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The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims
The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims [Paperback]Lewis Vaughn (Author)
Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 9, 2015
I've taught critical reasoning using this fourth edition of Vaughn's book as well as the similar third edition many times, and the more I use this book, the more I'm convinced that it's time for me to find a new textbook for my course. I'm may switch to Moore and Parker's Critical Reasoning, 10th edition for future classes.
Vaughn's book is poorly organized. For instance, topics in chapter 2 pop up in chapters 4 & 5 but typically with no cross-referencing within the text. For instance, on pages 39 & 41 of chapter 2 Vaughn briefly explains the concept of selective attention, which is using evidence and reasoning that supports preconceived conclusions and discounting or ignoring evidence and reasoning that undermines those preconceived conclusions. This topic gets discussed in much more detail in chapter 4 on pages 140-144, but here Vaughn never mentions selective attention by name and instead introduces new terminology like "confirmation bias," which he defines in almost exactly the same way as "selective attention." This sort of problem occurs at various points in the book.
Another defect with the book is that the exercise sets often are poorly thought out. The progression from one problem set to the next often doesn't build reasoning skills sequentially, and a problem set's exercises don't seem to be ordered so that the problems get progressively more difficult. Another flaw is that a problem set may test for skills that don't appear in the chapter (see exercise 3.8) but fail to test skills that do appear in the chapter (see exercise 9.7, which is the only problem set focusing on the five criteria of adequacy for assessing theories but examines students in only two of those five criteria, or note how there are no exercises in chapter four that involve analyzing advertising). Finally, the exercise sets have quite a few mistakes in them. For instance, problem #7 in exercise 3.4 gives "The Taliban regime fell because it persecuted women" as an argument when it clearly is an explanation. Exercise 9.10, passage one, premises that Venus rotates slowly and then concludes that Venus must rotate fairly often--good luck explaining that one to students. The more I teach from this book, the more problems I realize are defective in a variety of ways and should not be assigned. The Instructor's Manual solutions also have many mistakes.
The strengths of the book are that it offers a comprehensive menu of topics, OUP prices it lower than comparable textbooks, it is visually more attractive than many other critical reasoning or logic books and discusses "weird" theories about subjects like paranormal activity that might interest some students. Nonetheless, the book's drawbacks are too serious and numerous for me to recommend this book.
Vaughn's book is poorly organized. For instance, topics in chapter 2 pop up in chapters 4 & 5 but typically with no cross-referencing within the text. For instance, on pages 39 & 41 of chapter 2 Vaughn briefly explains the concept of selective attention, which is using evidence and reasoning that supports preconceived conclusions and discounting or ignoring evidence and reasoning that undermines those preconceived conclusions. This topic gets discussed in much more detail in chapter 4 on pages 140-144, but here Vaughn never mentions selective attention by name and instead introduces new terminology like "confirmation bias," which he defines in almost exactly the same way as "selective attention." This sort of problem occurs at various points in the book.
Another defect with the book is that the exercise sets often are poorly thought out. The progression from one problem set to the next often doesn't build reasoning skills sequentially, and a problem set's exercises don't seem to be ordered so that the problems get progressively more difficult. Another flaw is that a problem set may test for skills that don't appear in the chapter (see exercise 3.8) but fail to test skills that do appear in the chapter (see exercise 9.7, which is the only problem set focusing on the five criteria of adequacy for assessing theories but examines students in only two of those five criteria, or note how there are no exercises in chapter four that involve analyzing advertising). Finally, the exercise sets have quite a few mistakes in them. For instance, problem #7 in exercise 3.4 gives "The Taliban regime fell because it persecuted women" as an argument when it clearly is an explanation. Exercise 9.10, passage one, premises that Venus rotates slowly and then concludes that Venus must rotate fairly often--good luck explaining that one to students. The more I teach from this book, the more problems I realize are defective in a variety of ways and should not be assigned. The Instructor's Manual solutions also have many mistakes.
The strengths of the book are that it offers a comprehensive menu of topics, OUP prices it lower than comparable textbooks, it is visually more attractive than many other critical reasoning or logic books and discusses "weird" theories about subjects like paranormal activity that might interest some students. Nonetheless, the book's drawbacks are too serious and numerous for me to recommend this book.
November 17, 2025
Entry level college textbook that I guess would mainly be used in philosophy classes but possibly other liberal arts contexts as well. It is nicely graphically designed and has lots of insets and shaded boxes with side topics. The text itself is pretty dry but straightforward.
If you flip through the table of contents, you will see topics like common obstacles to critical thinking, evaluating arguments, understanding how to read media, types of reasoning, comparing various explanations, and how to weigh scientific theories.
I think it's a fine text for a class that is concerned with these topics. I am among the very small percentage of readers who just read this for fun, and I wouldn't suggest that it is necessarily a great book to pick up for entertainment value. I had a long time ago read the author's How to Think About Weird Things which covers some of this same ground but is much shorter and more geared for a general audience. That's the one you want.
If you flip through the table of contents, you will see topics like common obstacles to critical thinking, evaluating arguments, understanding how to read media, types of reasoning, comparing various explanations, and how to weigh scientific theories.
I think it's a fine text for a class that is concerned with these topics. I am among the very small percentage of readers who just read this for fun, and I wouldn't suggest that it is necessarily a great book to pick up for entertainment value. I had a long time ago read the author's How to Think About Weird Things which covers some of this same ground but is much shorter and more geared for a general audience. That's the one you want.
March 30, 2013
should be mandatory reading for everyone...
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December 11, 2013Featured on Science for the People show #221 on July 12, 2013, during an interview with author Chris MacDonald. http://www.scienceforthepeople.ca/epi...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews