A Workbook for Arguments: A Complete Course in Critical Thinking - Softcover

Morrow, David R.; Weston, Anthony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1603845496 ISBN 13: 9781603845496

Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2011

Synopsis

A Workbook for Arguments builds on Anthony Weston's Rulebook for Arguments to provide a complete textbook for a course in critical thinking or informal logic. Workbook includes:

• The entire text of Rulebook, supplemented with extensive further explanations and exercises.
• Homework exercises adapted from a wide range of arguments from newspapers, philosophical texts, literature, movies, videos, and other sources.
• Practical advice to help students succeed when applying the Rulebook's rules to the examples in the homework exercises.
• Suggestions for further practice, outlining activities that students can do by themselves or with classmates to improve their skills.
• Detailed instructions for in-class activities and take-home assignments designed to engage students.
• An appendix on mapping arguments, giving students a solid introduction to this vital skill in constructing complex and multi-step arguments and evaluating them.
• Model answers to odd-numbered problems, including commentaries on the strengths and weaknesses of selected sample answers and further discussion of some of the substantive intellectual, philosophical, or ethical issues they raise.

About this title

About the Author

David R. Morrow is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Anthony Weston is Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at Elon University.

Review

Unlike many critical-thinking books, there is a particular and efficacious focus on helping the reader write an argumentative essay. . . . The central goal of Workbook for Arguments is to assist one in becoming a critical thinker qua writer. Chapters 7 and 8 (nearly fifty pages) are devoted specifically to preparing the reader to produce an argumentative essay. For those of us who want to concentrate on the receiving aspects of critical thinking, the first six chapters and perhaps an appendix or two will do the job superbly. There are over sixty exercise sets, not one of which is frivolous. The model responses are typically excellent, some providing both weak and strong examples for answers, and the answers are often followed by commentary. Part 3 offers twelve critical-thinking activities, one per chapter and appendix. These activities are often set up for group work. The activities are relevant, helpful, and thoroughly presented. The expository clarity is as good as it gets, and this is true even when a light touch is used. A Workbook for Arguments is an excellent text, standing head and shoulders above both Boylan's Critical Inquiry and Browne and Keeley's Asking the Right Questions. A Workbook for Arguments is much larger than the other two books reviewed here, and it is actually less expensive than Critical Inquiry and Asking the Right Questions. --Chris Jackson, Philosophy and Religion Program, Mt. Hood Community College, in Teaching Philosophy

An exceptional textbook that will be an invaluable resource to both students and instructors. Those familiar with Weston's popular A Rulebook for Arguments will be delighted by this comprehensive workbook, which includes detailed and entertaining sets of exercises for each rule (Part I), engaging model student responses (Part II), and well-crafted activities to develop critical thinking skills (Part III).

--Michael Strawser, University of Central Florida

This comprehensive text models what it teaches. It combines concise principles of critical thinking with delightful examples and engaging exercises. --Joanne B. Ciulla, University of Richmond

"Workbook not only provides a basic introduction to critical thinking but also contains a wealth of exercises, sample answers, and evaluations of sample arguments conducive to deepening and applying critical thinking skills, both in writing and in oral presentations. It is a valuable asset for critical thinking courses and is accessible both in terms of the clear structure of its content and its price."
      —Daniela Vallega-Neu, University of Oregon

Edition details

• Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1603845496
• ISBN 13: 9781603845496
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 500