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Understanding Arguments An Introduction

The document discusses establishing a book review section in the newsletter. It will take an expository rather than critical approach initially. Reviews will be solicited from subscribers to share knowledge and experiences reading texts. Two example expository reviews are provided of books on informal logic: Understanding Arguments by Robert Fogelin and Argument by Perry Weddle. Key aspects of each book like purpose, contents and special features are summarized. The newsletter will also maintain an informal logic network list of interested people and their contact details.

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Maite Vanesa
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427 views

Understanding Arguments An Introduction

The document discusses establishing a book review section in the newsletter. It will take an expository rather than critical approach initially. Reviews will be solicited from subscribers to share knowledge and experiences reading texts. Two example expository reviews are provided of books on informal logic: Understanding Arguments by Robert Fogelin and Argument by Perry Weddle. Key aspects of each book like purpose, contents and special features are summarized. The newsletter will also maintain an informal logic network list of interested people and their contact details.

Uploaded by

Maite Vanesa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BOOK REVIEWS
Many of our subscribers have asked whether we plan to do
reviews. The answer is a qualified "yes." The qualifications
are two. First, we propose that reviews should be expository
rather than critical. The aim of our newsletter, at this point,
is to provide information and act as a network through which to
feed it.
It is our opinion that expository reviews will serve
this purpose better than would critical reviews. There may come
a time when we shall add critical reviews, but we don't think
we've reached that stage yet. Second, while we are willing to do
our share, the editors have no intention of undertaking the task
alone. We will start this feature off in this number, but we
solicit support from our subscribers.
If there is a text or
book which you have read, please share your knowledge with us,
using the format of the two expository reviews which follow.

Understanding Arguments: An Introduction to Informal Logic.


Robert J. Fogelin. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
Inc., 1978. Pp. 351 + xii.
1) Statement of Purpose:
"This book is about arguments.
It
considers arguments not in the narrow sense of quarrels or
squabbles but in the broader, logician's sense of giving reasons
in behalf of some claim. Viewing arguments in this way, we see
that they are a common feature of daily life For certain
purposes, arguments are best studied as abstract patterns. Logic
is not concerned with particular arguments--for example, your
attempt to prove that the bank, not you, has made a mistake. The
task of logic is to discover the fundamental principles for
distinguishing good arguments from bad ones . A different
but complementary way of viewing an argument is to treat it as
a particular use of language: arguing is one of the things
that we do with words. This approach places stress upon arguing
as a linguistic activity. Instead of studying arguments as
abstract patterns, it takes them "in the rough," as they occur in
actual argumentation. It raises questions of the following kind:
What is the place of argument within language as a whole? In a
given language (say, our own) what words or phrases are characteristi
of arguments? What task or tasks are arguments supposed to perform?
When an approach to arguments has this form, the study is called
informal logic. As its subtitle indicates, Understanding Arguments
is primarily a text in informal logic." (v-vi)
2) Table of Contents:
Part One:

The Analysis of Argument

1. The Web of Language


2. The Language of Argument
3. The Art of Close Analysis
4. Fallacies of Clarity and Relevance
5. Other Uses of Argument
6. The Formal Analysis of Argument: Part One
7. The Formal Analysis of Argument: Part Two

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Part Two:

Specimens of Argument

Issues of Public Concern


Legal Reasoning
A Moral Debate
Scientific Arguments
. A Theological Debate
Philosophical Arguments
3) Special Features:
'****Fogelin gives attention, in Chapter 1, to speech acts performatives,
conversational implication, and pragmatics. Appendices to the text
contain Austin's article "Performative Utterances" and Grice's
"Logic and Conversation."
****In Chapter 2, Fogelin deals with what he calls assuring,
hedging, and discounting--as devices which are used to build
defensive perimeters:. That is, they are ways of someone' s
trying to shield his or her position against criticism.
****Also in Chapter 2, Fogelin discusses various substitutes for
argument: slanting and persuasive definition.
****In Chapter 3, Fogelin presents a method for analyzing arguments
of some length. His procedure involves making notations (using
a set of abbreviations) in the margins of the argument.
This
method is an adaptation of a method first used by Monroe Beardsley
in Practical Logic (1950) and also used by Stephen Thomas in
Practical Reasoning in Natural Language (1973).
****Chapter 3 ends wIth a discussion of argument standpoints, such
. as claiming middle ground, the disinterested party, the reasonable
man, the voice in the wilderness and others.
****In Chapter 5, under "Refutations," Fogelin deals with various
methods of refuting arguments: counter-examples, how to handle
self-sealing positions.
****As the Table of Contents shows, Part Two consists of examples
of argumentation drawn from different areas.
In Chapter 8, for
example, the issues dealt with are Safety in Nuclear Power Plants
(190-208) with various illustrative materials; and Affirmative
Action and Reverse Discrimination (209-216). Generally these
chapters are about thirty pages long with several long passages
of reasoning presented as specimens.

Argument, A Guide to Critical Thinking, Perry Weddle.


New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1978. Pp. 192 + xi.
1) Statement of Purpose:
"This book is designed to encourage the
democratic ar~of thoughtful, articulate discussion.
It attempts
to help its readers think out their own ideas and those of others.
It should prove useful to students of rhetoric, composition, and
debate, and should aid journalism students in improving their
reporting of scientific and economic news. It complements the
formal logic provided by a university-level general education
course in logic. And it should aid the general reader, for its
guiding principle is the question, 'What skills do educated
citizens need in order to handle the argumentative raw material
which confronts them daily?'" (ix)

12
2) Table of contents:
Ch. 1 The Realm of Reason. Argument Mechanics; Argument Ecology;
Good Reasoning.
Ch. 2 Fallacy. Oversimplification; Smokescreen.
Ch. 3 Language. Argument Language; Trading on Words; Definition.
Ch. 4 Authority. Experts and Others; Other Sources of Authority;
Ad Hominem; Statistics.
Ch. 5 Generality. The Logic of General Statements; Generalizing;
Sampling Sampling; Polls and Surveys.
Ch. 6 Comparison. Mastering Analogical Reasoning; Historical
Comparisons; Moral Comparisons; Implicit Comparisons.
Ch. 7 Cause. The Idea of Cause; Causal Arguments; Causal Reasoning
,and the Idea of Cause.
3) Special Features:
****The book is salted with examples:
some invented to make a
point (but not artificial); most taken from live argumentation
(daily press, books on topics under discussion, literature,
philosophy) .
****Each chapter has three useful devices to help readers apply
and develop its ideas:
(1) "'Quick Checks,' a series of short
straightforward problems, with answers or suggestions, which will
enable readers to develop and gauge comprehension on their own."
(2) "' Examples and Comments,' . . intended to foster the arts
of discussion critical judgment, and patient, orderly explanation.
About a third of the problems are commented on examples
range from ones calling for straightforward answers to ones where
the sensible reply will be, 'I don't know; here are some possibilitie
(3) "'Applications,' . to narrow the gap between the 'onpaper' world and the world as it really is." (x-xi)
****Weddle aims to steer a middle ground between starting from
scratch, ignoring the "rich" but "hodgepodge" ancestry of informal
logic, and including what has real value in the tradition, what
would be useful to educated people.
****The book tries to de-emphasize terminology:
"careful
explanation is invariably better than categorizing and namecalling" (x).
****Most tradition informal logic material is discussed at one
point or another (deductive arguments, uses and abuses of language,
the application of probability theory and scientific method in
statistics, polling and causal argument). The book's organization
is intended, "partly to avoid the impression that scientific,
technical and inductive thinking differs fundamentally from every
other kind of thinking" (x).

INFORMAL LOGIC NETWORK


In the first issue of the Newsletter there appeared a list
of the names and addresses of those who attended the Windsor
symposium on Informal Logic last June, in order to create a
communication network of people interested in the field. We have
received a number of requests from others who wish to be included
in this network. We shall list these and future additions to the
network in an upcoming issue.
In the meantime, others who would
like to be listed should inform us: write giving your name,
address for correspondence, and your area(s) of special interest
in informal logic.

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