Good reasoning matters! : a constructive approach to critical thinking

I don't know who to believe in

My soul sings a different song

Iam right and you are wrong

Iam right and you are wrong

Iam right and you are wrong

No one’ right and no ones wrong

—Creed, “In America”

We are all inundated by the messages we see, hear, and read in social media, on the

Internet, television, and radio, in magazines and books, on bumper stickers and

billboards.

Our sources of information and the myriad of messages they convey compete for

our attention, soliciting our support. Debates rage, arguments and counter-arguments

are offered, and advertisements tell us we should buy this and do that. We are pushed

to take a stand, but the influx of contradictory messages is confusing.

How should we decide who is right, what is acceptable, and even what ideas or

points of view we should spend our time, energy, and money exploring?

This book is designed to help you improve your reasoning so that you can reach

your own conclusions about whatever topics you choose to study and address. We hope

that you will emerge a reasoner who is proficient at assessing the arguments you encounter and able to construct convincing arguments of your own.

The thinking skills you will develop can be applied to all aspects of your life. They

are particularly important in a democracy. Because in an age when “attack ads” are

becoming more and more prevalent, its success depends on the ability of citizens to

see through such irrelevancies and make significant political decisions about complex

social and economic issues.

Many people think they are good at reasoning because they like to argue and are

willing to defend a position “to the bitter end.” But there is more to reasoning. A good

arguer must know:

e what counts as a good reason for a claim;

* when claims are relevant to an argument and when they are not;

* what conclusions reasonably follow from different kinds of evidence;

PREFACE

e the difference between sufficient and