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My impulse when I decided to collect into a single volume the essays on topics in logical theory and related subjects that I have written in the last fifteen years was to borrow from the title of a work by Sextus Empiricus, and call my collection "Against the Logicians." Although the essays address a variety of problems that interest me, the thread that runs through them is a scepticism about how logicians see things. So, the title appealed to me. However, I had second thoughts and chose instead a title of one of my own essays, "In Defense of Informal Logic", which emphasizes my support for other approaches. Although my criticisms of logical theory are designed to cut deeply, I do not want to be unresponsive to the needs that it is supposed to satisfy. However, my position that we have adequate resources for critically analyzing a particular argument and 00 not need a theory of argumentation, will not completely satisfy those who think that there is a need for it. So, I want them to know that I am taking their concerns seriously.
List of contents
1 In Defense of Informal Logic.- 2 Begging What is at Issue in the Argument.- 3 The Fallacy in the Treatment of the Ad Baculum as a Fallacy.- 4 In Defense of Rhetoric.- 5 Towards a More Dynamic Conception of Argument.- 6 The Case of the Missing Premise.- 7 The Limits of Critical Thinking.- 8 Why do Illiterates do So Badly in Logic?.- 9 Teaching Logic: How to Overcome the Limitations of the Classroom.- 10 The Application of Logic to Fields Other Than Itself.- 11 The Gettier Problem and the Parable of Ten Coins.- 12 The Unbearable Vagueness of Being.- 13 Zhuangzi: Philosophical Disputation as Transformative.- References.- Name Index.
Summary
This text addresses anyone who wonders, as the author does, about what can be achieved by argumentation and why it can be achieved.
