We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
What an argument is, for purposes of this book. Examples of definitions. Purposes that arguments serve. Notable arguments in history. Argumentation as reasoning and conversely. Why another book on argumentation?
What is a fallacy? Types of fallacies. Relativity of fallaciousness. Formal and linguistic difficulties and confusions. Ambiguity. Difficulties with syllogisms. Atmosphere and other effects. Non sequitur reasoning. Stereotyping. Reification. Proof by analogy. Rationalization.
What makes an argument persuasive? Properties of arguments (e.g., form, associations, complexity). Properties of arguers (e.g., source, domain knowledge, preferences).
Teaching higher-order cognitive skills. Teaching fallacies. Reducing biases. Collaborative learning. The basics of formal logic. Principles of informal reasoning. A perspective. Some grandfatherly advice. A metaphor. Final thought.
Oversimplification. False dichotomies. Misleading truths. Failures of omission. The principle of invariance. Overweighting the here-and-now. Failure to write off sunk costs. Failure to consider opportunity costs. The myth of objectivity (in journalism, historical reporting, in science).
Appeal to tradition, common knowledge, ignorance, vanity. Proof by selected instances, frequent repetition, obfuscation, blatant assertion. Straw man. Diversion. Incredulity and ridicule. Exploitation of linguistic ambiguity. Linguistic preemption. Selective use of statistics. Ploys and entrapment. Misleading (not necessarily false) claims.
What makes a claim (premise of an argument) plausible? Knowledge and metaknowledge. Believed/assumed relationship and perceived strength of the relationship between antecedent and consequent. Awareness of alternative causes or preventatives. Unawareness of counterexamples. Believed credibility and believed intention of source. Framing effects. Diversity of evidentiary support. Emotions, preferences, and other variables. Global fit. Plausibility theory.