A Rulebook for Arguments
by Anthony Weston
List Price:
Our Price: $5.74
You Save: $1.21 (17%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.16 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Anthony WestonEdition: Paperback
Published: 2000-01-01
ISBN: 0872205525
Number of pages: 90
Publisher: Hackett Pub Co Inc
Book Reviews of A Rulebook for Arguments
Book Review: Makes a terrible doorstop, so you may as well read it...
Summary: 5 Stars
Everyone needs critical thinking. But who wants to learn it? Most books drone on and on about this or that rule with esoteric Latin terms seeping from every page. In such cases, critical thinking would suggest astute readers close the book and convert it to a doorstop. Thankfully, there's "A Rulebook for Arguments." This minuscule, concise, but nonetheless conceptually beefy book will cause little consternation for prospective thinkers. Clear throughout, the text contains just the right amount of explanation and examples to keep eyelids open and attention spans in check. Plus, at 87 pages it wouldn't make a good doorstop anyway.
The book's ten quick chapters build on each other. One through six provide tips and best practices for constructing solid arguments. Each one deals with a specific topic such as arguments by example, arguments by analogy, arguments from authority, arguments about causes, and deductive arguments (when things get more formal). The focus to this point remains on short arguments. Chapter seven changes gears, and builds on the previous chapters, by exploring the argumentative essay. All elements of the book come together in three brief sections dealing with "exploring the issue," "main points of the essay," and "writing." For the grand finale, a litany of classical fallacies appears. Though some Latin words saturate these pages ("ad hominem," "ad misericordiam," "non sequitur," etc.), the concepts remain extraordinarily accessible. Pay attention to "The Two Great Fallacies," namely, "generalizing from incomplete information" and "overlooking alternatives." A short appendix deals with definitions and an even shorter "Next Steps" section recommends additional reading.
Anyone who wants to argue effectively should commit this book to second nature memory. Irretrievably trap it in the neural network. This flimsy volume contains the crucial basics of critical thinking and sound argument. Every University (and High School) should demand their enrollees read it and read it again. It's the book you wished you had in college while half-soberly agonizing over writing assignments. But despite occasional explicit references to studenthood, adults should not shoo this book from their shelves. This stuff needs a lifetime of reinforcement. Put it next to Strunk and White (as the author suggests a little presumptuously) and peruse it periodically. Soon you'll hear fallacies dripping from every mouth, newscast and political speech. So read it - it doesn't take long - and say hello to critical thinking.
Summary of A Rulebook for Arguments
Updated examples, streamlined text, and the chapter on definition reworked in a rule-based format strengthen this already strong volume. Readers familiar with the previous edition will find a text that retains all the features that make Rulebook ideally suited for use as a supplementary course book-including its modest price and compact size.Unlike most textbooks on argumentative writing, Rulebook is organized around specific rules, illustrated and explained soundly and briefly. It is not a textbook, but a rulebook, whose goal is to help students get on with writing a paper or assessing an argument.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Philosophy: A Wishlist
Art, the Arts, and the Great Ideasby Mortimer J. Adler
Touchstone Books; Published: 1995-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Some Questions About Language: A Theory of Human Discourse and Its Objectsby Mortimer J. Adler
Open Court Publishing Company; Published: 1976-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops:
Reforming Education: The Opening of American Mindby Mortimer J. Adler
Collier Books and Macmillan Publishing; Published: 1990-04-30; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Senseby Mortimer Adler
Fordham University Press; Published: 1996-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Paideia Proposalby Mortimer J. Adler
Touchstone; Published: 1998-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.30
Price in other shops:
Art And Prudence - A Study In Practical Philosophyby Mortimer J. Adler
Adler Press; Published: 2007-03-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $36.45
The Four Dimensions of Philosophy: Metaphysical, Moral, Objective, Categoricalby Mortimer J. Adler
Collier Books; Published: 1994-05; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Adler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexiconby Mortimer J. Adler
Touchstone; Published: 1996-08-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.96
Price in other shops:
A Guidebook to Learning: For a Lifelong Pursuit of Wisdomby Mortimer J. Adler
MacMillian; Published: 1986-03-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $224.96
The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makesby Mortimer Adler
Fordham University Press; Published: 1993-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Critical Thinkingby Brooke Noel Moore, Richard Parker
McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; Published: 2005-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $55.00
Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Studentby Edward P. J. Corbett, Robert J. Connors
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-08-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $49.89
Price in other shops:
Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasionby Jay Heinrichs
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2007-02-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.81
Price in other shops:
The Art of Deception: An Introduction to Critical Thinking : How to : Win an Argument, Defend a Case, Recognize a Fallacy, See Through a Deception,by Nicholas Capaldi
Prometheus Books; Published: 1987-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.93
Price in other shops:
How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logicby Madsen Pirie
Continuum International Publishing Group; Published: 2007-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.51
Price in other shops:
How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book)by Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren
Touchstone; Published: 1972-08-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.87
Price in other shops:
Crimes Against Logic: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offendersby Jamie Whyte
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2004-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.09
Price in other shops:
Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinkingby D.Q. Mcinerny
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2005-05-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.84
Price in other shops:
Critical Thinkingby Alec Fisher
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2001-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (8th Edition)by Neil Browne, Stuart M. Keeley
Prentice Hall; Published: 2006-02-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.67
Price in other shops: