The Power of Critical Thinking
Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims
8th Edition
Published on 6. June 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
648 pages
978-0-19-776820-4 (ISBN)
Description
The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims is the #1 selling critical thinking textbook, primarily intended for the Critical Thinking, informal logic, Critical Thought and Reasoning courses. These courses, and where this book is successful, is taught out of the Philosophy department- not to be confused with the student success oriented Critical Thinking course. It explores the essentials of critical reasoning, argumentation, logic, and argumentative essay writing while also incorporating important topics that most other texts leave out, such as "inference to the best explanation," scientific reasoning, evidence and authority, visual reasoning, and obstacles to critical thinking. The book is praised for Vaughn's clear, concise, and lively writing, its real-world applications, and its focus on teaching students how to write critically and effectively-covered in Appendix B (Essays for Evaluation) and Appendix E (Critical Thinking and Writing). People also appreciate that the book is more economically priced than most competing texts.
The text integrates many pedagogical features, including hundreds of diverse exercises, examples, and illustrations; text boxes that apply critical thinking to student experience; step-by-step guidelines for evaluating claims, arguments, and explanations; a glossary of important terms; and many reminders, summaries, and review notes.
The text integrates many pedagogical features, including hundreds of diverse exercises, examples, and illustrations; text boxes that apply critical thinking to student experience; step-by-step guidelines for evaluating claims, arguments, and explanations; a glossary of important terms; and many reminders, summaries, and review notes.
Reviews / Votes
The organization of the book is very clear, and chapters are appropriately divided between important topics...The ordering of the chapters is appropriate and thoughtful. The range of topics is breathtaking... The addition of a full chapter on digital media literacy (Chapter 5) is my favorite change from the sixth to the seventh editions."- Crystal Rose Well-organized, clear, addresses all the major topics, good exercises. I especially like the attention paid to inference to best explanation."
-Jonathan Ruben Cohen I really appreciate the sections on recognizing one's own bias. The Media, Science, and Morality are new to textbooks, other than the Paul Elder book. I find this incredibly useful and relevant for our times. The chapter on belief and doubt is also new to me, but I wasn't to use it. The sections on logic are very accessible for students"
-Quincy Leigh Foley This book is about as clear as a logic textbook can be (and much better than others I have used)."
-James McRae
More details
Edition
8th Revised edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Edition type
Revised edition
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 198 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
1474 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-776820-4 (9780197768204)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Bioethics, Fifth Edition (2022), The Power of Critical Thinking, Seventh Edition, (2021), Philosophy Here and Now, fourth Edition (2021), and Living Philosophy, third Edition (2020), all published by Oxford University Press. He also publishes Doing Ethics, Fifth Edition (2018) with W.W. Norton.
Content
Preface PART ONE: BASICS Chapter 1. The Power of Critical Thinking
WHY IT MATTERS
HOW IT WORKS
Claims and Reasons
Reasons and Arguments
Arguments in the Rough
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 2. Obstacles to Critical Thinking
ALL HAIL THE SELF
ALL HAIL MY GROUP
THE TOUGHEST MENTAL OBSTACLES
Denying Contrary Evidence
Looking for Confirming Evidence
Motivated Reasoning
Preferring Available Evidence
YOUR BRAIN ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Mere Exposure Effect
Illusion-of-Truth Effect
False Consensus Effect
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
PHILOSOPHICAL OBSTACLES
Subjective Relativism
Social Relativism
Skepticism
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 3. Making Sense of Arguments
ARGUMENT BASICS
EXERCISE
JUDGING ARGUMENTS
EXERCISES
FINDING MISSING PARTS
EXERCISE
ARGUMENT PATTERNS
EXERCISES
DIAGRAMMING ARGUMENTS
EXERCISES
ASSESSING LONG ARGUMENTS EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS PART TWO: REASONS Chapter 4. Reasons for Belief and Doubt
WHEN CLAIMS CONFLICT
EXPERTS AND NONEXPERTS
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Impairment
Expectation
Innumeracy and Probability
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 5. Media Manipulation: Fake News, Bias, and Advertising
