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Logic
Featuring an exceptionally clear writing style and a wealth of real-world examples and exercises, Logic, Second Edition, shows how logic relates to everyday life, demonstrating its applications in such areas as the workplace, media and entertainment, politics, science and technology, student
life, and elsewhere.
Thoroughly revised and expanded in this second edition, the text now features 2600 exercises, more than 1000 of them new; three new chapters on legal arguments, moral arguments, and analyzing a long essay; enhanced pedagogy; and much more.
FEATURES
* 2600 exercises--more than 1000 of them new-- breathe new life into logic
* Real-world examples help bring logic down to earth for students
* A unique, extended explanation or model of the answer to the first question of each "Check Your Understanding" section shows students what is expected of their answers
* An additional 25% of the exercises are answered at the back of the book
* "Profiles in Logic" provide short sketches of logicians, philosophers, mathematicians, and others associated with logic
* "Logic Challenge" problems present puzzles and paradoxes that end each chapter on a fun note
* Additional pedagogical elements--marginal definitions, key terms, a glossary, reference boxes, and bulleted chapter summaries-- make the material even more accessible
* Detailed guides help students learn to create "truth tables" and Venn diagrams
SUPPORT PACKAGE
An Instructor's Manual with Computerized Test Bank on CD
Solutions to all exercises in the book, enhanced by explanations and answers that elucidate the details of the correct answers
Key Terms and a summary for each chapter
A customizable Computerized Test Bank--with multiple-choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank questions--that allows instructors to give exams or homework problems that can be auto-graded
A traditional "pencil-and-paper" Test Bank and answer key containing the same questions as the Computerized Test Bank
PowerPoint-based lecture outlines
The Instructor's Manual with Computerized Test Bank and the traditional Test Bank are also available in printed format.
A Companion Website
Instructor Resources (password-protected):
A downloadable version of the Instructor's Manual (except for the Test Bank and the exercise solutions)
PowerPoint-based lecture outlines
Student
Brief chapter summaries
Interactive Flash Cards with key terms and definitions
Web links and other media resources
Practice quizzes with answers and explanations (includes questions answered in the book and new, original questions)
The Learning Management System Cartridges include, in a fully downloadable
Instructor's Manual and Computerized Test Bank (exams and homework problems can be auto-graded)
Student material from the companion website
The Perfect Text for Your Course . . . No Matter How You Teach It
Your course is unique; you have your own teaching philosophy and style. Whether you teach traditional Introduction to Logic, Critical Thinking/Informal Logic, or Formal Logic, Logic, Second Edition, can be tailored to fulfill your course needs.
We'll make it easy for you; choose one of our Alternate Editions or build the book you want, chapter by chapter.
Option 1. Author Stan Baronett has suggested four Alternate Editions that may work for you. Each Alternate Edition comes in full color, with answers to problems, a full glossary, and an index. The books are in stock and available for ordering. Please see the ISBN information below.
Concise Edition
Chapters 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Order using 978-0-19-994129-2
An Emphasis on Critical Thinking and Informal Logic
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13 A-E, 14, 15
Order using 978-0-19-994128-5
An Emphasis on Formal Logic
Chapters 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Order using 978-0-19-994126-1
With Diagramming used in Chapter 4. Informal Fallacies
Full text
Order using 978-0-19-997081-0
Option 2. Create your own customized textbook by choosing the specific chapters that you need for your course. Please contact your Oxford University Press Sales Representative or call 800.280.0280 for details.
life, and elsewhere.
Thoroughly revised and expanded in this second edition, the text now features 2600 exercises, more than 1000 of them new; three new chapters on legal arguments, moral arguments, and analyzing a long essay; enhanced pedagogy; and much more.
FEATURES
* 2600 exercises--more than 1000 of them new-- breathe new life into logic
* Real-world examples help bring logic down to earth for students
* A unique, extended explanation or model of the answer to the first question of each "Check Your Understanding" section shows students what is expected of their answers
* An additional 25% of the exercises are answered at the back of the book
* "Profiles in Logic" provide short sketches of logicians, philosophers, mathematicians, and others associated with logic
* "Logic Challenge" problems present puzzles and paradoxes that end each chapter on a fun note
* Additional pedagogical elements--marginal definitions, key terms, a glossary, reference boxes, and bulleted chapter summaries-- make the material even more accessible
* Detailed guides help students learn to create "truth tables" and Venn diagrams
SUPPORT PACKAGE
An Instructor's Manual with Computerized Test Bank on CD
Solutions to all exercises in the book, enhanced by explanations and answers that elucidate the details of the correct answers
Key Terms and a summary for each chapter
A customizable Computerized Test Bank--with multiple-choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank questions--that allows instructors to give exams or homework problems that can be auto-graded
A traditional "pencil-and-paper" Test Bank and answer key containing the same questions as the Computerized Test Bank
PowerPoint-based lecture outlines
The Instructor's Manual with Computerized Test Bank and the traditional Test Bank are also available in printed format.
