A Personal Word to Students vii
Preface ix
Chapter 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking 1
What Is Critical Thinking? 1
Critical Thinking Standards 2
The Benefits of Critical Thinking 7
Barriers to Critical Thinking 9
Qualities of a Critical Thinker 26
Chapter 2 Recognizing Arguments 31
What Is an Argument? 31
Identifying Premises and Conclusions 36
What Is Not an Argument? 41
Chapter 3 Basic Logical Concepts 55
Deduction and Induction 55
How Can We Tell Whether an Argument Is Deductive or Inductive? 58
Common Patterns of Deductive Reasoning 64
Common Patterns of Inductive Reasoning 69
Deductive Validity 74
Inductive Strength 79
Chapter 4 Language 88
Finding the Right Words: The Need for Precision 88
The Importance of Precise Definitions 95
Emotive Language: Slanting the Truth 107
Euphemisms and Political Correctness 117
Chapter 5 Logical Fallacies—I 122
The Concept of Relevance 122
Fallacies of Relevance 125
Chapter 6 Logical Fallacies—II 143
Fallacies of Insufficient Evidence 143
Chapter 7 Analyzing Arguments 169
Diagramming Short Arguments 169
Summarizing Longer Arguments 180
Chapter 8 Evaluating Arguments and Truth Claims 197
When Is an Argument a Good One? 197
When Is It Reasonable to Accept a Premise? 200
Refuting Arguments 205
Chapter 9 A Little Categorical Logic 234
Categorical Statements 235
Translating into Standard Categorical Form 239
Categorical Syllogisms 247
Chapter 10 A Little Propositional Logic 263
Conjunction 264
Conjunction and Validity 267
Negation 272
Deeper Analysis of Negation and Conjunction 277
Disjunction 283
Conditional Statements 287
Chapter 11 Inductive Reasoning 298
Introduction to Induction 298
Inductive Generalizations 299
Statistical Arguments 309
Induction and Analogy 315
Induction and Causal Arguments 324
A Few Words about Probability 330
Chapter 12 Finding, Evaluating, and Using Sources 338
Finding Sources 340
Evaluating Informational Sources 349
Taking Notes 364
Using Sources 373
Chapter 13 Writing Argumentative Essays 382
Writing a Successful Argument 383
Before You Write 384
Writing the First Draft 402
After the First Draft 407
Chapter 14 Thinking Critically about the Media 417
Mass Media and Social Media 417
The News 422
News Media Bias 433
Media Literacy 445
Advertising 446
Chapter 15 Science and Pseudoscience 460
The Basic Pattern of Scientific Reasoning 460
The Limitations of Science 467
How to Distinguish Science from Pseudoscience 470
A Case Study in Pseudoscientific Thinking: Astrology 480
Appendix: The Six Habits of Effective Problem Solvers A-1
Answers to Selected Exercises ANS-1
Index I-1
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