Critical Thinking: An Appeal to Reason

by Peg Tittle

In Critical An Appeal to Reason , Peg Tittle empowers students with a solid grounding in the lifelong skills of considered analysis and argumentation that should underpin every student’s education. Starting with the building blocks of a good argument, this comprehensive new textbook offers a full course in critical thinking. It includes chapters on the nature and structure of argument, the role of relevance, truth and generalizations, and the subtleties of verbal and visual language. Special features • an emphasis on the constructive aspect of critical thinking―strengthening the arguments of others and constructing sound arguments of your own―rather than an exclusive focus on spotting faulty arguments
• actual questions from standardized reasoning tests like the LSAT, GMAT, MCAT, and GRE
• graduated end-of-chapter exercises, asking students to think critically about what they see, hear, read, write, and discuss
• numerous sample arguments from books, magazines, television, and the Internet for students to analyze
• many images for critical analysis
• analyzed arguments that help students to read critically and actively
• an extensive companion website for instructors and students A companion website • for an extensive instructor’s manual; a test bank; and PowerPoint slides
• for extended answers, explanations, and analyses for the exercises and arguments in the book; supplementary chapters on logic and ethics; downloadable MP3 study guides; interactive flash cards; and thinking critically audio exercises. www.routledge.com/textbooks/tittle

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Logic

456 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Epubs/pdfs of my books are available for FREE download at https://www.hellyeahimafeminist.com and https://www.pegtittle.com.

Peg Tittle (pegtittle.com) has written seven novels to date: Fighting Words: notes for a future we won't have, Jess, Gender Fraud: a fiction (category finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Award competition), Impact, It Wasn't Enough (also a category finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Award competition), What Happened to Tom (on Goodreads' list of Fiction Books That Opened Your Eyes To A Social Or Political Issue), and Exile.

She has also written several non-fiction books including Sexist Shit that Pisses Me Off, What If? Collected Thought Experiments in Philosophy (Taylor & Francis), and Critical Thinking: An Appeal to Reason (Routledge).

Her screenplays (including What Happened to Tom and Exile) have placed in several competitions, including Moondance, Fade-In, GimmeCredit, WriteMovies, Scriptapalooza, and American Gem. Aiding the Enemy has been produced as a short by David McDonald.

She was a columnist for the Ethics and Emerging Technologies website for a year (one of her pieces received 35,000 hits, making it #3 of the year, and another received 34,000 hits, making it #5 of the year), The Philosopher Magazine's online philosophy café for eight years, and Philosophy Now for two years. In addition, her short commentary pieces have also been published in Humanist in Canada, Links, Academic Exchange Quarterly, Inroads, Elenchus, South Australian Humanist Post, Forum, and The Humanist. Her longer pieces have appeared in Free Inquiry, The International Journal of Applied Philosophy, New Humanist, The New Zealand Rationalist and Humanist, Philosophy in the Contemporary World, and Sexuality & Culture: an interdisciplinary journal. And she's had a list published at McSweeney's ("Why Feminist Manuscripts Aren't Getting Published Today"). She now blogs (sporadically) at pegtittle.com and hellyeahimafeminist.com.

She has an M.A. in Philosophy, a B.Ed., and a B.A. in Literature, and has received over twenty Arts Council grants.

Reviews

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was asked to examine this title by the publisher. When I first began teaching logic and critical thinking I used an old dinosaur of a text. It focused on formal logic, but contained a quick introduction to informal logic. Recently, I took on a teaching assignment at a community college that was exclusively focused on informal logic. So my old dinosaur wouldn't do. Around the same time I received a copy of this book and it is wonderful. It is well written. Though it is focused almost completely on informal logic. Perfect for my current needs.

[Alexander Antukh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the books everyone should read. A lot of practical examples, clear and detailed sections and tons of all kinds of logical fallacies analyzed under microscope will give you a completely different way of looking to the everyday manipulations and will help you to avoid falling into the common traps. Highly recommended!

[Travis White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I teach a course on critical thinking in a Master's degree program in Communication. The course includes informal logic plus a healthy dose of information on cognitive biases, System 1 versus System 2 thinking, and organizational issues that can skew our thinking. Tittle's book is excellent for the informal logic. She includes plenty of examples and lots of additional resources. Tittle writes well and develops her themes in a logical and cohesive fashion. I also draw from Lewis Vaughn's textbook, The Power of Critical Thinking (5th edition). The two books are similar in many ways. They even look alike. Vaughn's text is more current (2016 versus 2011) and contains some topics that Tittle's text doens't (i.e., a brief introduction to formal logic). On the other hand, Tittle's text contains some things that Vaughn's doesn't (i.e., a better survey of logical fallacies). They're both excellent books and I recommend them highly. I just wish I could merge them together into one grand unified solution.

[Defaeco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of ethos, less content - in quantity and seriousness.