Informal logic : a pragmatic approach

Informal logic : a pragmatic approach / Douglas Walton.

"Informal Logic is an introductory guidebook to the basic principles of constructing sound arguments and criticizing bad ones. Non-technical in approach, it is based on 186 examples, which Douglas Walton, a leading authority in the field of informal logic, discusses and evaluates in clear, illu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Walton, Douglas N.
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Leiden : Cambridge University Press, ©2008.
Edition:2nd ed.
Subjects:
Logic.
Reasoning.
Logic
Reasoning
Online Access:Click for online access
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • 1. Argument as reasoned dialogue
  • 1.1. Types of argumentative dialogue
  • 1.2. Components of argumentative dialogue
  • 1.3. Persuasion dialogue (critical discussion)
  • 1.4. Negative rules of persuasion dialogue
  • 1.5. Some major informal fallacies
  • 6. The straw man fallacy
  • 1.7. Argument from consequences
  • 1.8. The critical perspective
  • 2. Questions and answers in dialogue
  • 2.1. Presuppositions of questions
  • 2.2. Complex questions
  • 2.3. Have you stopped abusing your spouse?
  • 2.4. Disjunctive questions
  • 2.5. Arguments from ignorance
  • 2.6. Replying to a question with a question
  • 2.7. Begging the question
  • 2.8. Questions in polls
  • 2.9. Advocacy and push polling
  • 2.10. Question-answer rules in dialogue
  • 3. Criticisms of irrelevance
  • 3.1. Allegations of irrelevance
  • 3.2. Global irrelevance
  • 3.3. Question-answer relevance
  • 3.4. Setting an agenda for a discussion
  • 3.5. Red herring versus wrong conclusion
  • 3.6. Varieties of criticisms of irrelevance
  • 3.7. Summary.
  • 4. Appeals to emotion
  • 4.1. Argumentum ad populum
  • 4.2. The argument from popularity
  • 4.3. Problems with appeals to popularity
  • 4.4. Threatening appeals to force
  • 4.5. Further ad baculum problems
  • 4.6. Appeals to pity
  • 4.7. Overt, pictorial appeals to pity
  • 4.8. Summary
  • 5. Valid arguments
  • 5.1. Deductive validity
  • 5.2. Identifying arguments
  • 5.3. Validity as a semantic concept
  • 5.4. Valid forms of argument
  • 5.5. Invalid arguments
  • 5.6. Inconsistency
  • 5.7. Composition and division
  • 5.8. Defeasible reasoning
  • 5.9. Jumping to a conclusion
  • 5.10. Summary
  • 6. Personal attack in argumentation
  • 6.1. The abusive ad hominem argument
  • 6.2. The circumstantial ad hominem argument
  • 6.3. The attack on an arguer's impartiality
  • 6.4. Non-fallacious ad hominem arguments
  • 6.5. Replying to a personal attack
  • 6.6. Critical questions for an ad hominem argument
  • 6.7. Important types of error to check
  • 6.8. Some cases for further discussion.
  • 7. Appeals to authority
  • 7.1. Reasonable appeals to authority
  • 7.2. Argumentation scheme for appeal to expert opinion
  • 7.3. Critical questions for the appeal to expert opinion
  • 7.4. Three common errors in citing expert opinions
  • 7.5. Evaluating appeals to expert opinion in written sources
  • 7.6. Expert testimony in legal argumentation
  • 7.7. How expert is the authority?
  • 7.8. Interpreting what the expert said
  • 7.9. A balanced view of argument from expert opinion
  • 8. Inductive errors, bias, and fallacies
  • 8.1. Meaningless and unknowable statistics
  • 8.2. Sampling procedures
  • 8.3. Insufficient and biased statistics
  • 8.4. Questionable questions and definitions
  • 8.5. The post hoc argument
  • 8.6. Six kinds of post hoc errors
  • 8.7. Bias due to defining variables
  • 8.8. Post hoc criticisms as raising critical questions in an inquiry
  • 8.9. Strengthening causal arguments by answering critical questions
  • 8.10. Examples of drawing causal conclusions from scientific studies
  • 8.11. Summary
  • 9. Natural language argumentation
  • 9.1. Ambiguity and vagueness
  • 9.2. Loaded terms and question-begging language
  • 9.3. Equivocation and amphiboly
  • 9.4. Arguments based on analogy
  • 9.5. Argumentative use of analogy
  • 9.6. Criticizing arguments from analogy
  • 9.7. Slippery slope arguments
  • 9.8. Subtle equivocations
  • 9.9. Variability of strictness of standards
  • 9.10. Conclusions
  • Bibliography
  • Index.

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