Critical Thinking: The Art of Argument

by George W. Rainbolt, Sandra L Dwyer

With a complete, approachable presentation, CRITICAL THE ART OF ARGUMENT, 2nd Edition, is an accessible yet rigorous introduction to critical thinking. The text emphasizes immediate application of critical-thinking skills to everyday life. The relevance of these skills is shown throughout by highlighting the advantages of basing decisions on a thoughtful understanding of arguments and presenting the overarching commonalities across arguments. With its conversational writing style and carefully selected examples, the book employs a consistent and unified treatment of logical form and an innovative semiformal method of standardizing arguments that illustrates the concept of logical form while maintaining a visible connection to ordinary speech. Without sacrificing accuracy or detail, the authors have clearly presented the material with appropriate study tools and exercises that emphasize application rather than memorization.

496 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 5 out of 5]

After struggling a bit with a book from Haidt on Criticial Thinking a Goodreads friend recommended this textbook.

In all honesty its absolutely brilliant, explains complex concepts well, with a touch of humour and some short biographical anecdotes on various key people in the subject.

While I don't feel I could answer any quizzes on critical thinking I feel I least have the grounding now to understand the subject a bit more thoroughly!

So obviously not for everyone, but if you're like me and enjoy a lot of non-fiction and/or want to engage in some meta-thinking this is a good start.

[Neil Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook had some decent material, but provided answers for only 3 out of every (approx.) 15 exercise questions, which was distinctly not helpful. Often the 3 out of 15 answers in each set of exercises did not cover all the examples discussed, so you couldn't determine if your answers were correct. Teachers and students are left high and dry by this shortcoming.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this way back in 2017 but was too lazy to write a review then. I initially gave it four stars, but just now bumped it up to five, because after being locked into 12 or 13 years of Trump dominating everything and rotting millions of brains who know nothing of what's in this book, few things could be more important than promoting critical thinking skills. I've had numerous occasions to keep referring back to this book, and recommending it in online discussions (typically when someone makes a mistake in thinking that this book corrects). I will probably read it again soon. Probably everybody should read a critical thinking textbook every year, until it all becomes automatic. While I don't agree with a few of the authors' conclusions in specific cases they present, the methods are spot-on and need to be in everyone's toolkit.

For example, reading the book clarified my thinking on analogical arguments and sharpened my ability to spot them in ordinary discourse. Reading this book will help a person understand why Hume derided analogy as "the weakest form of argument." And yet entire policies and moral conclusions rest on this shakiest of foundations. I understand now that analogies are great for one thing: generating hypotheses. Which then must be tested against evidence. As hypotheses are not conclusions - until thoroughly tested - analogies are not by themselves the sources of any new truths.

As the book explains, arguments are everywhere, and often obscured. To avoid getting conned and scammed by the blizzard of disinformation, you really need to know what an argument is, the many different forms of arguments there are, how to spot the often hidden arguments, put them a standard form, and test them.

Of course the better you become at critical thinking, the more of an insufferable pedant you will be - or at least, you will seem to be, to the vast majority of people who have barely scratched the surface on critical thinking. As an example, Richard Dawkins is a wonderfully controversial author, and his many critics seem to think it's a flex to call Dawkins "arrogant" or "condescending." Anyone who does that while thinking they've actually said something really, really, really needs to read this book. (Or one like it.)

This book came out before the current and ongoing AI boom. If you're reading the book after you read my review, then by all means lean on your favorite AI LLM early and often. For example, the book contains many exercise problems, but only provides answers for a fraction of them. Any AI worth its neural coprocessors ought to be able to solve most of them (I haven't tried this yet and may update this review when I do - or you can try it and share some results in your review). Even if the AI "hallucinates" (i.e. produces a wrong answer) you can still benefit by figuring out where the AI goofed, and correcting it. It's fascinating to see an AI model make a mistake and then recover when you point out its mistake. I've rarely met a human who does that. Usually a human will double down on a mistake to safeguard its ego.

My main AI tool so far has been Google Gemini. Among the many jaw-dropping capabilities it displays, Gemini is almost like having your own critical thinking professor on speed-dial, able to identify arguments and fallacies buried in ordinary discourse. But to get the most out of such a tool, it helps to have your own grounding in critical thinking, so you can frame your prompts to the AI and understand the results (and notice the occasional AI goof).