Synopses & Reviews
The Power of Logic renders balanced coverage of informal and formal logic in concise, accurate, and lively prose, making it the most accessible introductory logic text available. The text’s plentiful examples, imaginative exercises, and numerous visual aids help students develop their critical thinking skills as they put the powerful tools of logic to work.
In response to teacher feedback on The Power of Logic, Steve Layman now provides an alternate notation for greater pedagogical convenience, along with other small refinements. Foremost among these changes is an alteration in the metalanguage used to state inference rules. The intention is to make this language more student-friendly by using Roman characters to express rules instead of Greek letters.
Table of Contents
Preface 1. Basic Concepts Section I. Validity and Deductive Soundness Section II. Strength and Inductive Soundness 2. Argument Forms Section I. Forms and Counterexamples Section II. Some Forms With Names 3. Identifying Arguments Section I. Arguments and Nonarguments Section II. Putting an Argument Into Textbook Form Section III. Argument Diagrams Section IV. Enthymemes 4. Logic and Language Section I. Logic, Meaning, and Emotive Force Section II. Definitions Section III. Using Definitions to Evaluate Arguments 5. Categorical Syllogisms Section I. Categorical Statements Section II. Venn Diagrams Section III. Aristotelian Logic: Immediate Inferences Section IV. Aristotelian Logic: Categorical Syllogisms 6. Informal Fallacies Section I. Fallacies Involving Irrelevant Premises Section II. Fallacies Involving Insufficient Evidence Section III. Fallacies Involving Ambiguity and Unwarranted Premises 7. Statement Logic: Truth Tables Section I. Symbolizing English Arguments Section II. Truth Tables Section III. Using Truth Tables to Evaluate Arguments Section IV. Abbreviated Truth Tables Section V. Tautology, Contradiction, Contingency, and Logical Equivalence 8. Statement Logic: Proofs Section I. Implicational Rules of Inference Section II. Five Equivalence Rules Section III. Five More Equivalence Rules Section IV. Conditional Proof Section V. Reductio Ad Absurdum Section VI. Proving Theorems 9. Predicate Logic Section I. Predicates and Quantifiers Section II. Demonstrating Invalidity Section III. Constructing Proofs Section IV. Quantifier Negation, RAA, and CP Section V. The Logic of Relations Section VI. Identity 10. Induction Section I. Inductive and Deductive Logic: Contrasts and Clarifications Section II. Arguments from Authority and Induction by Enumeration Section III. Mill’s Methods and Scientific Reasoning Section IV. Arguments From Analogy Section V. Metaphors and Arguments from Analogy 11. Probability Section I. Three Theories of Probability Section II. Rules of Probability Section III. Bayes' Theorem 12. Modal Logic Section I. Modal Concepts Section II. The Modal Symbols Section III. Constructing Proofs Section IV. Modal Distribution and Strict Implication Section V. Systems S4 and S5 Answer Key