Leo Groarke

_Good Reasoning Matters!_ teaches students how to decipher, evaluate, analyze, construct, and engage in argument. This sixth edition incorporates many timely topics, including the impact of artificial intelligence and social media on how we propose and respond to arguments. The instruction in the book is rooted in traditional philosophical understandings of argument, but is expanded to account for the complexities that characterize real-life arguments. This includes an examination of the role that images, sounds, and other non-verbal components play in attempts to convince us of some point of view—in advertising, television, YouTube, film, interpersonal exchange, and elsewhere. Numerous and varied exercises—formative within the chapters and summative at their end—help students improve their reading, reasoning, and writing skills. Instructors will find the text is informed by research in digital pedagogy and works well in a variety of course formats: in-person, remote, hybrid, and synchronous or asynchronous delivery. The authors’ expertise in argumentation theory and decades of teaching experience ensure that this book prepares students for the complexities of arguing in the 21st century.

_Good Reasoning Matters!_ teaches students how to decipher, evaluate, analyze, construct, and engage in argument. This sixth edition incorporates many timely topics, including the impact of artificial intelligence and social media on how we propose and respond to arguments. The instruction in the book is rooted in traditional philosophical understandings of argument, but is expanded to account for the complexities that characterize real-life arguments. This includes an examination of the role that images, sounds, and other non-verbal components play in attempts to convince us of some point of view—in advertising, television, YouTube, film, interpersonal exchange, and elsewhere. Numerous and varied exercises—formative within the chapters and summative at their end—help students improve their reading, reasoning, and writing skills. Instructors will find the text is informed by research in digital pedagogy and works well in a variety of course formats: in-person, remote, hybrid, and synchronous or asynchronous delivery. The authors’ expertise in argumentation theory and decades of teaching experience ensure that this book prepares students for the complexities of arguing in the 21st century.

Good Reasoning Matters!: A Constructive Approach to Critical Thinking, fifth edition, offers a straightforward and practical introduction to the principles of good reasoning. In addition to examining the most common features of faulty reasoning, the text introduces a variety of argument schemes and rhetorical techniques that will help students solve problems and construct sound arguments. Extensive exercises and examples taken from sources such as social media sites, newspapers, and topical news articles encourage students to consider a wide range of views and perspectives. With new features including a glossary, chapter summaries, and extensive revised exercises throughout, Good Reasoning Matters! is an essential text for courses in critical reasoning.

Michael Gilbert’s multi-modal theory of argument challenges earlier accounts of arguing assumed in formal and informal logic. His account of emotional, visceral, and kisceral modes of arguing rejects the assumption that all arguments must be treated as instances of one “logical mode.” This paper compares his alternative modes to other modes proposed by those who have argued for visual, auditory, and other “multimodal” modes of arguing. I conclude that multi-modal and multimodal (without the hyphen) modes are complementary. Collectively, they represent an important attempt to radically expand the scope of informal logic and the argumentation that it studies.

This article discusses “auditory” arguments: arguments in which non-verbal sounds play a central role. It provides examples and explores the use of sounds in argument and argumentation. It argues that auditory arguments are not reducible to verbal arguments but have a similar structure and can be evaluated by extending standard informal logic accounts of good argument. I conclude that an understanding of auditory elements of argument can usefully expand the scope of informal logic and argumentation theory.

Sceptical arguments have played a seminal role in the development of philosophical thought. The thesis considers traditional sceptical arguments and their application to a variety of issues. Four major topics--the external world, logic and mathematics, ethics, and the problem of other minds--are discussed in detail. Three other topics are discussed to a lesser extent. In each case, the dissertation defends the sceptical conclusion that it is impossible to build a rational basis for belief, and examines this conclusion in light of traditional dogmatism and contemporary developments in analytic philosophy. Wittgenstein's works serve as a basis for the discussion of recent views

This paper responds to two aspects of Ralph Johnson's Manifest Rationality (2000). The first is his critique of deductivism. The second is his failure to make room for some species of argument (e.g., visual and kisceral arguments) proposed by recent commentators. In the first case, Johnson holds that argumentation theorists have adopted a notion of argument which is too narrow. In the second, that they have adopted one which is too broad. I discuss the case Johnson makes for both claims, and possible objections to his analysis

In the last quarter-century, the emergence of argumentation theory has spurred the development of an extensive literature on the study of argument. It encompasses empirical and theoretical investigations that often have their roots in the different traditions that have studied argument since ancient times – most notably, logic, rhetoric, and dialectics. Against this background, I advocate a “thick” theory of argument that merges traditional theories, weaving together their sometimes discordant approaches to provide an overarching framework for the assessment of arguments in a broad range of contexts. In sketching such a theory, I propose six steps that can “thicken” traditional approaches to argument in the interests of a comprehensive theory.

Offering an innovative approach to critical thinking, Good Reasoning Matters! identifies the essential structure of good arguments in a variety of contexts and also provides guidelines to help students construct their own effective arguments. In addition to examining the most common features of faulty reasoning--slanting, bias, propaganda, vagueness, ambiguity, and a common failure to consider opposing points of view--the book introduces a variety of argument schemes and rhetorical techniques. This edition adds material on visual arguments and more exercises.