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| A Word to Students | |
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| Preface | |
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| Introduction to Critical Thinking | |
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| What Is Critical Thinking? | |
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| Critical Thinking Standards | |
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| Clarity | |
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| Precision | |
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| Accuracy | |
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| Relevance | |
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| Consistency | |
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| Logical Correctness | |
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| Completeness | |
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| Fairness | |
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| The Benefits of Critical Thinking | |
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| Critical Thinking in the Classroom | |
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| Critical Thinking in the Workplace | |
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| Critical Thinking in Life | |
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| Barriers to Critical Thinking | |
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| Egocentrism | |
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| Sociocentrism | |
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| Unwarranted Assumptions and Stereotypes | |
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| Relativistic Thinking | |
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| Wishful Thinking | |
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| Characteristics of a Critical Thinker | |
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| Recognizing Arguments | |
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| What Is an Argument? | |
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| Identifying Premises and Conclusions | |
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| What Is Not an Argument? | |
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| Reports | |
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| Unsupported Assertions | |
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| Conditional Statements | |
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| Illustrations | |
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| Explanations | |
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| Basic Logical Concepts | |
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| Deduction and Induction | |
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| How Can We Tell Whether an Argument Is Deductive or Inductive? | |
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| The Indicator Word Test | |
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| The Strict Necessity Test | |
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| The Common Pattern Test | |
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| The Principle of Charity Test | |
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| Exceptions to the Strict Necessity Test | |
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| Common Patterns of Deductive Reasoning | |
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| Hypothetical Syllogism | |
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| Categorical Syllogism | |
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| Argument by Elimination | |
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| Argument Based on Mathematics | |
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| Argument from Definition | |
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| Common Patterns of Inductive Reasoning | |
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| Inductive Generalization | |
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| Predictive Argument | |
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| Argument from Authority | |
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| Causal Argument | |
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| Statistical Argument | |
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| Argument from Analogy | |
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| Deductive Validity | |
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| Inductive Strength | |
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| Language | |
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| Finding the Right Words: The Need for Precision | |
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| Vagueness | |
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| Overgenerality | |
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| Ambiguity | |
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| The Importance of Precise Definitions | |
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| Types of Definitions | |
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| Strategies for Defining | |
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| Rules for Constructing Good Lexical Definitions | |
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| Emotive Language: Slanting the Truth | |
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| The Emotive Power of Words | |
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| Euphemisms and Political Correctness | |
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| Logical Fallacies-! | |
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| The Concept of Relevance | |
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| Fallacies of Relevance | |
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| Personal Attack (Ad Hominem) | |
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| Attacking the Motive | |
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| Look Who's Talking (Tu Quoque) | |
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| Two Wrongs Make a Right | |
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| Scare Tactics | |
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| Appeal to Pity | |
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| Bandwagon Argument | |
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| Straw Man | |
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| Red Herring | |
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| Equivocation | |
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| Begging the Question | |
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| Logical Fallacies-II | |
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| Fallacies of Insufficient Evidence | |
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| Inappropriate Appeal to Authority | |
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| Appeal to Ignorance | |
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| False Alternatives | |
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| Loaded Question | |
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| Questionable Cause | |
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| Hasty Generalization | |
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| Slippery Slope | |
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| Weak Analogy | |
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| Inconsistency | |
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| Analyzing Arguments | |
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| Diagramming Short Arguments | |
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| Tips on Diagramming Arguments | |
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| Summarizing Longer Arguments | |
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| Paraphrasing | |
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| Finding Missing Premises and Conclusions | |
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| Summarizing Extended Arguments | |
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| Common Mistakes to Avoid in Standardizing Arguments | |
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| Evaluating Arguments and Truth Claims | |
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| When Is an Argument a Good One? | |
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| What "Good Argument" Does Not Mean | |
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| What "Good Argument" Does Mean | |
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| When Is It Reasonable to Accept a Premise? | |
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| Refuting Arguments | |
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| Appendix: Sample Critical Essay | |
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| A Little Categorical Logic | |
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| Categorical Statements | |
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| Translating into Standard Categorical Form | |
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| Categorical Syllogisms | |
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| A Little Propositional Logic | |
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| Conjunction | |
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| Conjunction and Validity | |
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| Negation | |
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| Deeper Analysis of Negation and Conjunction | |
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| Disjunction | |
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| Conditional Statements | |
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| Inductive Reasoning | |
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| Introduction to Induction | |
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| Inductive Generalizations | |
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| Evaluating Inductive Generalizations | |
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| Opinion Polls and Inductive Generalizations | |
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| Statistical Arguments | |
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| Reference Class | |
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| Induction and Analogy | |
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| What Is an Analogy? | |
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| How Can We Argue by Analogy? | |
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| Evaluating Arguments from Analogy | |
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| Arguing by Analogy | |
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| Induction and Causal Arguments | |
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| Correlation and Cause | |
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| A Few Words about Probability | |
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| A Closer Look at a Priori Probability | |
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| Finding, Evaluating, and Using Sources | |
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| Finding Sources | |
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| Refining Your Search: Questions and Keywords | |
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| Directional Information | |
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| Informational Sources | |
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| Evaluating Sources | |
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| Content: Facts and Everything Else | |
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| The Author and the Publisher | |
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| The Audience | |
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| Evaluating Internet Sources | |
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| Taking Notes | |
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| Bibliographical Information | |
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| Content Notes: Quotes, Summaries, and Paraphrases | |
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| Using Sources | |
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| Acknowledging Sources | |
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| Incorporating Sources | |
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| Writing Argumentative Essays | |
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| Writing a Successful Argument | |
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| Before You Write | |
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| Know Yourself | |
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| Know Your Audience | |
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| Choose and Narrow Your Topic | |
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| Write a Sentence That Expresses Your Claim | |
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| Gather Ideas: Brainstorm and Research | |
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| Organize Your Ideas | |
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| Writing the First Draft | |
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| Provide an Interesting Opening | |
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| Include a Thesis Statement | |
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| Develop Your Body Paragraphs | |
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| Provide a Satisfying Conclusion | |
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| After the First Draft | |
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| Read What You Have Written and Revise | |
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| Consider What You Have Not Written and Revise | |
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| Show Your Work | |
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| Edit Your Work | |
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| Hand It In | |
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| Sample Argumentative Essay | |
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| Thinking Critically about the Media | |
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| The Mass Media | |
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| Social Media | |
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| The News Media | |
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| The Importance of Context | |
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| Getting Us to Pay Attention: What Really Drives the Media | |
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| Keeping Our Interest: The News as Entertainment | |
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| How the Media Entertain Us | |
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| Slanting the News | |
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| Media Literacy | |
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| Advertising | |
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| What Ads Do | |
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| Defenses of Advertising | |
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| Criticisms of Advertising | |
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| Common Advertising Ploys | |
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| Science and Pseudoscience | |
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| The Basic Pattern of Scientific Reasoning | |
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| The Limitations of Science | |
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| How to Distinguish Science from Pseudoscience | |
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| A Case Study in Pseudoscientific Thinking: Astrology | |
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| Essays for Critical Analysis | |
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| The Six Habits of Effective Problem-Solvers | |
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| Notes | |
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| Answers to Selected Exercises | |
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| Credits | |
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| Index | |