The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims - Softcover

Vaughn, Lewis

3.55

115 ratings by Goodreads

9780195377927: The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195377923 ISBN 13: 9780195377927

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2009

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The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims, Third Edition, presents the broadest range of tools for today's critical thinking students to apply in any arena, from everyday life to academia, and from science to the media. It explores the essentials of critical reasoning, argumentation, logic, and argumentative essay writing while also incorporating important topics that most other texts leave out, such as "inference to the best explanation," scientific reasoning, evidence and authority, visual reasoning, and obstacles to critical thinking.

The Power of Critical Thinking, Third Edition, integrates many pedagogical features, including hundreds of diverse exercises, examples, and illustrations; text boxes that apply critical thinking to student experience; step-by-step guidelines for evaluating claims, arguments, and explanations; a glossary of important terms; many reminders, summaries, and review notes; and five progressive, stand-alone writing modules interspersed throughout the text. Written in a student-friendly style and enhanced by humor, this text is ideal for courses in critical thinking, introduction to logic, informal logic, argumentative writing, and introduction to argumentation.

New to the Third Edition:

* Six new "Essays for Evaluation" (three pairs arranged in a pro/con format, each pair debating a single issue)
* An expanded Chapter 11 on moral reasoning
* New, more instructive photos that encourage critical thinking about visual elements
* More guidance on doing research and judging sources
* A revised text box program that includes "Newsmakers" and "From the Web" in addition to "For Further Thought"
* Updated pop culture and political references and examples--many ripped from the headlines or drawn from everyday life
Companion Resources

* The Power of Critical Thinking, Third Edition, is supplemented by an Instructor's Manual and Test Bank in print and an Instructor's Manual with Computerized Test Bank on CD. The Computerized Test Bank is a completely customizable bank of questions to aid in the creation of exams and quizzes. Both versions of the Instructor's Manual feature notes on using the text effectively, sample syllabi, links to websites of interest, lectures in PowerPoint format, chapter summaries, and answers to the exercises in the text.

* Also available is a Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/criticalthinking that includes all the information found in the Instructor's Manual along with a student study guide featuring a summary of the main points of each chapter, study questions, short review quizzes, flashcards, web links, and additional chapter exercises.

* Course Cartridges for a variety of e-learning environments allow instructors to create their own course websites with the interactive material from the instructor and student companion websites.

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About the Author:

Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of several books, including: Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases (OUP, 2008); How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age, Fifth Edition (2007); Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues (2007); Doing Philosophy: An Introduction Through Thought Experiments, Third Edition (2006); and Writing Philosophy: A Student's Guide to Writing Philosophy Essays (OUP, 2005).

Review:

"All in all, this is the best book on the market. . . . Chapter 9, 'Inference to the Best Explanation, ' is unique to Vaughn's book and rather brilliant. It is both philosophically interesting and teaches students an important skill."--John Gibson, University of Louisville "The Power of Critical Thinking is unique in that it offers a comprehensive introduction to the basic principles of critical thinking in an engaging and approachable manner. It is the best book that I have seen for teaching critical thinking and practical logic skills."--Daniel Engster, TheUniversity of Texas at San Antonio "Two unique features are the stand-alone writing modules and the diverse collections of exercises. . . . including field problems, writing exercises, and quizzes."--Stephen Ma, California State University, Los Angeles

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