Critical Thinking

Cover......Page 2 Title Page......Page 3 Copyright......Page 4 Brief Contents......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Connect......Page 16 Critical Thinking......Page 18 Changes to the 12th edition......Page 21 Acknowledgments......Page 24 A Note to Our Colleagues......Page 28 About the Authors......Page 29 Dedication......Page 31 Work of Nonfiction......Page 32 Chapter 1 Don’t Believe Everything You Think......Page 33 Beliefs and Claims......Page 37 Objective Claims and Subjective Claims......Page 38 Fact and Opinion......Page 39 Issues......Page 40 Arguments......Page 42 Cognitive Biases......Page 52 What Critical Thinking Can and Can’t Do......Page 59 Recap......Page 60 Additional Exercises......Page 62 Arguments: General Features......Page 74 Conclusions Used as Premises......Page 75 Unstated Premises and Conclusions......Page 76 Deductive Arguments......Page 77 Inductive Arguments......Page 78 Telling the Difference Between Deductive and Inductive Arguments......Page 80 Deduction, Induction, and Unstated Premises......Page 82 Balance of Considerations......Page 84 Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE)......Page 85 Pictures......Page 86 Lists of Facts......Page 87 Ethos, Pathos, and Logos......Page 88 Clarifying an Argument’s Structure......Page 96 Distinguishing Arguments from Window Dressing......Page 99 Recap......Page 100 Additional Exercises......Page 101 Chapter 3 Clear Thinking, Critical Thinking, and Clear Writing......Page 116 Vagueness......Page 118 Ambiguity......Page 121 Grouping Ambiguity......Page 122 Syntactic Ambiguity......Page 123 Generality......Page 125 Defining Terms......Page 132 Purposes of Definitions......Page 133 Tips on Definitions......Page 134 Writing Argumentative Essays......Page 137 Essay Types to Avoid......Page 139 Writing in a Diverse Society......Page 141 Recap......Page 143 Additional Exercises......Page 144 Chapter 4 Credibility......Page 155 The Claim and Its Source......Page 158 Does the Claim Conflict with Our Personal Observations?......Page 159 Does the Claim Conflict with Our Background Information?......Page 162 Interested Parties......Page 167 Physical and Other Characteristics......Page 168 Expertise......Page 171 Consolidation of Media Ownership......Page 176 Government Management of the News......Page 177 Bias Within the Media......Page 179 The Internet, Generally......Page 183 Blogs......Page 188 Three Kinds of Ads......Page 189 Recap......Page 193 Additional Exercises......Page 194 Chapter 5 Rhetoric, the Art of Persuasion......Page 209 Rhetorical Force......Page 210 Euphemisms and Dysphemisms......Page 211 Weaselers......Page 212 Downplayers......Page 214 Stereotypes......Page 216 Innuendo......Page 218 Loaded Questions......Page 220 Ridicule/Sarcasm......Page 222 Hyperbole......Page 223 Rhetorical Definitions and Rhetorical Explanations......Page 224 Rhetorical Analogies and Misleading Comparisons......Page 225 Proof Surrogates......Page 231 Repetition......Page 232 Persuasion Through Visual Imagery......Page 236 The Extreme Rhetoric of Demagoguery......Page 238 Recap......Page 242 Additional Exercises......Page 243 Chapter 6 Relevance (Red Herring) Fallacies......Page 266 Argumentum Ad Hominem......Page 267 Guilt by Association......Page 269 Straw Man......Page 270 False Dilemma (Ignoring Other Alternatives)......Page 271 The Perfectionist Fallacy......Page 272 The Line-Drawing Fallacy......Page 273 Misplacing the Burden of Proof......Page 275 Begging the Question (Assuming What You are Trying to Prove)......Page 276 Scare Tactics......Page 278 Appeal to Pity......Page 280 Other Appeals to Emotion......Page 281 Irrelevant Conclusion......Page 282 Recap......Page 284 Exercises......Page 285 Chapter 7 Induction Fallacies......Page 294 Generalizing from Too Few Cases (Hasty Generalization)......Page 295 Generalizing from Exceptional Cases......Page 298 Accident......Page 300 Weak Analogy......Page 301 Mistaken Appeal to Authority......Page 302 Mistaken Appeal to Popularity (Mistaken Appeal to Common Belief)......Page 303 Mistaken Appeal to Common Practice......Page 304 Bandwagon Fallacy......Page 305 Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc......Page 307 Cum Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc......Page 