| Author(s) | Robert Arp, Steven Barbone, Michael Bruce |
 | Year | 2019 |
 | Pages | 436 |
 | Language | English
|
 | Format | PDF |
 | Size | 4 MB
|
 | Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
 | ISBN | 1119167906, 978-1119167907, B07JCK5CD8 |
A timely and accessible guide
to 100 of the most infamous logical fallacies in Western philosophy,
helping readers avoid and detect false assumptions and faulty reasoning
You’ll
love this book or you’ll hate it. So, you’re either with us or against
us. And if you’re against us then you hate books. No true intellectual
would hate this book.
Ever decide to avoid a restaurant
because of one bad meal? Choose a product because a celebrity endorsed
it? Or ignore what a politician says because she’s not a member of your
party? For as long as people have been discussing, conversing,
persuading, advocating, proselytizing, pontificating, or otherwise
stating their case, their arguments have been vulnerable to false
assumptions and faulty reasoning. Drawing upon a long history of logical
falsehoods and philosophical flubs, Bad Arguments demonstrates
how misguided arguments come to be, and what we can do to detect them in
the rhetoric of others and avoid using them ourselves.
Fallacies—or
conclusions that don’t follow from their premise—are at the root of
most bad arguments, but it can be easy to stumble into a fallacy without
realizing it. In this clear and concise guide to good arguments gone
bad, Robert Arp, Steven Barbone, and Michael Bruce take readers through
100 of the most infamous fallacies in Western philosophy, identifying
the most common missteps, pitfalls, and dead-ends of arguments gone
awry. Whether an instance of sunk costs, is ought, affirming the consequent, moving the goal post, begging the question, or the ever-popular slippery slope,
each fallacy engages with examples drawn from contemporary politics,
economics, media, and popular culture. Further diagrams and tables
supplement entries and contextualize common errors in logical reasoning.
At
a time in our world when it is crucial to be able to identify and
challenge rhetorical half-truths, this bookhelps readers to better
understand flawed argumentation and develop logical literacy. Unrivaled
in its breadth of coverage and a worthy companion to its sister volume Just the Arguments (2011), Bad Arguments is
an essential tool for undergraduate students and general readers
looking to hone their critical thinking and rhetorical skills.
