS THROUGH RECONSTRUCTION. Understanding Arguments by Identifying Implicit Conclusions. Understanding Arguments by Identifying Implicit Premises. Adding Both Conclusion and Premises. Guidelines and Warnings about Adding Implicit Premises and Conclusions. Moving to Real World Discourse. Simplifying and Paraphrasing. Finding an Argument in a Sea of Words. Reconstructing Arguments with Subordinate Conclusions. 4. EVALUATING ARGUMENTS: SOME BASIC QUESTIONS. When Does the Conclusion Follow from the Premises? The Counterexample Method of Showing that an Argument's Conclusion Does Not Follow. When Should the Premises Be Accepted as True? Sample Appraisals: Examples of Techniques of Criticism. Some Special Cases: Arguments That We Should or Should Not Do Something. The Rationale for Using These Critical Techniques. 5. WHEN DOES THE CONCLUSION FOLLOW? A MORE FORMAL APPROACH TO VALIDITY (OPTIONAL). Statements Containing Logical Connectives: When are They True; When are They False? Truth Tables as a Test for Validity. Testing Validity of Arguments Containing Quantifiers. A More Formal Way of Representing Statements with Quantifiers. A Glimpses at Natural Deduction. 6. FALLACIES: BAD ARGUMENTS THAT TEND TO PERSUADE. Persuasiveness: Legitimate and Illegitimate. Types of Persuasive Fallacies. Distraction Fallacies: False Dilemma, Slippery Slope, Straw Man. Resemblance Fallacies: Affirming the Consequent Denying the Antecedent, Equivocation, and Begging the Question. Review. Emotion and Reason in Argument. When Is an Emotional Appeal Illegitimate? Emotion Fallacies: Appeal to Force and Appeal to Pity, Prejudicial Language. Emotion and Resemblance Combined: Appeal to Authority and Attacking the Person. Note on Terminology. Review. 7. "THAT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY ... ". Unclear Expressions in the Premises: Looking for Shifts in Meaning. The Possibility of Misleading Definition. Kinds of Unclarity: Vagueness and Ambiguity. Interpreting and Evaluating: A Dialogue Process. Argument and Definition. Evaluating Definition-like Premises. Reconstructing Conceptual Theories. A Model for Conceptual Theories. Reconstructing Fragmentary Theories. The Criticism of Conceptual Theories. Conceptual Clarification and Argument. Review. 8. ARGUMENTS THAT ARE NOT DEDUCTIVE. INDUCTION AND STATISTICAL REASONING. Two Types of Inductive Arguments. Deductive versus Nondeductive Arguments. Criticizing Arguments that Generalize: Sampling Arguments. Attacking the Premises (Disputing the Data). Questioning the Representativeness of the Sample. Pointing to a Shift in the Unit of Analysis. Challenging the Truth of the Conclusion. Summary of Criticisms. Arguments with Statistical Premises. Criticism of Arguments with Statistical Premises. Identifying Inductive and Deductive Arguments in Natural Prose Passages. Review: Types of Inductive Arguments. 9. CAUSAL, ANALOGICAL, AND CONVERGENT ARGUMENTS: THREE MORE KINDS OF NONDEDUCTIVE REASONING. Causal Generalization. Five Ways in which Causal Reasoning Might Fail. Supporting Causal Arguments. Problems with Generalizing Causal Claims. Arguments from Analogy. Convergent Arguments. Evaluation of Convergent versus Deductive Arguments. Representing Convergent Arguments and Counter-considerations. Applying Criticism to Convergent Arguments with Counter-Considerations: A Four-Step Process. 10. EXPLANATION AND THE CRITICISM OF THEORIES. "That's Just a Theory." Picking Out Theories. Criticism of Theories. First-Stage Criticisms-Plausible Alternative; Doubtful Predictions. Review of Techniques for Criticizing Theories. 11. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: SIX STEPS TO UNDERSTANDING AND EVALUATING ARGUMENTS. A Sample Application of the Six-Step Procedure. A Second Sample Application of the Six-Step Procedure. 12. MAKING REASONABLE DECISIONS AS AN AMATEUR IN A WORLD OF SPECIALISTS. Leaving It to the Experts. The Dilemma. Coping with the Dilemma. Creating Arguments and Theories in a World of Experts. The Strategy and Its Prospects. Can Information Technology Dissolve the Dilemma? The Contemporary Problem of Knowledge. Glossary. Answers to Selected Exercises. Index.
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