FAKE NEWS
Telling Fake from Real
MEDIA BIAS
Objectivity and Bias
Opinion, Analysis, Advocacy
Liberal and Conservative Bias
ADVERTISING
How Advertising Works
Internet Advertising
Political Advertising
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEM
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 6. Fallacies and Persuaders
FALLACIES: IRRELEVANT PREMISES
Genetic Fallacy
Composition
Division
Appeal to the Person
Equivocation
Appeal to Popularity
Appeal to Tradition
Appeal to Ignorance
Appeal to Emotion
Red Herring
Straw Man
Two Wrongs Make a Right
FALLACIES: UNACCEPTABLE PREMISES
Begging the Question
False Dilemma
Decision-Point Fallacy
Slippery Slope
Hasty Generalization
Faulty Analogy
PERSUADERS: RHETORICAL MOVES
Innuendo
Euphemisms and Dysphemisms
Stereotyping
Ridicule
Rhetorical Definitions
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS PART THREE: ARGUMENTS Chapter 7. Deductive Reasoning: Propositional Logic
CONNECTIVES AND TRUTH VALUES
Conjunction
Disjunction
Negation
Conditional
EXERCISES
CHECKING FOR VALIDITY
Simple Arguments
Tricky Arguments
Streamlined Evaluation
EXERCISES
PROOF OF VALIDITY
Rules of Inference
Rules of Replacement
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 8. Deductive Reasoning: Categorical Logic
STATEMENTS AND CLASSES
EXERCISES
TRANSLATIONS AND STANDARD FORM
Terms
Quantifiers
EXERCISES
DIAGRAMMING CATEGORICAL STATEMENTS
EXERCISES
SIZING UP CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISMS
EXERCISES
THE SQUARE OF OPPOSITION
CATEGORICAL EQUIVALENCE
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 9. Inductive Reasoning
ENUMERATIVE INDUCTION
Sample Size
Representativeness
Opinion Polls
EXERCISES
ANALOGICAL INDUCTION
Relevant Similarities
Relevant Dissimilarities
The Number of Instances Compared
Diversity among Cases
EXERCISES
CAUSAL ARGUMENTS
Testing for Causes
Causal Confusions
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS PART FOUR: EXPLANATIONS Chapter 10. Inference to the Best Explanation
EXPLANATIONS AND INFERENCE
EXERCISES
THEORIES AND CONSISTENCY
THEORIES AND CRITERIA
Testability
Fruitfulness
Scope
Simplicity
Conservatism
EXERCISES
TELLING GOOD THEORIES FROM BAD
A Doomed Flight
An Amazing Cure
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 11. Judging Scientific Theories
SCIENCE AND NOT SCIENCE
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
TESTING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES
JUDGING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES
Copernicus versus Ptolemy
Evolution versus Creationism
EXERCISES
SCIENCE AND WEIRD THEORIES
MAKING WEIRD MISTAKES
Leaping to the Weirdest Theory
Mixing What Seems with What Is
Misunderstanding the Possibilities
JUDGING WEIRD THEORIES
Crop Circles
Talking with the Dead
EXERCISES
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 12. Critical Thinking in Morality
MORAL ARGUMENTS
MORAL PREMISES
MORAL THEORIES
Evaluating Moral Theories
Two Important Theories
A COHERENT WORLDVIEW
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS APPENDIX A. The Truth About Philosophy Majors
APPENDIX B. Essays for Evaluation
Essay 1 Death Penalty Discriminates against Black Crime Victims
Essay 2 Marine Parks
Essay 3 A Feminist Defense of Pornography
Essay 4 A Defense of Homosexuality
Essay 5 More Innocents Die When We Don't Have Capital Punishment
Essay 6 What's Wrong with Adultery?
Essay 7 A Pat-Down Is Better Than a Blow-Up
Essay 8 The Cohabitation Epidemic
Essay 9 Not Being Vaccinated Is Not Acceptable
Essay 10 Women and the Afghanistan Peace Process
Essay 11 A Deviance from God's Norm
Essay 12 Marriage Still Evolving, as Ever
Essay 13 Slouching toward Chimeras
Essay 14 Fighting Islamic Extremists Who Stifle Free Speech
Essay 15 Is Sluttishness a Feminist Statement?
Essay 16 Torture: Time for Congress to End the Debate
Essay 17 Torture: Severe Interrogations Work
Essay 18 Freedom of Expression: Protect Student Speech-Even <"Unwise> " Bong Banner
Essay 19 Freedom of Expression: Policy Reflects Common Sense
Essay 20 It's Irresponsible to Spread Fear of Vaccine
Essay 21 Flag Amendment: Flag Needs Protection
APPENDIX C Answers to Exercises
APPENDIX D Answers to Self-Assessment Quizzes
APPENDIX E Critical Thinking and Writing
NOTES
GLOSSARY
CREDITS
INDEX
WHY IT MATTERS
HOW IT WORKS
Claims and Reasons
Reasons and Arguments
Arguments in the Rough
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 2. Obstacles to Critical Thinking
ALL HAIL THE SELF
ALL HAIL MY GROUP
THE TOUGHEST MENTAL OBSTACLES
Denying Contrary Evidence
Looking for Confirming Evidence
Motivated Reasoning
Preferring Available Evidence
YOUR BRAIN ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Mere Exposure Effect
Illusion-of-Truth Effect
False Consensus Effect
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
PHILOSOPHICAL OBSTACLES
Subjective Relativism
Social Relativism
