Historical Foundations of Informal Logic

Description

In just the last twenty years there has arisen a strong interest, especially among teachers of logic at the universities, in teaching techniques of applied logical reasoning and critical thinking. Many universities are now stressing these skills at an introductory level, and to meet the need, informal logic has begun to form and grow as a discipline in its own right. Like all subjects, it helps us to understand it if we can situate it in a context of historical development. This collection of essays provides the readings required to understand the development of a subject whose historical origins have been so far little studied. Many of the chapters are written by scholars in philosophy and speech communication who are themselves leading contributors to the subject, and their contemporary views throw light on how these earlier writers have influenced their thinking. This dimension gives an added interest to the essays, and indicates the way informal logic is currently evolving and seeking out its ancient historical origins. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Contributors Acknowledgements 1 Introduction 2 The logic of Greek sophistry 3 The roots of informal logic in Plato 4 Aristotle and informal logic 5 Forms of argumentation in medieval dialectic 6 The Port Royal Logic 7 The Logick of Isaac Watts 8 Whately and the study of fallacious reasoning 9 Jeremy Bentham's Handbook of Political Fallacies 10 Mill on inference and fallacies 11 Kant and informal logic 12 Informal logic in the twentieth century Index of names