Essential Logic: Basic Reasoning Skills for the Twenty-First Century

Essential Logic offers: BL Readability. A dialogue-like yet challenging style makes this introductory logic textbook engaging and interesting. BL Essentials. Deductive and inductive reasoning, formal and informal logic are placed within a philosophical perspective. BL Rigor. A careful sequence of learning steps communicates the essential skills of reasoning and directs students to write, support, and argue by connecting criticism to key concepts. BL Relevance. Explanations and examples take students’ lives into consideration and are designed for students with diverse backgrounds and a wide range of experiences. BL A Theme. Traditional concepts are integrated with a discussion of modern technological issues and the world view of modern science. A unique chapter on Logic and Hope addresses questions students often ask and suggests a global perspective. BL Controversy. Students are encouraged to defend and critique positions–including those presented by the author. A unique final chapter on Fuzzy Logic is framed as a debate between Western and Eastern philosophy. BL Exercises. Students gain confidence in recognizing arguments, structuring them into premises and conclusions, identifying and critiquing informal fallacies, while learning to create, follow, and appreciate symbolic reasoning trails. BL Coverage. Chapters cover Argument Recognition and Language Analysis, Inductive Reasoning, Structuring Informal Fallacies, Symbolic Translation, Truth Tables, Formal Proofs of Validity, Quantification, and the basics of Fuzzy Set Theory and Propositional Logic.