The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims

The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims is the #1 selling critical thinking textbook, primarily intended for the Critical Thinking, informal logic, Critical Thought and Reasoning courses. These courses, and where this book is successful, is taught out of the Philosophy department- not to be confused with the student success oriented Critical Thinking course. It explores the essentials of critical reasoning, argumentation, logic, and argumentative essay writing while also incorporating important topics that most other texts leave out, such as "inference to the best explanation," scientific reasoning, evidence and authority, visual reasoning, and obstacles to critical thinking. The book is praised for Vaughn's clear, concise, and lively writing, its real-world applications, and its focus on teaching students how to write critically and effectively-covered in Appendix B (Essays for Evaluation) and Appendix E (Critical Thinking and Writing). People also appreciate that the book is more economically priced than most competing texts. The text integrates many pedagogical features, including hundreds of diverse exercises, examples, and illustrations; text boxes that apply critical thinking to student experience; step-by-step guidelines for evaluating claims, arguments, and explanations; a glossary of important terms; and many reminders, summaries, and review notes.

Table of Contents:
Preface PART ONE: BASICS Chapter 1. The Power of Critical Thinking WHY IT MATTERS HOW IT WORKS Claims and Reasons Reasons and Arguments Arguments in the Rough KEY WORDS SUMMARY EXERCISES FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 2. Obstacles to Critical Thinking ALL HAIL THE SELF ALL HAIL MY GROUP THE TOUGHEST MENTAL OBSTACLES Denying Contrary Evidence Looking for Confirming Evidence Motivated Reasoning Preferring Available Evidence YOUR BRAIN ON SOCIAL MEDIA Mere Exposure Effect Illusion-of-Truth Effect False Consensus Effect The Dunning-Kruger Effect PHILOSOPHICAL OBSTACLES Subjective Relativism Social Relativism Skepticism KEY WORDS SUMMARY EXERCISES FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 3. Making Sense of Arguments ARGUMENT BASICS EXERCISE JUDGING ARGUMENTS EXERCISES FINDING MISSING PARTS EXERCISE ARGUMENT PATTERNS EXERCISES DIAGRAMMING ARGUMENTS EXERCISES ASSESSING LONG ARGUMENTS EXERCISES KEY WORDS SUMMARY FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS PART TWO: REASONS Chapter 4. Reasons for Belief and Doubt WHEN CLAIMS CONFLICT EXPERTS AND NONEXPERTS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE Impairment Expectation Innumeracy and Probability KEY WORDS SUMMARY EXERCISES FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 5. Media Manipulation: Fake News, Bias, and Advertising FAKE NEWS Telling Fake from Real MEDIA BIAS Objectivity and Bias Opinion, Analysis, Advocacy Liberal and Conservative Bias ADVERTISING How Advertising Works Internet Advertising Political Advertising KEY WORDS SUMMARY EXERCISES FIELD PROBLEM SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 6. Fallacies and Persuaders FALLACIES: IRRELEVANT PREMISES Genetic Fallacy Composition Division Appeal to the Person Equivocation Appeal to Popularity Appeal to Tradition Appeal to Ignorance Appeal to Emotion Red Herring Straw Man Two Wrongs Make a Right FALLACIES: UNACCEPTABLE PREMISES Begging the Question False Dilemma Decision-Point Fallacy Slippery Slope Hasty Generalization Faulty Analogy PERSUADERS: RHETORICAL MOVES Innuendo Euphemisms and Dysphemisms Stereotyping Ridicule Rhetorical Definitions KEY WORDS SUMMARY EXERCISES FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS PART THREE: ARGUMENTS Chapter 7. Deductive Reasoning: Propositional Logic CONNECTIVES AND TRUTH VALUES Conjunction Disjunction Negation Conditional EXERCISES CHECKING FOR VALIDITY Simple Arguments Tricky Arguments Streamlined Evaluation EXERCISES PROOF OF VALIDITY Rules of Inference Rules of Replacement EXERCISES KEY WORDS SUMMARY FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 8. Deductive Reasoning: Categorical