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Attacking Faulty Reasoning: A Practical Guide to Fallacy-free Arguments 6th Edition

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 48 ratings

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Attacking Faulty Reasoning
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Increasingly college courses and programs require a critical thinking component�and include assignments meant to measure your critical thinking skills. ATTACKING FAULTY REASONING: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO FALLACY-FREE ARGUMENTS, SIXTH EDITION, can help you brush up on these skills�and learn how to develop the logical, persuasive arguments you need now and throughout your career. This useful handbook addresses more than 60 common fallacies of logic with the help of over 200 memorable examples. It provides explanations and tips for avoiding fallacious thinking, and is an ideal resource when writing papers, essays, or arguments.
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About the Author

T. Edward Damer received his Ph.D. from Boston University and currently teaches at Emory and Henry College.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wadsworth Publishing; 6th edition (February 21, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0495095060
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0495095064
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.3 x 0.58 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 48 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
48 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2004
Although I gathered that this book was written primarily as a text for logic and critical thinking courses, it helped me immensely in terms of learning how to make sense of argumentative quality in everyday life, not only the classroom. I did not read this book for a class as I have graduated college, but I found it to be a real help in determining the strengths and weaknesses in arguments and other forms of persuasive speech that we encounter daily.

The book uses clear and familiar everyday examples to make the points, instead of presenting things in an abstract and think-tank way, and most people will find themselves realizing that they have had arguments or debates exactly like those described in the book. The book clearly demonstrates how much reason and critical thinking can be diminished or overlooked by laziness or unwillingness on the part of people to care enough to think well.

The chapters follow a clear course and almost every logical fallacy I have ever encountered in the classroom or the real world is covered in the book. It explains the fallacy, gives examples, and shows how to expose the fallacy for being a poor argument, as well as demonstrating ways to combat and point out to the other person (in a nice way) the flaw in the reasoning. The tone of the book is pleasently informal, as it attempts to create familiar dialouge and situations to which the reader can easily identify. I highly reccommend the book and think that anyone who cares enough to want to think more maturely would benefit greatly.
28 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2005
So many significant decisions are made in the workplace based on majority opinion or by the highest ranking person in the room.

This book will give the reader the knowledge and insight to put forth good arguments as well as point out how to identify flaws in others.

Of particular interest is the author's focus on the quest for the truth, or as he puts it the most defensible position. While the techniques laid out in this book can be used to 'win' arguments, the focus in primarily on helping find the truth.

Highly recommended for anyone in business.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2002
This book is readable and thorough, and probably the best introduction to critical thinking around.
With such a large number of fallacies demanding multiple examples, the author must be forgiven if some of them seem a little off the mark, even while being technically correct. For example, the proposition (I'm paraphrasing) "Our baseball team was 1 and 11 this year, but with a new coach we'll do better next year." is in fact false. However, if the proposition were that "we'll probably do better" it would be true, because the probability is that we would get an average coach and an average coach has a record of 0.500, while assuming that coaching has a positive effect. Another example has former Predident Bush answering the question, "Did Dan Quayle's parents help him get into the national guard?" with words to the effect that "At least he served patrioticly and didn't run to Canada or burn the flag." The answer while technically irrelevant is a politician's way of saying, "Whether his parents helped or not is unimportant, at least ...blah, blah." Such an answer invites a rejoinder along the lines of "It really is important, because ..." The fault of the example is that it implies it is OK to rest on the technicalities even when you have a very good idea of what your opponent is really saying.
So if some of the example are a little off-base, perhaps that is all to the good as a learning experience. The small bits of uneasiness are left to the student as an exercise to resolve. The author provides the tools for doing so.
24 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2014
I recommend this book to anyone studying for the LSAT or who want to be better writers, thinkers, or communicators. The author makes some really complex topics very understandable. After reading this book I had a much better understanding of logical fallacies, as well as how to put arguments together. Its the kind of book that you will find yourself referencing in many different circumstances. Highly recommended!
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2020
Love learning about how to dissect communications....logically
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2017
interesting book
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2007
The Introduction says see the sample answers and explanations at the end of the text. They don't exist. The Introduction cites definitions for specific fallacies like Tu Quoque, Fallacy of Popular Wisdom, and Inference from a Name or Description that do not exist in the text.
The Fourth Chapter ends with a table of 60 fallacies, however 35 of the fallacies are not defined or further discussed in the text.
The fallacies and definitions that do get covered are covered pretty well.
All this for $35! What a rip off!
11 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2015
I have no complaints. 👌

Top reviews from other countries

Darineric
3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad
Reviewed in Canada on November 23, 2018
Good copy, some notes and highlighting but not too much. Good copy.