Arguments about Arguments
Systematic, Critical, and Historical Essays In Logical Theory

This book brings together essays by one of the pre-eminent scholars of informal logic.

Maurice A. Finocchiaro (Author)

9780521618533, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 July 2005

478 pages
22.7 x 16.6 x 2.6 cm, 0.7 kg

"It is an illuminating examination of the argumentation employed by not only one of science's great figures but also one of its great writers."
Thomas M. Lessl, Argumentation and Advocacy

Following an approach that is empirical but not psychological, and dialectical but not dialogical, in this book Maurice Finocchiaro defines concepts such as reasoning, argument, argument analysis, critical reasoning, methodological reflection, judgment, critical thinking, and informal logic. Including extended critiques of the views of many contemporary scholars, he also integrates into the discussion Arnauld's Port-Royal Logic, Gramsci's theory of intellectuals, and case studies from the history of science, particularly the work of Galileo, Newton, Huygens, and Lavoisier.

Part I. Theorizing about Reasoning and Argument: 1. Informal logic and the theory of reasoning
2. An historical approach to the study of argumentation
3. Methodological problems in empirical logic
4. Two empirical approaches to the study of reasoning
5. Critical thinking, critical reasoning, and methodological reflection
Part II. Fallacies and Asymmetries: 6. Fallacies and the evaluation of reasoning
7. Six types of fallaciousness
8. Asymmetries in argumentation and evaluation
9. The positive versus the negative evaluation of arguments
Part III. Critiques: 10. Siegel on critical thinking
11. Introduction and intuition in the normative study of reasoning
12. Logic, politics, and Gramsci
13. The dialectical approach to interpretation and evaluation
14. The Port-royal logic's theory of argument
15. A critique of the dialectical approach
16. Valid Ad Hominem arguments in philosophy
17 Dialectics, evaluation, and argument
Part IV. Historical Analyses: 18. The concept of Ad Hominen argument in Galileo and Locke
19. Newton's third rule of philosophizing
20. Logic and rhetoric in Lavoisier's sealed note
21. The concept of judgment and Huygens' theory of gravity
22. Empiricism, judgment, and argument
23. Criticism, reasoning, and judgment in science.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Philosophy of science [PDA], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Analytical philosophy & Logical Positivism [HPCF5]