Logic The Essentials [Paperback]

LOGIC: THE ESSENTIALS concentrates on the fundaments of introductory logic. Practical in orientation and content, Essentials is loaded with class-tested, proven practice exercises. This new text is based on the classic and bestselling textbook, A Concise Introduction to Logic, and nearly all of the exercises in the correlative chapters, so central to the effectiveness of that text, have been retained to ensure more than enough practice for students to master the central concepts. The book focuses largely on deductive logic, but it contains sufficient treatment of induction to provide a solid footing for informal fallacies. The result is a contemporary approach--more focused, more practical, less theoretical--built on a tradition of precise, elegant, and clear presentation of the subject matter of logic, both formal and informal. [The new Hurley text would work] better than my current text, and past texts as well....We need a text that is short, simple, organized, direct, coverable in 14 weeks&; gives the students something they can use and apply to increase their intellect, critical thinking and argument evaluation skills, AND is as cheap as possible (while still maintaining aesthetic appeal [good paper, charts, appendix, etc.]). Preface. 1. BASIC CONCEPTS. Arguments, Premises, and Conclusions. Recognizing Arguments. Deduction and Induction. Validity, Truth, Soundness, Strength, Cogency. Argument Forms: Proving Invalidity. 2. INFORMAL FALLACIES. Fallacies in General. Fallacies of Relevance. Fallacies of Weak Induction. Fallacies of Presumption, Ambiguity, and Illicit Transference. Fallacies in Ordinary Language. 3. CATEGORICAL PROPOSITIONS. The Components of Categorical Propositions. Quality, Quantity, and Distribution. Venn Diagrams and the Modern Square of Opposition. Conversion, Obversion, and Contraposition. The Traditional Square of Opposition. Translating ordinary Language Statements into Categorical Form. 4. CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISMS. Standard Form, Mood, and Fil6