Why this book?
- For a practical introduction to the most common fallacies in everyday and public discussions.
- To strengthen critical thinking skills and the evaluation of arguments.
- To understand the relationship between fallacy, persuasion, and error in contentious and rhetorical discourse.
- For students of philosophy, logic, and communications to benefit from clear, instructive examples.
About the book
Fallacies and Argument Appraisal is an educational work in the field of informal logic and argumentation theory. The book begins by explaining what a fallacy is and the importance of studying it, showing that fallacies are not merely theoretical errors but, in many cases, methods for derailing discussion and misleading audiences.
In this book, Tindale draws on the Aristotelian tradition of discussing fallacies as well as recent research in argumentation theory. His approach is not simply to name fallacies; rather, he seeks to provide the reader with tools for the precise identification, analysis, and evaluation of faulty reasoning. For this reason, critical questions are posed in the examination of each fallacy so that the reader can use them when encountering real texts and speeches.
The book's structure is built around different types of fallacies: from fallacies of diversion and structural fallacies to linguistic fallacies, personal attacks, propaganda fallacies, misuse of authority, hasty generalization, and false analogies. This book is useful for students of philosophy, logic, social sciences, and communications, as well as for any reader who wants to argue more precisely and be less easily deceived by seemingly convincing arguments.