A Companion Website
Instructor Resources (password-protected):
A downloadable version of the Instructor's Manual (except for the Test Bank and the exercise solutions)
PowerPoint-based lecture outlines
Student
Brief chapter summaries
Interactive Flash Cards with key terms and definitions
Web links and other media resources
Practice quizzes with answers and explanations (includes questions answered in the book and new, original questions)
The Learning Management System Cartridges include, in a fully downloadable
Instructor's Manual and Computerized Test Bank (exams and homework problems can be auto-graded)
Student material from the companion website
The Perfect Text for Your Course . . . No Matter How You Teach It
Your course is unique; you have your own teaching philosophy and style. Whether you teach traditional Introduction to Logic, Critical Thinking/Informal Logic, or Formal Logic, Logic, Second Edition, can be tailored to fulfill your course needs.
We'll make it easy for you; choose one of our Alternate Editions or build the book you want, chapter by chapter.
Option 1. Author Stan Baronett has suggested four Alternate Editions that may work for you. Each Alternate Edition comes in full color, with answers to problems, a full glossary, and an index. The books are in stock and available for ordering. Please see the ISBN information below.
Concise Edition
Chapters 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Order using 978-0-19-994129-2
An Emphasis on Critical Thinking and Informal Logic
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13 A-E, 14, 15
Order using 978-0-19-994128-5
An Emphasis on Formal Logic
Chapters 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Order using 978-0-19-994126-1
With Diagramming used in Chapter 4. Informal Fallacies
Full text
Order using 978-0-19-997081-0
Option 2. Create your own customized textbook by choosing the specific chapters that you need for your course. Please contact your Oxford University Press Sales Representative or call 800.280.0280 for details.
736 pages, Paperback
First published December 20, 2007
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118 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 23, 2024
For a few years I had an annual ritual of studying this around Christmas and New Years. Confused by the negative reviews. Full of good exercises, clear explanations. Very comprehensive.
May 11, 2023
Conclusion: This book deals with several different areas of logic and gives a good study of the entire field. This book can be read by just about anybody at different levels of education. If anybody wants to read a book on logic (broadly speaking), this will probably be just about as good as any other.
This book is comprised of 4 Parts:
I. “Setting the Stage”
II. “Informal Logic”
III. “Formal Logic”
IV. “Inductive Logic”
Each part could be read independently of one another, depending on why you want to study logic, although parts I-III are distinct from one another in that each subsequent part is more abstract than the previous one. This leads me to caution anyone reading part III that reading part II is suggested if you are struggling. Below is a summary and a slight review of each part.
The first part is a standard introduction, answering questions such as “What is logic?”, “what are arguments” and “Why is the study of logic important?”. This first part is good for anyone new to logic and typically what people have in mind when they think colloquially about the term ‘logic’.
The second part starts by detailing the importance of language in the study of logic and discusses the basics of analyzing arguments, as well as a lengthy discussion of informal fallacies. This part is good for any reader interested in logic in everyday life. We are constantly bombarded with arguments that need to be deconstructed down to their logical components to begin to understand their truth values. This is a good introduction to ways to enhance the skills of critical thinking in people not exposed to these ideas before.
The third part is more technical, introducing the reader to things such as Venn Diagrams, The Square of Opposition, truth tables, propositional logic, and predicate logic. This is a great study of the topics, although some notation choices are inconsistent with the broader field of logic which can be somewhat bothersome, but not a huge hurdle. Another issue I had with this part is that I always wished there were more exercises, as well as more explanations with examples. Some sections would have 10+ exercises, while others would have 4. I also found that areas of predicate logic had fewer examples and exercises despite being much more difficult to grasp than the other topics. However, I recognize that there need to be obvious limitations on how many exercises are included in a book like this; the author could have extended this book with 1,000 extra pages with exercises and a full explanation, but this would have been impractical. However, it may be good to prepared to look for outside materials when wanting more practice and more explanations for some of the rules of logic. This section is primarily what I was wanting to study when picking up this book and despite my problems, I think this book deals with the subject as good or better than other books.
The fourth and final part of this book breaks with the increasing levels of abstraction and difficulty and again turns to the ‘real world’ (so to speak). In it, the author discusses analogies, legal arguments, moral arguments, statistics, and causality. Each section can be read almost completely independently from one another and read as a sort of “introduction to x”. For instance, the statistics chapter felt more like a broad introduction/review of a first-year statistics class. Similarly, the discussion of morality and science were discussions of the philosophy of each, detailing different theories within those specific fields. The entire part felt a little out of place, especially after the more abstract chapters dealt with in part III.
This book is comprised of 4 Parts:
I. “Setting the Stage”
II. “Informal Logic”
III. “Formal Logic”
IV. “Inductive Logic”
Each part could be read independently of one another, depending on why you want to study logic, although parts I-III are distinct from one another in that each subsequent part is more abstract than the previous one. This leads me to caution anyone reading part III that reading part II is suggested if you are struggling. Below is a summary and a slight review of each part.
