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Summary Critical Thinking A concise Guide
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This is a comprehensive summary of the whole book Critical Thinking a Concise Guide by Tracy Bowell
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Table of ContentsCHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING ARGUMENTS..........................................................................................3
BEGINNING TO THINK CRITICALLY: RECOGNISING ARGUMENTS.........................................................................3
STANDARD FORM....................................................................................................................................3
IDENTIFYING CONCLUSIONS AND PREMISES...................................................................................................3
INTERMEDIATE CONCLUSIONS....................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2: LANGUAGE AND RHETORIC............................................................................................5
LINGUISTIC PHENOMENA..........................................................................................................................5
ASPECTS OF MEANING..............................................................................................................................6
RHETORICAL PLOYS..................................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 3: LOGIC DEDUCTIVE VALIDITY...........................................................................................8
THE PRINCIPLE OF CHARITY.......................................................................................................................8
TRUTH..................................................................................................................................................8
DEDUCTIVE VALIDITY................................................................................................................................8
PRESCRIPTIVE CLAIMS VS DESCRIPTIVE CLAIMS..............................................................................................8
CONDITIONAL PROPOSITIONS.....................................................................................................................8
THE ANTECEDENT AND CONSEQUENT OF A CONDITIONAL................................................................................8
ARGUMENT TREES...................................................................................................................................9
DEDUCTIVE SOUNDNESS...........................................................................................................................9
THE CONNECTION TO FORMAL LOGIC..........................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 4: LOGIC: PROBABILITY AND INDUCTIVE REASONING......................................................10
INDUCTIVE FORCE..................................................................................................................................10
INDUCTIVE SOUNDNESS..........................................................................................................................10
INDUCTIVE INFERENCES..........................................................................................................................10
EVIDENCE............................................................................................................................................11
CONVERSION OF INDUCTION TO DEDUCTION...............................................................................................11
A PROGRAMME FOR ASSESSMENT............................................................................................................12
THE CONNECTION TO PROBABILITY THEORY................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 5: THE PRACTICE OF ARGUMENT-RECONSTRUCTION.......................................................14
EXTRANEOUS MATERIAL.........................................................................................................................14
DEFUSING THE RHETORIC........................................................................................................................14
LOGICAL STREAMLINING.........................................................................................................................14
IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT...........................................................................................................................14
CONNECTING PREMISES..........................................................................................................................14
COVERING GENERALISATIONS..................................................................................................................14
RELEVANCE..........................................................................................................................................14
AMBIGUITY AND VAGUENESS...................................................................................................................14
MORE GENERALISATIONS........................................................................................................................15
PRACTICAL REASONING...........................................................................................................................15
BALANCING COSTS, BENEFITS AND PROBABILITIES........................................................................................15
EXPLANATIONS AS CONCLUSIONS..............................................................................................................15
CAUSAL GENERALISATIONS......................................................................................................................15
CHAPTER 6: ISSUES IN ARGUMENT-ASSESSMENT............................................................................16
RATIONAL PERSUASIVENESS.....................................................................................................................16
SOME STRATEGIES FOR LOGICAL ASSESSMENT.............................................................................................16
REFUTATION BY COUNTEREXAMPLE...........................................................................................................16
CHAPTER 7: PSEUDO-REASONING...................................................................................................18
FALLACIES............................................................................................................................................18
FAULTY ARGUMENT TECHNIQUES.............................................................................................................19
,TOO MUCH MATHS!..............................................................................................................................20
2
, Chapter 1: Introducing arguments
Beginning to think critically: Recognising arguments
A rhetoric is any verbal or written attempt to persuade someone to believe, desire or do something
that does not attempt to give good reasons for the belief, desire or action, but attempts to motivate
that belief, desire or action through the power of the words used.
- Analysing attempts to persuade: Of attempts to persuade that are arguments, not all are
good arguments. So, when analysing attempts to persuade we have to perform three tasks.
o Identifying: Whether or not the writer or speaker is attempting to persuade by
means of argument.
o Reconstructing: The argument clearly, to demonstrate clearly the steps and form of
the argument’s reasoning.
o Evaluating what’s good about a persuasion and what’s bad about it.
o Argument: Set of propositions of which one is a conclusion and the remainder are
premises, intended as support for the conclusion.
o Proposition is a factual content expressed by a declarative sentence on a particular
occasion. The same proposition may be expressed by different sentences.
Standard form
When reconstructing arguments, you should apply what you are learning from this chapter by
following the example below and taking these five steps: 1. Identify the conclusion. 2. Identify the
premises. 3. Number the premises and write them out in order. 4. Draw in the inference bar. 5. Write
out the conclusions, placing ‘C’ in front of it. Thus, an example of a standard form is:
P1) Car use is seriously damaging the environment.
P2) Reducing car journeys would reduce damage to the environment.
P3) We should do what we can to protect the environment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C) We should use cars less.
Identifying conclusions and premises
The question of whether a passage or speech contains an argument is the question of whether the
speaker or writer is attempting to persuade her audience of some conclusion by offering premises in
support of it.
- Identifying conclusions: Once you have determined that a text or speech contains an
attempt to persuade by argument, you proceed by identifying its conclusion. Determining
whether a passage contains an attempt to persuade by argument and identifying the
conclusion of that argument do not always occur independently.
- Points making the identification of conclusions easier:
o Once you have decided that a passage or speech contains an attempt to persuade by
argument, try to see what the main point of the passage or speech is.
o Any proposition on any topic can be a conclusion.
o Extended arguments: A single text or speech may contain several arguments for
several different but connected conclusions.
o Words like therefore, hence, thus, it can be concluded that, so ….
o Indicator words are not parts of the propositions that the argument comprises. (6)
Implicit conclusions are only implied or suggested by the actual text or speech
content, not explicitly expressed by it.
- Identifying premises: Ask yourself what the writer or speaker’s reasons for believing their
conclusion are. Premises can have any subject matter whatsoever. It helps to work out the
overall structure of the passage when trying to identify the premises. Phrases like my reason
is, my evidence for this is, this is so because, etc. signal a premise. Take care not to include
the indicator words. As with conclusions, a text or speech may not include specific premise
3
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