Table Of Content

Logaincd Contraeyrm po Rhetoric The Use of Reason in Everyday Life FourtEdihti on Howard Kahane University of Maryland Baltimore County WadswoPrutbhl ishing Company A DivoifWs aidosnw Ionrct.h , BelmCoanlti,fo rnia KenneKtihn g LelaMnods s Philosophy Editor: PauShluah en Production Editor: BiRlely nolds Managing Designer: RoheGonrm ley Copy Editor: Signing Representative: © 1984, 1980 by Wadsworth, Inc. © 1976, 1971 by Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be re produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California 94002, a division of Wadsworth, Inc. Printed in the United States of America I2 3S 4B 5 N6 07 -8 95 130-488- 807 836 185 8848 -9 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kahane, Howard, 1928- Logic and contemporary rhetoric. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Fallacies (Logic) 2. Reasoning. 3. Judgment (Logic) I. Title. BC175.K25 1984 160 83-16797 ISBN 0-534-03188-9 FoBro nny Rsowbe.ie.nt. Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong. -Thomas Jefferson It ain 't so much the things we don 't know that get us in trouble. It's the things we know that ain't so. -Artemus Ward Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know. -Montaigne ------Contents------ Preface xi CHAPTER 1: GOOD REASONING 3 1 Arguments, Premises, Conclusions 3 2 Cogent Reasoning 6 3 Two Basic Kinds of Valid Argument 7 11 5 4 Deductive Validity 8 Inductive Validity 6 World Views and Background Beliefs 16 7 Self-Deception and Wishful Thinking 17 9 8 Hints for Constructing Cogent World Views 25 Hints for Evaluating Particular Arguments 34 Summary 43 CHAPTER 2: FALLACIOUS REASONING-I 47 1 Appeal to Authority 48 2 Two Wrongs Make a Right 53 3 Irrelevant Reason 57 5 4 Equivocation 57 Appeal to Ignorance 60 6 Ad Hominem Argument 60 Summary 63 CHAPTER 3: FALLACIOUS REASONING-II 71 1 Provincialism 71 2 Lack of Proportion 73 3 Questionable Premise 77 5 4 Straw Man 78 False Dilemma 80 viii Contents 6 Begging the Question 82 7 Inconsistency 83 Summary 88 CHAPTER 4: FALLACIOUS REASONING-III 97 l Suppressed Evidence 97 2 Slippery Slope 100 3 Hasty Conclusion 102 4 Small Sample 103 5 Unrepresentative Sample 104 6 Questionable Classification 104 7 Questionable Cause 105 8 Questionable Analogy 108 9 Unknowable Statistics 112 10 Questionable Statistics 112 11 False Charge of Fallacy 121 Summary 122 CHAPTER 5: LANGUAGE 135 I Cognitive and Emotive Meaning 135 2 Emotive Meaning and Con Artistry 136 3 Those Who Control the Definitions, . . . 150 4 Common Rhetorical Devices 152 5 Sexism in Language 155 Summary 158 CHAPTER 6: ANALYZING AND CONSTRUCTING EXTENDED ARGUMENTS 163 I How to Analyze Extended Passages 163 2 Quick Appraisals of Arguments 170 3 The Margin Note-Summary Method 175 4 Constructing Good Arguments 189 Summary 193