The Art of Reasoning / Edition 3

by David Kelley

Overview

An inviting alternative to traditional texts in introductory logic, The Art of Reasoning is widely acclaimed for its conversational tone and accessible exposition of rigorous logical concepts.
The Third Edition has been meticulously updated and continues the successful pedagogical approach of the two previous editions, guiding students through the fundamental elements of formal deductive logic, classification and definition, fallacies, basic argument analysis, inductive generalization, statistical reasoning, and explanation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393972139
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	02/01/1998
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	704
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

David Kelley earned his PhD in philosophy from Princeton University and has taught at Vassar College and Brandeis University. He is Executive Director of The Atlas Society in Washington, DC.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 -- introduction
Thinking skills
Objectivity

Partone -- concepts and propositions

Chapter 2 -- classification
Concepts and referents
Rules and classification
Levels of organization

Chapter 3 -- definitions
The functions of a definition
Rules for definitions
Constructing definitions

Chapter 4 -- propositions
Propositions and sentences
Propositions and word meaning
Propositions and grammar

Part two - arguments

Chapter 5 -- basic argument analysis
Elements of reasoning
Diagramming arguments
Logical strength
Implicit premises

Chapter 6 -- fallacies
Subjectivist fallacies
Fallacies involving credibility
Fallacies of context
Fallacies of logical structure

Chapter 7 -- advanced argument analysis
Distilling an argument
Diagramming debates

Part three -- classical deductive logic

Chapter 8 -- categorical propositions
Standard form
The square of opposition
Existential import
Distribution
Immediate inference
Venn diagrams

Chapter 9 -- categorical syllogisms
The structure of a syllogism
Validity
Enthymemes
Rules of validity
Venn diagrams
The cancellation method

Chapter 10 -- disjunctive and hypothetical syllogisms
Disjunctive syllogisms
Hypothetical propositions
Hypothetical syllogisms

Chapter 11 -- syllogisms in ordinary reasoning
Distilling deductive arguments
Extended arguments

Part four -- modern deductive logic

Chapter 12 -- propositional logic: symbolic notation
Connectives
Statement forms
Computing truth tables

Chapter 13 -- propositional logic: arguments
Truth table test of validity
Truth table test-short form
Proof
Equivalence
Conditional proof and reductio ad absurdum

Chapter 14 -- predicate logic
Quantifiers
General statements
Relations and multiple quantification
Proof

Part five -- inductive logic

Chapter 15 -- inductive generalizations
Generalizing
Causality
Agreement and difference
Concomitant variations and residues

Chapter 16 -- argument by analogy
Analogy and similarity
Analysis and evaluation

Chapter 17 -- statistical reasoning
Logic and statistics
Using statistics in argument
Statistical generalization
Statistical evidence of causality

Chapter 18 -- explanation
Explanation and argument
Adequacy
The truth of hypotheses
Answers to practice quizzes
Glossary
Index

What People are Saying About This

Vincente Medina

David Kelley succeeded in writing not only a philosophically rigorous logic textbook, but, more importantly, [one that is] accessible to students.

Aeon J. Skoble

Excellent. I have used The Art of Reasoning many times and recommended it to many colleagues, several of whom used it as well. I find this book vastly superior to the multitude of other texts available for this course.