Critical Thinking The Art Of Argument

With a complete, approachable presentation, CRITICAL THINKING: THE ART OF ARGUMENT, 2nd Edition, is an accessible yet rigorous introduction to critical thinking. The text emphasizes immediate application of critical thinking in everyday life and helps students apply the skills they are studying. The relevance of these skills is shown throughout the text by highlighting the advantages of basing one's decisions on a thoughtful understanding of arguments and presenting the overarching commonalities across arguments. With its conversational writing style and carefully selected examples, the book employs a consistent and unified treatment of logical form and an innovative semiformal method of standardizing arguments that illustrates the concept of logical form while maintaining a visible connection to ordinary speech. Without sacrificing accuracy or detail, the authors clearly present the material, with appropriate study tools and exercises that emphasize application rather than memorization. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

This revised edition draws on years of lecturing experience and feedback from students. The result is a popular, lively and accessible book which offers an improved and reader-friendly introduction to the art of clear thinking. Developing and applying critical reasoning skills is globally recognised as a basic competency, like reading and writing. Critical thinkers who think for themselves are the key role players in a free and democratic society. Several up-to-date and new examples from major South African socio-political events from the past few years are given, such as the Zuma trial, political conflict, race relations, and xenophobia. Other new examples are based on events that took place in the rest of Africa and the world. New exercises are drawn from newspapers, advertisements, political speeches, literary works, the Internet, and debates about xenophobic violence, crime, the death penalty, abortion, euthanasia, inequality, and health care. Numerous activities lead readers to practise critical reasoning skills. The book is valuable to students of Philosophy but also for those studying Communication Science, Development Studies, Health Care, Law, English Studies, Medical Ethics, Political Science, Psychology and Public Administration.

Junior high aged students will argue (and sometimes quarrel), but they won't argue well without good training. Young teens are also targeted by advertisers with a vengeance. From billboards to commercials to a walk down the mall, fallacious arguments are everywhere you look. The Art of Argument was designed to teach the argumentative adolescent how to reason with clarity, relevance and purpose at a time when he has a penchant for the why and how. It is designed to equip and sharpen young minds as they live, play, and grow in this highly commercial culture. This course teaches students to recognize and identify twenty-eight informal fallacies, and the eye-catching text includes over sixty slick and clever, ?phony advertisements? for items from blue jeans to pick-up trucks, which apply the fallacies to a myriad of real life situations.

This work takes you step by step through the art of argument, from thinking about what to write and how you might write it, to how you may strengthen your claims, and how to come to a strong conclusion.

Shortlisted for the British Book Design and Production Awards 2018, Educational Books category Do you need to demonstrate a good argument or find more evidence? Are you mystified by your tutor′s comment ′critical analysis needed′? What does it really mean to think well - and how do you learn to do it? Critical thinking is a set of techniques. You just need to learn them. So here’s your personal toolkit for demystifying critical engagement. I’ll show you how to sharpen your critical thinking by developing and practicing this set of skills, so you can... Spot an argument and get why reasoning matters Sniff out errors and evaluate evidence Understand and account for bias Become a savvy user of technology Develop clear, confident critical writing. Designed to work seamlessly with a power pack of digital resources and exercises, you′ll find practical and effective tools to think and write critically in an information-saturated age. No matter whether you′re launching on your first degree or arriving as an international or mature student, Critical Thinking gives you the skills, insights and confidence to succeed. In your critical thinking toolkit Watch the 10 commandments videos – life rules to change how you think Smart Study boxes share excellent tips to whip your work into shape BuzzFeed quizzes to test what (you think) you know Space to scribble! Journal your thoughts, questions, eureka moments as you go Chat more online with #TalkCriticalThinking

The Elements of Arguments introduces such central critical thinking topics as informal fallacies, the difference between validity and truth, basic formal propositional logic, and how to extract arguments from texts. Turetzky aims to prevent common confusions by clearly explaining a number of important distinctions, including propositions vs. propositional attitudes, propositions vs. states of affairs, and logic vs. rhetoric vs. psychology. Exercises are provided throughout, including numerous informal arguments that can be assessed using the skills and strategies presented within the text.

"[T]he essential tools you need to fight the escalating sophistry, falsehoods and vicious personal attacks that have displaced intelligent conversations throughout the world."--