The Voice of Reason: Fundamentals of Critical Thinking | 
 enlarge | Author: Burton F. Porter
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $62.95
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 21879
Media: Paperback
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0195141229
Dewey Decimal Number: 160
EAN: 9780195141221
Publication Date: August 9, 2001
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Product Description
Lively, comprehensive, and contemporary, The Voice of Reason: Fundamentals of Critical Thinking covers three principal areas: thought and language, systematic reasoning, and modes of proof. It employs highly accessible explanations and a multitude of examples drawn from social issues and various academic fields, showing students and other readers how to construct and criticize arguments using the techniques of sound reasoning.
The Voice of Reason examines the traditional elements of the field and also explores new ground. The first section of the book elucidates the relationship between thought and language, explaining how words function. It discusses meaning, connotation, vagueness, ambiguity, and definition, identifying the linguistic elements that can produce mistakes in thinking. The next section describes the rules of systematic reasoning, examining such topics as truth, relevance, and adequacy; deductive logic (categorical, hypothetical, and disjunctive); and induction (cause and effect, analogy, generalization, and hypothesis). Sixteen fallacies in thinking are also described through extensive illustrations and applications. The final section of the book offers a unique study of what constitutes proof in several different areas--including politics, advertising, law, and social issues--as well as in the academic disciplines of literature, science, history, and ethics. The author describes the various rules of evidence, using essays by major figures in each field as examples.
An ideal text for courses in critical thinking, informal logic, and reasoning and writing, The Voice of Reason offers numerous pedagogical features including a host of examples; assignments, exercises, and puzzles at both the halfway point and at the end of each chapter; cartoons and quotations throughout; and practical applications of theoretical concepts. An extensive Instructor's Manual contains answers to the exercises that appear throughout the text.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great Introduction To Critical Thinking February 18, 2006
W. W. Holt
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book is straight-forward, easy to read and full of fun excercises as well as tons of quotes from notable historical personages and essays by leaders of the advertising field. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in learning about critcal thinking or anyone who is adept at critical thinking but wishes to improve their skills. The excercises provide endless practice and food for thought.
Why isn't this required reading at High Schools??
Buy it to improve yourself and society as a whole!
 Good for a text book January 9, 2007
J. Roode (Midwest)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this book for a class on critical thinking. It is not a how to book. It is a how NOT to book. I found that a little confusing but I eventually got used to it. I felt the authors try to make it interesting reading, but it is still very dry at times. Over all as text books go, not bad.
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