Introducing Logic and Critical Thinking – The Skills of Reasoning and the Virtues of Inquiry

T. Ryan Byerly (PhD, Baylor University) is lecturer in philosophy of religion at the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, England. He previously taught at Regent University. He is the author of The Mechanics of Divine Foreknowledge and Providence and coeditor of the forthcoming book Paradise Understood: New Philosophical Essays about Heaven.

Contents

Preface for Instructors
Part 1: The Skills of Reasoning
1. Introduction to Arguments
1.1 Arguments vs. Nonarguments
Exercise 1.1
1.2 Evaluating Arguments
Exercise 1.2
2. Deductive Logic
2.1 Famous Forms Method
Exercise 2.1
2.2 Counterexample Method
Exercise 2.2
2.3 Venn Diagram Method
Exercise 2.3
2.4 Proof Method
Exercise 2.4
2.5 Expanded Proof Method with Predicates and Quantifiers
Exercise 2.5
3. Inductive Logic
3.1 Statistical Syllogism
Exercise 3.1
3.2 Induction by Enumeration
Exercise 3.2
3.3 Arguments from Authority
Exercise 3.3
3.4 Arguments from Analogy
Exercise 3.4
3.5 Inference to the Best Explanation
Exercise 3.5
Part 2: The Virtues of Inquiry
4. Internal Virtues
4.1 Love of Intellectual Excellence
Exercise 4.1
4.2 Intellectual Courage and Caution
Exercise 4.2
4.3 Introspective Vigilance
Exercise 4.3
5. Virtues of Intellectual Dependence
5.1 Trust
Exercise 5.1
5.2 Interpretive Charity
Exercise 5.2
5.3 Intellectual Empathy
Exercise 5.3
6. Virtues of Intellectual Dependability
6.1 Intellectual Generosity
Exercise 6.1
6.2 Communicative Clarity
Exercise 6.2
6.3 Audience Sensitivity
Exercise 6.3
Appendix: Argument Forms and Proof Rules
Glossary of Key Terms