The first part is a standard introduction, answering questions such as “What is logic?”, “what are arguments” and “Why is the study of logic important?”. This first part is good for anyone new to logic and typically what people have in mind when they think colloquially about the term ‘logic’.
The second part starts by detailing the importance of language in the study of logic and discusses the basics of analyzing arguments, as well as a lengthy discussion of informal fallacies. This part is good for any reader interested in logic in everyday life. We are constantly bombarded with arguments that need to be deconstructed down to their logical components to begin to understand their truth values. This is a good introduction to ways to enhance the skills of critical thinking in people not exposed to these ideas before.
The third part is more technical, introducing the reader to things such as Venn Diagrams, The Square of Opposition, truth tables, propositional logic, and predicate logic. This is a great study of the topics, although some notation choices are inconsistent with the broader field of logic which can be somewhat bothersome, but not a huge hurdle. Another issue I had with this part is that I always wished there were more exercises, as well as more explanations with examples. Some sections would have 10+ exercises, while others would have 4. I also found that areas of predicate logic had fewer examples and exercises despite being much more difficult to grasp than the other topics. However, I recognize that there need to be obvious limitations on how many exercises are included in a book like this; the author could have extended this book with 1,000 extra pages with exercises and a full explanation, but this would have been impractical. However, it may be good to prepared to look for outside materials when wanting more practice and more explanations for some of the rules of logic. This section is primarily what I was wanting to study when picking up this book and despite my problems, I think this book deals with the subject as good or better than other books.
The fourth and final part of this book breaks with the increasing levels of abstraction and difficulty and again turns to the ‘real world’ (so to speak). In it, the author discusses analogies, legal arguments, moral arguments, statistics, and causality. Each section can be read almost completely independently from one another and read as a sort of “introduction to x”. For instance, the statistics chapter felt more like a broad introduction/review of a first-year statistics class. Similarly, the discussion of morality and science were discussions of the philosophy of each, detailing different theories within those specific fields. The entire part felt a little out of place, especially after the more abstract chapters dealt with in part III.
June 17, 2025
An introduction to formal and informal logic. As a textbook, it does its job well enough, but that doesn't mean it's perfect.
As to form, the book is decently organized and the material easy to understand. The exercises were generally helpful as well. However, despite having an entire chapter on making definitions, many of his definitions were vague. He opted for a conversational tone throughout much of the book, which also led to some long and redundant examples. But again, the textbook is passable for learning the discipline of logic. The formal section was strongest.
One more critique, though it doesn't necessarily reduce the utility of the book. Baronett was fairly biased in his exercises, examples, and philosopher profiles. He praised philosophers who offered arguments against God, but failed to interact with the religious views of Christian philosophers he profiled. He also praised evolution for being scientifically supported without working through any logical arguments, while drudging up fringe Christian "prophets" for demonstrating the "manipulative" nature of "superstition." Even if you agree with Baronett's secular and liberal worldview, this textbook was not the appropriate place for him to air his views.
TL;DR: Fine, for a textbook.
As to form, the book is decently organized and the material easy to understand. The exercises were generally helpful as well. However, despite having an entire chapter on making definitions, many of his definitions were vague. He opted for a conversational tone throughout much of the book, which also led to some long and redundant examples. But again, the textbook is passable for learning the discipline of logic. The formal section was strongest.
One more critique, though it doesn't necessarily reduce the utility of the book. Baronett was fairly biased in his exercises, examples, and philosopher profiles. He praised philosophers who offered arguments against God, but failed to interact with the religious views of Christian philosophers he profiled. He also praised evolution for being scientifically supported without working through any logical arguments, while drudging up fringe Christian "prophets" for demonstrating the "manipulative" nature of "superstition." Even if you agree with Baronett's secular and liberal worldview, this textbook was not the appropriate place for him to air his views.
TL;DR: Fine, for a textbook.
May 19, 2019
This is a good introduction to Logic and critical thinking. I initially gave four stars, but I think it deserves 5 stars. It’s an excellent book and the complete third edition is useful either for critical thinking courses or as an intro to predicate logic. Best introduction to the topic so far.
Pros: the author presents truth tables very clearly, helping readers follow all the steps; the chapter on categorical syllogism and square of opposition is quite good, giving all necessary information without being too technical for beginners; Venn diagrams are explained step by step, with several examples; excellent introduction to predicate logic, since it takes time to explain how to use logic symbols; each chapter is enriched with exercises.
Contra: the style is sometimes too verbose. The intention was good, though: the book is destined to beginners.
Pros: the author presents truth tables very clearly, helping readers follow all the steps; the chapter on categorical syllogism and square of opposition is quite good, giving all necessary information without being too technical for beginners; Venn diagrams are explained step by step, with several examples; excellent introduction to predicate logic, since it takes time to explain how to use logic symbols; each chapter is enriched with exercises.
Contra: the style is sometimes too verbose. The intention was good, though: the book is destined to beginners.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews