Critical thinking consider the verdict 6th edition

CRITICAL THINKING This page intentionally left blank CRITICAL THINKING Consider the Verdict Sixth Edition Bruce N. Waller Youngstown State University Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Editorial Director: Craig Campanella Editor in Chief: Dickson Musslewhite Executive Editor: Ashley Dodge Editorial Project Manager: Kate Fernandes Director of Marketing: Brandy Dawson Senior Marketing Manager: Laura Lee Manley Production Liaison: Barbara Reilly Operations Specialist: Christina Amato Manager, Text Rights and Permissions: Charles Morris Cover Manager: Jayne Conte Cover Designer: Suzanne Behnke Cover Image: tlegend/Shutterstock Media Director: Brian Hyland Media Editor: Rachel Comerford Media Project Manager: Barbara Taylor-Laino Full-Service Project Management: Shiny Rajesh, Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Printer/Binder: Edwards Brothers Cover Printer: Lehigh-Phoenix Color Corp. Text Font: 10/11 New Baskerville Copyright © 2012, 2005, 2001 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458, or fax your request to 201-236-3290. Many of the designations by manufacturers and seller to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Waller, Bruce N., Critical thinking : consider the verdict / Bruce N. Waller. — 6th ed. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-205-15866-9 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-205-15866-8 (alk. paper) 1. Critical thinking. 2. Verdicts. 3. Logic. I. Title. BC177.W3 2012 160.2'434—dc22 2011010803 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 www.pearsonhighered.com Student Edition ISBN-10: 0-205-15866-8 ISBN-13: 978-0-205-15866-9 À la Carte Edition ISBN-10: 0-205-15881-1 ISBN-13: 978-0-205-15881-2 Contents Preface xiii Acknowledgments xvii 1 Introduction 1 Critical Thinking in Everyday Life Play Fair 1 2 Seating a Jury 2 Jury Research: Eliminating or Selecting Bias? Impartial Critical Thinking 4 Adversarial Critical Thinking Cooperative Critical Thinking 3 5 7 Internet Resources 12 Additional Reading 12 2 A Few Important Terms Arguments 14 Statements 14 Premises and Conclusions 14 16 Deductive and Inductive Arguments Deduction, Validity, and Soundness 19 21 Induction, Strong Arguments, and Cogent Arguments 23 v vi Contents Review Questions 27 Internet Resources 27 Additional Reading 27 3 Ad Hominem Arguments 28 The Ad Hominem Fallacy 28 Nonfallacious Ad Hominem Arguments Ad Hominem and Testimony Distinguishing Argument from Testimony Tricky Types of Ad Hominem Bias Ad Hominem 41 Inconsistency and Ad Hominem Psychological Ad Hominem 47 Inverse Ad Hominem 48 Attacking Arguments 29 31 33 41 44 49 Review Questions 54 Internet Resources 55 Additional Reading 54 4 The Second Deadly Fallacy: The Strawman Fallacy Straw Man 56 57 The Principle of Charity 58 The Strawman Fallacy 58 Special Strawman Varieties 63 Limits on Critical Thinking 63 Review Questions 65 Internet Resources 66 Additional Reading 65 5 What’s the Question? Determine the Conclusion What Is the Exact Conclusion? Review Question 6 67 67 68 74 Relevant and Irrelevant Reasons Premises Are Relevant or Irrelevant Relative to the Conclusion 77 76 vii Contents Irrelevant Reason Fallacy 81 The Red Herring Fallacy 81 Review Questions 7 90 Internet Resources 91 Additional Reading 91 Analyzing Arguments 92 Argument Structure 92 Convergent Arguments Linked Arguments 92 95 Subarguments 96 Assumptions: Their Use and Abuse Legitimate Assumptions Enthymemes 111 Illegitimate Assumptions 111 Review Questions 8 109 109 113 Internet Resources 114 Additional Reading 114 The Burden of Proof 115 Who Bears the Burden of Proof? Appeal to Ignorance 115 117 The Burden of Proof in the Courtroom 117 Presumption of Innocence 118 When the Defendant Does Not Testify 119 Juries and the Burden of Proof 120 Unappealing Ignorance Review Questions 9 123 127 Internet Resources 128 Additional Reading 128 Language and Its Pitfalls Definitions 129 Stipulative Definitions 130 Controversial Definitions Deceptive Language 129 131 131 viii Contents The Fallacy of Ambiguity Amphiboly 132 136 Review Questions 139 Internet Resources 139 Additional Reading 139 10 Appeal to Authority 140 Authorities as Testifiers 141 Conditions for Legitimate Appeal to Authority Popularity and Tradition Review Questions 141 148 154 Internet Resources 154 Additional Reading 154 Cumulative Exercises One 156 (Chapters 1 through 10) 11 Arguments by Analogy Figurative Analogy 164 164 Deductive Argument by Analogy 165 The Fallacy of Faulty Analogy 170 Analyzing a Deductive Argument by Analogy 175 Deductive Arguments by Analogy and Cooperative Critical Thinking 179 The Fallacy of Analogical Literalism 180 Caution! Watch for Analogies That Look Like Slippery Slopes! 182 Inductive Arguments by Analogy Review Questions 184 201 Internet Resources 202 Additional Reading 202 12 Some Distinctive Arguments and Potential Pitfalls: Slippery Slope, Dilemma, and Golden Mean Arguments Slippery Slope 204 Separating Slippery Slopes from Straw Men The Slippery Slope Fallacy 206 Genuine Slippery Slopes 206 205 204 ix Contents Dilemmas, False and True 211 Genuine Dilemmas 212 False Dilemmas 212 False Dilemma Combined with Straw Man Consider the Possibilities 216 Golden Mean 216 220 The Golden Mean Fallacy 220 Constructing Golden Mean Fallacies Review Questions 220 224 Internet Resources 225 Additional Reading 225 13 Begging the Question 226 The Problem with Question-Begging Arguments 226 A New and Confusing Use of “Begs the Question”