Table of Contents

Introduction 7
Part I: Reasoning 13
1.1 Reasoning and other modes of persuasion 15
1.2 The elements of reasoning 23
Part II: The Structure of Reasoning 43
2.1 Marking reasoning 45
2.2 Mapping simple inferences 54
2.3 Reasoning with three statements 64
2.4 Real-life arguments 79
Part III: Evaluating Reason 109
3.1 Evaluating inference strength 111
3.2 Evaluating premise plausibility 128
3.3 Digging deeper into ‘factual’ premises 143
Part IV: The Big Picture 163
4.1 The taken for granted 165
4.2 Frames and framing 178
4.3 When ideologies and facts collide 190
Appendix 202
References 219
About the authors 221

About the Author

William Fish is a Professor in the School of Humanities at Massey. His research interests are Philosophy of Mind (Philosophy of Perception and Philosophy of Consciousness), Epistemology and Philosophy of Psychology. Steve Duffin is a lecturer in Philosophy at the School of Humanities at Massey.