Synopses & Reviews
Featuring its own cast of illustrated characters, a personal and accessible tone, and carefully crafted step-by-step units, Epstein's CRITICAL THINKING sets new standards of clarity for presenting the subject matter. Extensively classroom tested, the text uses over one thousand everyday examples and exercises to illuminate key points and ideas. It is the only text on critical thinking in which students work with illustrations to convert the non-verbal into arguments and arrive at conceptual understanding. It is also the only text-workbook-instructor's manual system designed and constructed by one author to provide the most fully integrated learning and teaching system available.
Synopsis
Critical thinking isn't as easy as it sounds. CRITICAL THINKING shows you how decision-making errors are made, and how to avoid them. By combining simple explanations with time-tested theories, CRITICAL THINKING helps you meet the challenges of life head-on. And because it includes over one thousand examples drawn from everyday life and tons of study tools, this textbook helps you get the grade you need.
About the Author
Richard L. Epstein received his B.A. summa cum laude at the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. He held a postdoctoral fellowship in mathematics and philosophy at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, before an extensive career teaching mathematics and philosophy. He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Brazil and a National Academy of Sciences Scholar to Poland. He also owned and managed the Dog and Duck Coffee House. He is the author of the series of research texts THE SEMANTIC FOUNDATIONS OF LOGIC as well as CRITICAL THINKING and FIVE WAYS OF SAYING "THEREFORE". Currently he is head of the Advanced Reasoning Forum in Socorro, New Mexico.
Table of Contents
THE FUNDAMENTALS. 1. Critical Thinking. 2. What Are We Arguing About? 3. What Is A Good Argument? 4. Repairing Arguments. 5. Is That True? Review Chapters 1-5. THE STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENTS. 6. Compound Claims. 7. Counterarguments. 8. General Claims. Review Chapters 6-8. AVOIDING BAD ARGUMENTS. 9. Concealed Claims. 10. Too Much Emotion. 11. Fallacies: A Summary of Bad Arguments. Arguments for Analysis. Short Arguments for Analysis. Complex Arguments for Analysis. REASONING ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE. 12. Reasoning by Analogy. 13. Numbers? 14. Generalizing. 15. Cause and Effect. Review Chapters 12-15. Evaluating Reasoning. Composing Good Arguments. Making Decisions. Appendices. Using Examples in Reasoning. Truth Tables. Aristotelian Logic. Diagramming Arguments. Glossary. Answers to Selected Exercises. Index.