The Art of Reasoning (Third Edition) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

David Kelley succeeded in writing not only a philosophically rigorous logic textbook, but, more importantly, [one that is] accessible to students. -- Vincente Medina, Seton Hall University

Excellent. I have used The Art of Reasoning many times and recommended it to many colleagues, several of whom used it as well. I find this book vastly superior to the multitude of other texts available for this course. -- Aeon Skoble, Southeast Missouri State University

Product Description

* Inviting prose
* Lucid style
* Familiar language
* Practical applications
* Real-world examples

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Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; Third Edition edition (January 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393972135
• ISBN-13: 978-0393972139
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #113,852 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Introduction to Logic, July 26, 2001

By A Customer

Although I originally learned logic using Hardegree's _Symbolic Logic_, Kelley's book is a vastly superior text for teaching logic to students and inspiring interest in the subject. Many academics complain that you can't teach Critical Reasoning without covering Aristotelian & symbolic logic; they then complain that Aristotelian & symbolic logic is of no importance or interest to non-philosophy majors, and so that it would be preferable to teach Critical Reasoning.

David Kelley accomplishes something incredible in this book: he teaches BOTH, and he shows how they are connected. He starts the reader off with a general discussion of concepts, definitions, and propositions. Then he shows the reader how to analyze the basic structure of arguments, using op-eds and Supreme Court decisions as illustrations. He then moves into Aristotelian logic, venn diagrams, and the informal Fallacies. After this, he discusses sentential logic and the canonical patterns of inference. In the next section, he introduces the Russell/Frege predicate calculus (and Fred Sommers' term logic) and shows how it expands the precision of argumentative analysis. Finally, he discusses inductive logic, including how to generalize correctly, how to evaluate arguments by analogy, and how to form and test hypotheses.

This is a perfect introduction to logic because it teaches one how to think clearly ("in a straight line," as Flew once put it) about issues that one encounters in ordinary life. At the same time, it equips the student who wants to go further in philosophy with the powerful (Russell/Frege) analytic techniques appropriate to that task. There is NO CHANCE that a student who reads this book will be left wondering about the importance of logic. In addition, Kelley is an expert communicator, and he explains away many of the confusions that people have about reason and logic in our "postmodern" age.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accessible and Rigorous Introduction to Logic, April 12, 2000

By A Customer

David Kelley's book is a well-conceived introduction to logic. I think that the first few chapters, on concepts and definitions, are a nice way to begin thinking about what is involved in thinking. These chapters, as well as subsequent ones, are clear at the same time that they are rigorous. I have used this as a textbook for introductory logic classes, and while there are many others that cover the same material, I have yet to find one that surpasses its basic accessibility without sacrificing rigor. There are however, it should be mentioned, a few typos in the exercises.

I would also like to point out with respect to the reviews above that criticize the book on the basis of Kelley's interest in objectivism, that if the reviewer(s) had read the book, they would have been able to recognize at least two fallacies implicit in their review: ad hominem & poisoning the well. In any case, as far as I can tell, Kelley's views on objectivism have nothing to do with the presentation or content of the text.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ideal for the self-instruction, April 26, 2004

By	James Kielland (Montezuma, Costa Rica) - See all my reviews

This is really a wonderful introductory text on reasoning. I believe that it is particularly noteworthy in two key areas: breadth and accessibility. The only plausible criticism to offer would be to say that this book lacks depth. But to make an issue out of that is rather silly because this book is an introductory text.

The first few chapters introduce some useful ideas about thinking. The chapters on classification, definitions, and propositions prepare the reader by introducing them to the basic tools of critical thinking. This is extremely important and useful because from the beginning Kelley has the reader thinking very carefully about words. And when it comes down to it, the study of arguments is the study of what we mean by the words we use and what can be inferred from how we put string them together.

The later chapters on classical and modern deductive logic offer what should be the center of any introductory course in logic. There's little sense in me listing all that is covered, as you can easily take a look at the table of contents of this book and see what the book covers. In essence, all the topics are here that should be covered in an introductory logic class. While there are other books that I prefer for some of these topics I don't believe there is anything necessarily lacking in Kelley's presentation.

The contents that I most enjoy in this book are found in Part V, Inductive Logic. This section covers the "critical thinking" skills that I believe are really the most needed by students. These are issues such as causality (and distinguishing it from correlation), as well as the proper use of analogies and statistics in arguments. This is all very practical stuff and the topics from logic that I wish more people had some familiarity with. In political debates there are all sorts of improper uses of statistics and analogies; very rarely are there improper uses of Venn diagrams and truth tables.

The most noteworthy quality of this book is its accessibility. This is a book from which the motivated student can teach himself to become a better thinker. While this book is intended to be a textbook for a college level class my guess is that if you're reading this review on Amazon you're probably not a college instructor (if you are, just contact the publisher and obtain a review copy!), but rather someone who is looking to improve his or her thinking skills. More than any other introductory book on logic or critical thinking that I've seen, this book excels at being one that a motivated learner can use to learn from on their own.

Are there "better" books on logic available? If by better you are referring to depth, the answer is "sure!" You can find all sorts of books on logic that are more rigorous. Logic has many sub-fields and obviously more specialized books can offer more depth on symbolic logic or Aristotelian logic, for example. It's simply unfair to try to compare this book with those books. This is a book that will open the doors to all sorts of more advanced books, and I believe it does it better than any other introductory text that I've come across.