Logic STATEMENTS AND CLASSES EXERCISES TRANSLATIONS AND STANDARD FORM Terms Quantifiers EXERCISES DIAGRAMMING CATEGORICAL STATEMENTS EXERCISES SIZING UP CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISMS EXERCISES THE SQUARE OF OPPOSITION CATEGORICAL EQUIVALENCE EXERCISES KEY WORDS SUMMARY FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 9. Inductive Reasoning ENUMERATIVE INDUCTION Sample Size Representativeness Opinion Polls EXERCISES ANALOGICAL INDUCTION Relevant Similarities Relevant Dissimilarities The Number of Instances Compared Diversity among Cases EXERCISES CAUSAL ARGUMENTS Testing for Causes Causal Confusions Necessary and Sufficient Conditions EXERCISES KEY WORDS SUMMARY FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS PART FOUR: EXPLANATIONS Chapter 10. Inference to the Best Explanation EXPLANATIONS AND INFERENCE EXERCISES THEORIES AND CONSISTENCY THEORIES AND CRITERIA Testability Fruitfulness Scope Simplicity Conservatism EXERCISES TELLING GOOD THEORIES FROM BAD A Doomed Flight An Amazing Cure EXERCISES KEY WORDS SUMMARY FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 11. Judging Scientific Theories SCIENCE AND NOT SCIENCE THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD TESTING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES JUDGING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES Copernicus versus Ptolemy Evolution versus Creationism EXERCISES SCIENCE AND WEIRD THEORIES MAKING WEIRD MISTAKES Leaping to the Weirdest Theory Mixing What Seems with What Is Misunderstanding the Possibilities JUDGING WEIRD THEORIES Crop Circles Talking with the Dead EXERCISES SUMMARY FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter 12. Critical Thinking in Morality MORAL ARGUMENTS MORAL PREMISES MORAL THEORIES Evaluating Moral Theories Two Important Theories A COHERENT WORLDVIEW KEY WORDS SUMMARY EXERCISES FIELD PROBLEMS SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS APPENDIX A. The Truth About Philosophy Majors APPENDIX B. Essays for Evaluation Essay 1 Death Penalty Discriminates against Black Crime Victims Essay 2 Marine Parks Essay 3 A Feminist Defense of Pornography Essay 4 A Defense of Homosexuality Essay 5 More Innocents Die When We Don't Have Capital Punishment Essay 6 What's Wrong with Adultery? Essay 7 A Pat-Down Is Better Than a Blow-Up Essay 8 The Cohabitation Epidemic Essay 9 Not Being Vaccinated Is Not Acceptable Essay 10 Women and the Afghanistan Peace Process Essay 11 A Deviance from God's Norm Essay 12 Marriage Still Evolving, as Ever Essay 13 Slouching toward Chimeras Essay 14 Fighting Islamic Extremists Who Stifle Free Speech Essay 15 Is Sluttishness a Feminist Statement? Essay 16 Torture: Time for Congress to End the Debate Essay 17 Torture: Severe Interrogations Work Essay 18 Freedom of Expression: Protect Student Speech-Even

About the Author :
Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Bioethics, Fifth Edition (2022), The Power of Critical Thinking, Seventh Edition, (2021), Philosophy Here and Now, Fourth Edition (2021), and Living Philosophy, Third Edition (2020), all published by Oxford University Press.

Review :
The organization of the book is very clear, and chapters are appropriately divided between important topics...The ordering of the chapters is appropriate and thoughtful. The range of topics is breathtaking... The addition of a full chapter on digital media literacy (Chapter 5) is my favorite change from the sixth to the seventh editions." - Crystal Rose Well-organized, clear, addresses all the major topics, good exercises. I especially like the attention paid to inference to best explanation." -Jonathan Ruben Cohen I really appreciate the sections on recognizing one's own bias. The Media, Science, and Morality are new to textbooks, other than the Paul Elder book. I find this incredibly useful and relevant for our times. The chapter on belief and doubt is also new to me, but I wasn't to use it. The sections on logic are very accessible for students" -Quincy Leigh Foley This book is about as clear as a logic textbook can be (and much better than others I have used)." -James McRae