Preface.
PART I: HOW TO ANALYZE ARGUMENTS.
1. Uses of Arguments.
What Arguments Are. Justifications. Explanations. Combinations: An
Example.
2. The Web of Language.
Language and Convention. Linguistic Acts. Speech Acts.
Performatives. Kinds of Speech Acts. Conversational Acts.
Conversational Rules. Conversational Implication. Rhetorical
Devices. Summary.
3. The Language of Argument.
Argument Markers. If . . . , then. Arguments in Standard Form. A
Problem and Some Solutions. Assuring. Guarding. Discounting.
Evaluative Language.
4. The Art of Close Analysis.
An Extended Example. Clerk Hire Allowance, House of
Representatives.
Chapter 5. Deep Analysis.
Getting Down to Basics. Clarifying Crucial Terms. Dissecting the
Argument. Arranging Subarguments. Some Standards for Evaluating
Arguments. Validity. Truth. Soundness. Suppressed Premises.
Contingent Facts. Linguistic Principles. Evaluative Suppressed
Premises. Uses and Abuses of Suppressed Premises. The Method of
Reconstruction. An Example of Reconstruction: Capital
Punishment.
PART II: HOW TO EVALUATE ARGUMENTS: DEDUCTIVE STANDARDS.
6. Propositional Logic.
The Formal Analysis of Arguments. Basic Propositional Connectives.
Conjunction. Disjunction. Negation. Process of Elimination. How
Truth-Functional Connectives Work. Testing for Validity. Some
Further Connectives. Conditionals. Truth Tables for Conditionals.
Logical Language and Everyday Language. Other Conditionals in
Ordinary Language.
7. Categorical Logic.
Beyond Propositional Logic. Categorical Propositions. The Four
Basic Categorical Forms. Translation into the Basic Categorical
Forms. Contradictories. Existential Commitment. Validity for
Categorical Arguments. Categorical Immediate Inferences. The Theory
of the Syllogism.
PART III: HOW TO EVALUATE ARGUMENTS: INDUCTIVE STANDARDS.
8. Arguments To and From Generalizations.
Induction versus Deduction. Statistical Generalizations. Should We
Accept the Premises? Is the Sample Large Enough? Is the Sample
Biased? Is the Sampling Procedure Biased? Statistical
Applications.
9. Inference to the Best Explanation and from Analogy.
Inferences to the Best Explanation. Which Explanation is Best?
Context is Crucial. Arguments from Analogy. Are Analogies
Explanations?
10. Causal Reasoning.
Reasoning About Causes. Sufficient Conditions and Necessary
Conditions. The Sufficient Condition Test. The Necessary Condition
Test. The Joint Test. Rigorous Testing. Reaching Positive
Conclusions. Applying These Methods to Find Causes. Normality.
Background Assumptions. A Detailed Example. Concomitant
Variation.
11. Chances.
Some Fallacies of Probability. The Gambler's Fallacy. Heuristics.
The Language of Probability. A Priori Probability. Some Rules of
Probability. Probabilities of Negations. Probabilities of
Conjunctions. Probabilities of Disjunctions. Probabilities in a
Series. Probabilities of Negations. Probabilities of Conjunctions.
Probabilities of Disjunctions. Permutations and Combinations.
Bayes's Theorem.
12. Choices.
Expected Monetary Value. Expected Overall Value. Decisions Under
Ignorance.
PART: IV: FALLACIES.
13. Fallacies of Vagueness.
Uses of Unclarity. Vagueness. Heaps. Slippery Slopes. Conceptual
Slippery-Slope Arguments. Fairness Slippery-Slope Arguments. Causal
Slippery-Slope Arguments.
14. Fallacies of Ambiguity.
Ambiguity. Equivocation. Definitions.
15. Fallacies of Relevance.
Relevance. Ad Hominem Arguments. Inconsistency. Genetic Fallacies.
Appeals to Authority. More Fallacies of Relevance. Appeals to
Popular Opinion. Appeals to Emotion.
16. Fallacies of Vacuity.
Circularity. Begging the Question. Self-Sealers.
17. Refutation.
What Is Refutation? Counterexamples. Reductio Ad Absurdum. Straw
Men and False Dichotomies. Refutation by Parallel Reasoning.
Credits.
Index.
Robert J. Fogelin is Professor of Philosophy and Sherman Fairchild Professor in the Humanities at Dartmouth College. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong is Chauncey Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics in the Department of Philosophy and the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University.
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