| Description |
1 online resource (367 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Argument as reasoned dialogue -- 1.1. Types of argumentative dialogue -- 1.2. Components of argumentative dialogue -- 1.3. Persuasion dialogue (critical discussion) -- 1.4. Negative rules of persuasion dialogue -- 1.5. Some major informal fallacies -- 6. The straw man fallacy -- 1.7. Argument from consequences -- 1.8. The critical perspective -- 2. Questions and answers in dialogue -- 2.1. Presuppositions of questions -- 2.2. Complex questions -- 2.3. Have you stopped abusing your spouse? -- 2.4. Disjunctive questions -- 2.5. Arguments from ignorance -- 2.6. Replying to a question with a question -- 2.7. Begging the question -- 2.8. Questions in polls -- 2.9. Advocacy and push polling -- 2.10. Question-answer rules in dialogue -- 3. Criticisms of irrelevance -- 3.1. Allegations of irrelevance -- 3.2. Global irrelevance -- 3.3. Question-answer relevance -- 3.4. Setting an agenda for a discussion -- 3.5. Red herring versus wrong conclusion -- 3.6. Varieties of criticisms of irrelevance -- 3.7. Summary |
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4. Appeals to emotion -- 4.1. Argumentum ad populum -- 4.2. The argument from popularity -- 4.3. Problems with appeals to popularity -- 4.4. Threatening appeals to force -- 4.5. Further ad baculum problems -- 4.6. Appeals to pity -- 4.7. Overt, pictorial appeals to pity -- 4.8. Summary -- 5. Valid arguments -- 5.1. Deductive validity -- 5.2. Identifying arguments -- 5.3. Validity as a semantic concept -- 5.4. Valid forms of argument -- 5.5. Invalid arguments -- 5.6. Inconsistency -- 5.7. Composition and division -- 5.8. Defeasible reasoning -- 5.9. Jumping to a conclusion -- 5.10. Summary -- 6. Personal attack in argumentation -- 6.1. The abusive ad hominem argument -- 6.2. The circumstantial ad hominem argument -- 6.3. The attack on an arguer's impartiality -- 6.4. Non-fallacious ad hominem arguments -- 6.5. Replying to a personal attack -- 6.6. Critical questions for an ad hominem argument -- 6.7. Important types of error to check -- 6.8. Some cases for further discussion |
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7. Appeals to authority -- 7.1. Reasonable appeals to authority -- 7.2. Argumentation scheme for appeal to expert opinion -- 7.3. Critical questions for the appeal to expert opinion -- 7.4. Three common errors in citing expert opinions -- 7.5. Evaluating appeals to expert opinion in written sources -- 7.6. Expert testimony in legal argumentation -- 7.7. How expert is the authority? -- 7.8. Interpreting what the expert said -- 7.9. A balanced view of argument from expert opinion -- 8. Inductive errors, bias, and fallacies -- 8.1. Meaningless and unknowable statistics -- 8.2. Sampling procedures -- 8.3. Insufficient and biased statistics -- 8.4. Questionable questions and definitions -- 8.5. The post hoc argument -- 8.6. Six kinds of post hoc errors -- 8.7. Bias due to defining variables -- 8.8. Post hoc criticisms as raising critical questions in an inquiry -- 8.9. Strengthening causal arguments by answering critical questions -- 8.10. Examples of drawing causal conclusions from scientific studies -- 8.11. Summary -- 9. Natural language argumentation -- 9.1. Ambiguity and vagueness -- 9.2. Loaded terms and question-begging language -- 9.3. Equivocation and amphiboly -- 9.4. Arguments based on analogy -- 9.5. Argumentative use of analogy -- 9.6. Criticizing arguments from analogy -- 9.7. Slippery slope arguments -- 9.8. Subtle equivocations -- 9.9. Variability of strictness of standards -- 9.10. Conclusions -- Bibliography -- Index |
| Summary |
"Informal Logic is an introductory guidebook to the basic principles of constructing sound arguments and criticizing bad ones. Non-technical in approach, it is based on 186 examples, which Douglas Walton, a leading authority in the field of informal logic, discusses and evaluates in clear, illustrative detail. Walton explains how errors, fallacies, and other key failures of argument occur. He shows how correct uses of argument are based on sound strategies for reasoned persuasion and critical responses. Among the many subjects covered are: forms of valid argument, defeasible arguments, relevance, appeals to emotion, personal attack, straw man argument, jumping to a conclusion, uses and abuses of expert opinion, problems in drawing conclusions from polls and statistics, loaded terms, equivocation, arguments from analogy, and techniques of posing, replying to, and criticizing questions."--Jacket |
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Second edition of the introductory guidebook to the basic principles of constructing sound arguments and criticising bad ones |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Logic.
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Reasoning.
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Logic
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Reasoning
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780511408786 |
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0511408781 |
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