Unlock your power: Ease the journey of effective reasoning and critical thinking
-- Word on books and raw cost:
I do not usually recommend books because quite frankly they cost a metric load of cash to purchase, and I have experienced the financial bludgeoning at full tilt speed. Books for a semester? $800? $900? $2000? The sky is the limit.
-- Assurance of power:
But out of the ashes of my destroyed wallet rises an timeless tome of logical power. No I do not speak of the Bible, or any other abstracted book with metaphores that could be stretched out end to end from my house to the moon and back. I speak of a finely constructed book crafted by some of the greatest masters of our time.
-- Where it fits in:
Many of us have spent countless hours reading stories fictional, true and diversely mixed pieces, but usually multiple authors have argured over which parts are the best, rewritten perhaps twenty or more times, perhaps even undergoing translation or transliteration.
Everyone inevitabily comes to the conclusion, how did the logic even survive transliteration?!
Good planning! But how do I really plan out a literary piece which could transcend the ages and survive to our next evolution? How can this be received as I have written it?
-- A new or an old focus?
Some may say you need to have multiple quality control systems in place, Define/Measure/Analysis/Improve/Control your writing? Nope, that's part of the Six Sigma quality control system for manufacturing.
Some of us are lucky enough to be taught in school around age 18, but most are not, "You will learn this if you take the Social Sciences in university" still rings through my ears like the sounds of the rusty gates of Hell opening. Luckily, I found the magic oil to loosen those gates freely, and I will conquer what is beyond those gates aswell.
The book I write about comes in two editions:
Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Basic Skills - Canadian Seventh Edition
and
Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Basic Skills
authored by William Hughes and Jonathan Lavery
Extractions from the book about Reasoning and Critical Thinking:
- "The ability to reason is the fundamental characteristic of human beings"
- "Virtually every conscious human activity involves reasoning..."
- "Inference involves a special relationship between different thoughts: when we infer B from A, we move from A to B because we believe that A supports or justifies or makes it reasonable to believe in the truth of B."
- "A statement is a sentence ... that is used to make a claim that is capable of being true or false."
- "argument is a set of statements that claims that one or more of those statements, called the premises, support another of them, called the conclusion"
- "We say that an argument has logical strength when its premises, if true, actually provide support for its conclusion."
- "An argument that has both logical strength and true premises is called a sound argument"
- "These three types of skills—interpretive skills, verification skills, and reasoning skills—constitute what are usually referred to as CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS"
- "NORMATIVE PRINCIPLES function as standards for assessment or guides for action, whereas descriptions merely attempt to accurately represent something"
- "LOGIC is the science that studies the relationships between premises and conclusions with a view to
determining when and to what extent the premises actually support the conclusion."
All of these quotes are just snippets from the first 12 pages of the book.
-- Gordon's back-story
I first found out about this book from a friend when I casually picked up one of her school books which was prominately displayed as if it were lined with gold. Turned out it was lined with logical gold.
-- Further reviews
“Here is a textbook of lasting value. It is accessible without being over-simplistic. It is unsurpassed in clarity and depth. And its examples, exercises, and questions for discussion offer the student unique and exciting materials for reflection and engagement.” ― Ahmad Rahmanian, University of New Brunswick.
“I have been using Hughes (now Hughes & Lavery) since the first edition. I have occasionally tried other texts but have yet to find one I like as much. It has all the essential materials, it’s impeccably organized, and it’s clear and accessible to our students.” ― Wayne I. Henry, University of the Fraser Valley.
-- Back book cover
"Critical Thinking is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the essential skills of good reasoning, written by Canadian authors for Canadian readers. The book includes a thorough treatment of such central topics as deductive and inductive reasoning, logical fallacies, how to recognize and avoid ambiguity, and how to distinguish what is relevant from what is not. Later chapters discuss the application of critical thinking skills to particular topics and tasks, including scientific reasoning, moral reasoning, media analysis, and essay writing. This seventh edition is revised and updated throughout and includes a new chapter on legal reasoning as well as access to a companion website of additional questions and other useful resources."
