Acknowledgements p. 11
Reasoning and Critical Thinking p. 15
Reasoning p. 15
The Concept of Logical Strength p. 17
Truth, Logical Strength and Soundness p. 20
Critical Thinking Skills p. 22
Critical Thinking and the Science of Logic p. 25
Self-Test No. 1 p. 26
Questions for Discussion p. 27
Meaning and Definition p. 33
The Complexity of Language p. 33
The Meaning of Language p. 35
The Main Functions of Language p. 40
Self-Test No. 2 p. 46
Questions for Discussion p. 47
Definition p. 48
The Purposes of Definition p. 49
Methods of Definition p. 51
Assessing Reportive Definitions p. 54
Assessing Stipulative and Essentialist Definitions p. 57
A Warning p. 60
Self-Test No. 3 p. 61
Questions for Discussion p. 62
Clarifying Meaning p. 64
The Principle of Charity p. 64
Linguistic Ambiguity p. 66
Self-Test No. 4 p. 71
Analytic, Contradictory and Synthetic Statements p. 72
Self-Test No. 5 p. 74
Descriptive and Evaluative Meaning p. 75
Self-Test No. 6 p. 77
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions p. 78
Self-Test No. 7 p. 82
Questions for Discussion p. 83
Reconstructing Arguments p. 86
Reconstruction p. 86
Missing Premises and Conclusions p. 88
Self-Test No. 8 p. 91
Near Arguments p. 92
Self-Test No. 9 p. 97
The Structure of Arguments p. 99
Self-Test No. 10 p. 105
Another Warning p. 106
Questions for Discussion p. 107
Strategies for Assessing Arguments p. 113
The Fallacies Approach p. 114
The Criterial Approach p. 115
Seven Rules for Assessing Arguments p. 117
Assessing Truth Claims p. 120
Theories of Truth p. 120
Types of Truth Claims p. 127
Acceptability p. 133
Self-Test No. 11 p. 137
Questions for Discussion p. 138
Assessing The Acceptability of Premises p. 139
Some Particular Fallacies p. 140
Self-Test No. 12 p. 148
Questions for Discussion p. 150
Assessing Relevance p. 152
The Criterion of Relevance p. 152
Recognizing Irrelevant Premises p. 154
Appeals To Authority (I) p. 158
Some Particular Fallacies p. 160
Self-Test No. 13 p. 166
Questions for Discussion p. 167
Assessing Adequacy p. 170
The Criterion of Adequacy p. 170
Appeals to Authority (2) p. 173
Analogical Reasoning p. 175
Appeals to Ignorance p. 178
The Slippery Slope Fallacy p. 179
Causal Fallacies p. 183
Self-Test No. 14 p. 187
Questions for Discussion p. 189
Deductive Reasoning p. 191
The Nature of Deductive Reasoning p. 191
Truth-Functional Statements p. 193
Formal Validity and Soundness p. 199
Valid Argument Forms p. 200
Formal Invalidity p. 205
Self-Test No. 15 p. 206
Questions for Discussion p. 208
Inductive Reasoning p. 211
The Nature of Inductive Reasoning p. 211
Inductive Generalization p. 213
Statistical Syllogism p. 215
Induction By Confirmation p. 216
Self-Test No. 16 p. 221
Questions for Discussion p. 223
Moral Reasoning p. 225
Moral Judgments and Judgments of Taste p. 225
Moral Justification p. 227
Appeals to Principles of Right and Wrong p. 230
Self-Test No. 17 p. 235
Questions for Discussion p. 235
Appeals To Consequences p. 236
Self-Test No. 18 p. 241
Questions for Discussion p. 241
Rational Agreement p. 242
Moral Maturity p. 243
Questions for Discussion p. 246
Arguing Back p. 251
Explaining the Weakness p. 251
Counter-examples p. 252
Absurd Examples p. 254
Counter-arguments p. 257
Self-Test No. 19 p. 259
Questions for Discussion p. 260
Irrational Techniques of Persuasion p. 263
Loaded Terms p. 263
Vague Terms p. 265
Loaded Questions p. 266
False Confidence p. 268
Selectivity p. 270
Misleading Statistics p. 271
Humour p. 273
Red Herring p. 274
Guilt By Association p. 276
Persuasive Redefinition p. 276
Self-Test No. 20 p. 278
Questions for Discussion p. 280
Critiquing the Media p. 282
Determining Bias p. 284
Is Objective Reporting Possible? p. 286
How to Assess News Reports p. 291
Another Warning p. 295
Questions for Discussion p. 296
Writing and Assessing Argumentative Essays p. 304
Writing Argumentative Essays: Structure p. 305
Writing Argumentative Essays: Style p. 308
Assessing Argumentative Essays p. 309
Assessing a Sample Argumentative Essay p. 312
Question for Discussion p. 322
Paradoxes and Puzzles p. 325
App. II: Answers to Self-Tests p. 339
Index p. 374