Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Basic Skills

by William Hughes, Jonathan Lavery

William Hughes's Critical Thinking, revised and updated by Jonathan Lavery, is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the essential skills required to make strong arguments. Hughes and Lavery give a thorough treatment of such traditional topics as deductive and inductive reasoning, logical fallacies, the importance of inference, how to recognize and avoid ambiguity, and how to assess what is or is not relevant to an argument. The authors also cover less traditional topics such as special concerns to keep in mind when reasoning about ethical matters, and how the nature of a language can affect the structure of an argument. In addition to covering basic concepts for analyzing and assessing arguments, the text also has two chapters that are designed to help students write argumentative essays. Last but not least, Critical Thinking includes a selection of logical paradoxes and puzzles that are as entertaining as they are enlightening. For the fifth edition particular attention has been paid to the needs of Canadian students and instructors.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Logic, Textbooks, Psychology

392 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2004

Reviews

[Warren Wulff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow read only because critical thinking is hard! It’s a good introduction to critical thinking skills that would benefit humanity for us all to have. Having read this book doesn’t automatically make one an expert, as you realize it’s practice and exposure to argument that makes one sharper at knowing the difference between strong and weak positions.

I would add that this book is very dated and geographically-specific for its examples. Namely, Ontario-focused and using topics relevant to geopolitically-savvy adults in late 1980s Canada: GST-implementation, the abortion and capital punishment debates, the Meech Lake Accord, communism in the northern Ontario labour movement, Ontario teacher strikes, the popularity of the Mulroney government - they’re all here! It’s a time capsule for Canada from a very particular era. If you remember this time and these events, then you’ll do fine.

[Albert · Rating 2 out of 5]

An introduction to critical thinking. The books goes through some basic terminology in an expansive way. Whereas some of the concepts are certainly useful, the overall feeling is that the book could have been compressed significantly. Moreover, I realized that the differences between editions are extremely minor (in case somebody contemplates buying a second-hand older version).

Unfortunately I have not and will most likely not read the forth and last part. And thus my review should be taken as a critique of the first 3 parts (up to chapter 11). I do not think this is an interesting enough book for self-teaching, although I must confess I have not read other books on the topic. If philosophy is what interest you, though, many other introductory books will expand your intellect in a much more efficient manner

[Amelia and John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the inclusion of legal reasoning as someone who works in the field.

The book itself was not very well-structured in my opinion, especially the introduction. But the content was appreciable.

Examples were sometimes vague and hard to apply but for the most part they helped to grasp the content in the chapters.

[Damien A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference textbook

[Katerina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for class. Good at explaining but used some strange examples...

[Eurik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never finished it completely, bit too ecyclopediac for a front to cover read. But useful, nonetheless.

[Aidan 18 · Rating 3 out of 5]

read it for university, a lil boring but informative haha

[Shaikha Alshimmari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book
Explains different types of reasoning and arguments