The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook for Critical Thinking (Elements of Philosophy)

Just as The Elements of Style provides a quick and authoritative reference for writers, The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook for Critical Thinking provides a quick and authoritative reference for issues regarding reasoning.

The Handbook provides clear and succinct discussions of the following issues:
· Issues germane to clarifying sentences: ambiguity, vagueness, and propositional attitudes.
·General discussions of descriptions, explanations, and arguments.
·Criteria for evaluating observational statements and testimony.
·Categorical syllogisms, including issues germane to both the Boolean and Aristotelian interpretations.
·A complete system of propositional logic and a brief discussion of the use of truth tables.
·Induction: generalization and particularization arguments, analogies, arguments to the best explanation, Mill's Methods, counterfactual reasoning, and making decisions under risk and uncertainty.
·A brief discussion of the principle formulas involved in calculating probabilities.
·An extended discussion of informal fallacies.
·An essay on the relationship between critical thinking and writing.

Daniel E. Flage is professor of philosophy at James Madison University. His previous publications have been in critical thinking, logic, and history of modern philosophy.

Noel Hendrickson is assistant professor of philosophy at James Madison University. He has previously published papers in analytic metaphysics and action theory. His current research focuses on counterfactual reasoning and reasoning methods in intelligence analysis.

Kirk St. Amant is associate professor of technical communication and rhetoric at Texas Tech University. His previous publications have focused on intercultural communication, computer-mediated communication, and online education.

William O'Meara is professor of philosophy at James Madison University. His previous publications include co-authoring the James Madison Test in Critical Thinking, editing an introductory reader in philosophy as well as writing articles in American Philosophy, Phenomenology, and Karl Marx.

William J. Hawk is professor of philosophy and head of the department of philosophy and religion at James Madison University. His previous publications include articles in ethics and political philosophy specifically having to do with pacifism.