A Workbook for Arguments, Second Edition: A Complete Course in Critical Thinking - Softcover

Comments on the first edition: "Quite simply, one of the best critical-thinking texts I have read. Unlike many critical-thinking books, there is a particular and efficacious focus on helping the reader write an argumentative essay. . . . There are over sixty exercise sets, not one of which is frivolous. The model responses are typically excellent, some providing both weak and strong examples for answers, and the answers are often followed by commentary. . . . The expository clarity is as good as it gets." Chris Jackson, Teaching Philosophy

A Workbook for Arguments builds on Anthony Weston's A Rulebook for Arguments to provide a complete textbook for a course in critical thinking or informal logic. The second edition adds: Updated and improved homework exercises-nearly one third are new-to ensure that the examples continue to resonate with students. Increased coverage of scientific reasoning, demonstrating how scientific reasoning dovetails with critical thinking more generally Two new activities in which students analyze arguments in their original form, as provided in brief selections from the original texts. This edition continues to include The entire text of Rulebook , supplemented with extensive explanations and exercises. Homework exercises adapted from a wide range of arguments in a wide variety of sources. Practical advice to help students succeed. Model answers to odd-numbered problems, including commentaries on the strengths and weaknesses of selected sample answers and further discussion of some of the substantive intellectual, philosophical, or ethical issues they raise. Detailed instructions for in-class activities and take-home assignments. An appendix on mapping arguments, giving students a solid introduction to this vital skill in constructing complex and multi-step arguments and evaluating them.