312 Slippery Slope......Page 314 Untestable Explanation......Page 315 Recap......Page 316 Exercises......Page 317 Three Formal Fallacies: Affirming the Consequent, Denying the Antecedent, and Undistributed Middle......Page 327 Affirming the Consequent......Page 328 The Undistributed Middle......Page 329 The Fallacies of Equivocation and Amphiboly......Page 332 The Fallacies of Composition and Division......Page 334 Confusing Explanations with Excuses......Page 336 Confusing Contraries and Contradictories......Page 338 Consistency and Inconsistency......Page 340 Incorrectly Combining the Probability of Independent Events......Page 341 Gambler’s Fallacy......Page 342 Faulty Inductive Conversion......Page 343 Recap......Page 345 Additional Exercises......Page 347 Chapter 9 Deductive Arguments I: Categorical Logic......Page 356 Categorical Claims......Page 359 Venn Diagrams......Page 360 Translating Claims in Which the Word “Only” or the Phrase “The Only” Occurs......Page 362 Translating Claims About Times and Places......Page 363 Translating Claims About Specific Individuals......Page 366 Translating Claims that Use Mass Nouns......Page 367 Existential Assumption and the Square of Opposition......Page 370 Inferences Across the Square......Page 371 Conversion......Page 372 Obversion......Page 373 Contraposition......Page 374 Categorical Syllogisms......Page 383 The Venn Diagram Method of Testing for Validity......Page 385 Categorical Syllogisms with Unstated Premises......Page 389 Real-Life Syllogisms......Page 391 The Rules Method of Testing for Validity......Page 395 Additional Exercises......Page 398 Chapter 10 Deductive Arguments II: Truth-Functional Logic......Page 412 Truth Tables......Page 413 “If” and “Only If”......Page 421 Necessary and Sufficient Conditions......Page 423 “Either . . . Or”......Page 425 Three Common Valid Argument Patterns......Page 429 Three Mistakes: Invalid Argument Forms......Page 434 Truth-Functional Arguments (Full Version)......Page 437 The Truth-Table Method......Page 438 The Short Truth-Table Method......Page 441 Group I Rules: Elementary Valid Argument Patterns......Page 447 Group II Rules: Truth-Functional Equivalences......Page 453 Conditional Proof......Page 461 Additional Exercises......Page 465 Chapter 11 Inductive Reasoning......Page 474 Argument from Analogy......Page 475 Evaluation of Arguments from Analogy......Page 476 Three Arguments from Analogy......Page 478 Other Uses of Analogy......Page 479 Generalizing from a Sample......Page 486 Three Arguments That Generalize from a Sample......Page 488 Scientific Generalizing from a Sample......Page 490 The Statistical Syllogism......Page 492 Causal Statements And Their Support......Page 501 Forming Causal Hypotheses......Page 502 Weighing Evidence......Page 505 Confirming Causal Hypotheses......Page 519 Joint Occurrence of Independent Events......Page 526 Expectation Value......Page 527 Calculating Conditional Probabilities......Page 529 Causation in the Law......Page 530 Recap......Page 531 Additional Exercises......Page 533 Chapter 12 Moral, Legal, and Aesthetic Reasoning......Page 544 Value Judgments......Page 545 Two Principles of Moral Reasoning......Page 547 Deriving Specific Moral Value Judgments......Page 549 Consequentialism......Page 553 Duty Theory/Deontologism......Page 555 Moral Relativism......Page 557 Virtue Ethics......Page 560 Moral Deliberation......Page 564 Legal Reasoning......Page 571 Justifying Laws: Four Perspectives......Page 572 Aesthetic Reasoning......Page 576 Eight Aesthetic Principles......Page 577 Using Aesthetic Principles to Judge Aesthetic Value......Page 581 Evaluating Aesthetic Criticism: Relevance and Truth......Page 582 Why Reason Aesthetically?......Page 584 Recap......Page 587 Additional Exercises......Page 589 Appendix: Exercises from Previous Editions......Page 593 Glossary......Page 687 Answers, Suggestions, and Tips for Triangle Exercises......Page 626 Credits......Page 684 Remark Notes......Page 706 Index......Page 713 Helps students to learn the skills they need in order to think for themselves. This book illustrates core concepts with concrete real-world examples. It also includes extensive practice exercises and a thoughtful set of pedagogical features.