格雷戈里·巴沙姆（Gregory Bassham）是宾夕法尼亚州国王学院的哲学教授，撰写或编辑过的书包括《指环王与哲学》（2003）、《终极哈利·波特与哲学》（2010）等。威廉·欧文（William Irwin）是国王学院的哲学教授，撰写过十二本书。亨利·纳尔多内（Henry Nardone）是国王学院的哲学荣誉退休教授，出版过关于批判性思维和美学的学术文章。詹姆斯·M. 华莱士（James M. Wallace）是国王学院的英语教授，已出版独著和合著共两本。
目录
A Personal Word to Students vii Preface ix
Chapter 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking 1 What Is Critical Thinking? 1 Critical Thinking Standards 2 The Benefits of Critical Thinking 7 Barriers to Critical Thinking 9 Qualities of a Critical Thinker 26
Chapter 2 Recognizing Arguments 31 What Is an Argument? 31 Identifying Premises and Conclusions 36 What Is Not an Argument? 41
Chapter 3 Basic Logical Concepts 55 Deduction and Induction 55 How Can We Tell Whether an Argument Is Deductive or Inductive? 58 Common Patterns of Deductive Reasoning 64 Common Patterns of Inductive Reasoning 69 Deductive Validity 74 Inductive Strength 79
Chapter 4 Language 88 Finding the Right Words: The Need for Precision 88 The Importance of Precise Definitions 95 Emotive Language: Slanting the Truth 107 Euphemisms and Political Correctness 117
Chapter 5 Logical Fallacies—I 122 The Concept of Relevance 122 Fallacies of Relevance 125
Chapter 6 Logical Fallacies—II 143 Fallacies of Insufficient Evidence 143
Chapter 8 Evaluating Arguments and Truth Claims 197 When Is an Argument a Good One? 197 When Is It Reasonable to Accept a Premise? 200 Refuting Arguments 205
Chapter 9 A Little Categorical Logic 234 Categorical Statements 235 Translating into Standard Categorical Form 239 Categorical Syllogisms 247
Chapter 10 A Little Propositional Logic 263 Conjunction 264 Conjunction and Validity 267 Negation 272 Deeper Analysis of Negation and Conjunction 277 Disjunction 283 Conditional Statements 287
Chapter 11 Inductive Reasoning 298 Introduction to Induction 298 Inductive Generalizations 299 Statistical Arguments 309 Induction and Analogy 315 Induction and Causal Arguments 324 A Few Words about Probab
