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Unavailable for many years, Stebbing's Thinking to Some Purpose is a classic manual of how to think clearly and remains astonishingly insightful. This edition includes a new Foreword by Nigel Warburton and a helpful Introduction by Peter West, who places Susan Stebbing's classic book in historical and philosophical context.
List of contents
Foreword to the Routledge Edition, Introduction to the Routledge Edition, Preface to the 1939 Edition, 1. Prologue: Are the English Illogical?, 2. Thinking and Doing, 3. A Mind in Blinkers, 4. You and I: And You, 5. Bad Language and Twisted Thinking, 6. Potted Thinking, 7. Propaganda: An Obstacle, 8. Difficulties of an Audience, 9. Illustration and Analogy, 10. The Unpopularity of Being Moderate, 11. On Being Misled by Half, and Other Fractions, 12. Slipping Away from the Point, 13. Taking Advantage of Our Stupidity, 14. Testing our Beliefs, 15. Epilogue: Democracy and Freedom of Mind, Index
About the author
Susan Stebbing (1885–1943) was a leading figure in British philosophy between the First and Second World Wars. The first woman in the UK to be appointed to a full professorship in philosophy, in 1933, she taught at Bedford College (now Royal Holloway University). She was best known for her work on logic before turning more generally to the study of thinking and reasoning. At a time when analytic philosophy was largely confined to technical questions, her work stood out for engaging with contemporary issues and addressing a wider public audience. Philosophy and the Physicists (1937) and Thinking to Some Purpose (1939) were critiques of the language used in popular science communication and in everyday genres such as political speeches, advertisements and newspaper editorials.
Summary
Unavailable for many years, Stebbing's Thinking to Some Purpose is a classic manual of how to think clearly and remains astonishingly insightful. This edition includes a new Foreword by Nigel Warburton and a helpful Introduction by Peter West, who places Susan Stebbing’s classic book in historical and philosophical context.