Skepticism
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 3. Making Sense of Arguments
ARGUMENT BASICS
EXERCISE
JUDGING ARGUMENTS
EXERCISES
FINDING MISSING PARTS
EXERCISE
ARGUMENT PATTERNS
EXERCISES
DIAGRAMMING ARGUMENTS
EXERCISES
ASSESSING LONG ARGUMENTS EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS PART TWO: REASONS Chapter 4. Reasons for Belief and Doubt
WHEN CLAIMS CONFLICT
EXPERTS AND NONEXPERTS
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Impairment
Expectation
Innumeracy and Probability
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 5. Media Manipulation: Fake News, Bias, and Advertising
FAKE NEWS
Telling Fake from Real
MEDIA BIAS
Objectivity and Bias
Opinion, Analysis, Advocacy
Liberal and Conservative Bias
ADVERTISING
How Advertising Works
Internet Advertising
Political Advertising
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEM
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 6. Fallacies and Persuaders
FALLACIES: IRRELEVANT PREMISES
Genetic Fallacy
Composition
Division
Appeal to the Person
Equivocation
Appeal to Popularity
Appeal to Tradition
Appeal to Ignorance
Appeal to Emotion
Red Herring
Straw Man
Two Wrongs Make a Right
FALLACIES: UNACCEPTABLE PREMISES
Begging the Question
False Dilemma
Decision-Point Fallacy
Slippery Slope
Hasty Generalization
Faulty Analogy
PERSUADERS: RHETORICAL MOVES
Innuendo
Euphemisms and Dysphemisms
Stereotyping
Ridicule
Rhetorical Definitions
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS PART THREE: ARGUMENTS Chapter 7. Deductive Reasoning: Propositional Logic
CONNECTIVES AND TRUTH VALUES
Conjunction
Disjunction
Negation
Conditional
EXERCISES
CHECKING FOR VALIDITY
Simple Arguments
Tricky Arguments
Streamlined Evaluation
EXERCISES
PROOF OF VALIDITY
Rules of Inference
Rules of Replacement
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 8. Deductive Reasoning: Categorical Logic
STATEMENTS AND CLASSES
EXERCISES
TRANSLATIONS AND STANDARD FORM
Terms
Quantifiers
EXERCISES
DIAGRAMMING CATEGORICAL STATEMENTS
EXERCISES
SIZING UP CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISMS
EXERCISES
THE SQUARE OF OPPOSITION
CATEGORICAL EQUIVALENCE
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 9. Inductive Reasoning
ENUMERATIVE INDUCTION
Sample Size
Representativeness
Opinion Polls
EXERCISES
ANALOGICAL INDUCTION
Relevant Similarities
Relevant Dissimilarities
The Number of Instances Compared
Diversity among Cases
EXERCISES
CAUSAL ARGUMENTS
Testing for Causes
Causal Confusions
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS PART FOUR: EXPLANATIONS Chapter 10. Inference to the Best Explanation
EXPLANATIONS AND INFERENCE
EXERCISES
THEORIES AND CONSISTENCY
THEORIES AND CRITERIA
Testability
Fruitfulness
Scope
Simplicity
Conservatism
EXERCISES
TELLING GOOD THEORIES FROM BAD
A Doomed Flight
An Amazing Cure
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 11. Judging Scientific Theories
SCIENCE AND NOT SCIENCE
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
TESTING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES
JUDGING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES
Copernicus versus Ptolemy
Evolution versus Creationism
EXERCISES
SCIENCE AND WEIRD THEORIES
MAKING WEIRD MISTAKES
Leaping to the Weirdest Theory
Mixing What Seems with What Is
Misunderstanding the Possibilities
JUDGING WEIRD THEORIES
Crop Circles
Talking with the Dead
EXERCISES
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 12. Critical Thinking in Morality
MORAL ARGUMENTS
MORAL PREMISES
MORAL THEORIES
Evaluating Moral Theories
Two Important Theories
A COHERENT WORLDVIEW
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS APPENDIX A. The Truth About Philosophy Majors
APPENDIX B. Essays for Evaluation
Essay 1 Death Penalty Discriminates against Black Crime Victims
Essay 2 Marine Parks
Essay 3 A Feminist Defense of Pornography
Essay 4 A Defense of Homosexuality
Essay 5 More Innocents Die When We Don't Have Capital Punishment
Essay 6 What's Wrong with Adultery?
Essay 7 A Pat-Down Is Better Than a Blow-Up
Essay 8 The Cohabitation Epidemic
Essay 9 Not Being Vaccinated Is Not Acceptable
Essay 10 Women and the Afghanistan Peace Process
Essay 11 A Deviance from God's Norm
Essay 12 Marriage Still Evolving, as Ever
Essay 13 Slouching toward Chimeras
Essay 14 Fighting Islamic Extremists Who Stifle Free Speech
Essay 15 Is Sluttishness a Feminist Statement?
Essay 16 Torture: Time for Congress to End the Debate
Essay 17 Torture: Severe Interrogations Work
Essay 18 Freedom of Expression: Protect Student Speech-Even <"Unwise> " Bong Banner
Essay 19 Freedom of Expression: Policy Reflects Common Sense
Essay 20 It's Irresponsible to Spread Fear of Vaccine
Essay 21 Flag Amendment: Flag Needs Protection
APPENDIX C Answers to Exercises
APPENDIX D Answers to Self-Assessment Quizzes
APPENDIX E Critical Thinking and Writing
NOTES
GLOSSARY
CREDITS
INDEX