A Practical Study of Argument, Enhanced Edition by Trudy Govier

by Trudy Govier

Learn to formulate better arguments with A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ARGUMENT! Providing you with a practical introduction to sound argumentation, this philosophy text gives you the tools you need to understand formal logic and formulate a good argument. Real world examples are included to show you how theory is brought to life in everyday practice. Tools such as exercises with answers, a glossary of common fallacies, chapter summaries, and a book-specific website give you the practice you need to master the material with ease.

Genres: Philosophy, Logic, Nonfiction, Reference, Textbooks

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the textbook for Lud Schlecht's introductory logic class. A fabulous textbook to teach the basics. I hold onto it as a reference.

[Tristan Berrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to understand how to create and evaluate arguments, with a lot of information on various fallacies and sophist methods of persuasion.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unorthodox and unsatisfying. Lays a lot of groundwork but never gets to the bit about how to "do" arguments.

[Champagne Drinking Teetotaler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish this book was not so popular among social scientists. all kinds of atrocities are being committed in the name of being a practical guide. Logic however should be serious subject of study.

[Riley Haas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still not quite sure this textbook found its way into my reading pile. My best guess is that it came from the trove from my former boss. (I can almost hear him quoting the book.) Regardless of where it came from, I really didn't know what I was in for. I didn't know, for example, that it was a textbook.
The first and final chapters feel written for high school students, which is a big problem for me but probably not for a intro university course. I really thought hard about giving up during the first chapter, as I felt like I was not the audience and I felt a little like I was being condescended to. Fortunately, I stuck with it.
I say fortunately because the rest of the book is a remarkably thorough and methodical examination of how human beings should argue. There are brief summaries of deductive logic, analogy and inductive reasoning/statistics (though the latter is presented with very little math because this is meant for social science students). What's impressive is the breadth of the material, the practical approach to analysis and the refusal to get bogged down in theoretical issues that, say, logic textbook would dwell on.
I wish I had taken a class in high school that had used this book as its base and I think it should be more commonly taught. These are fundamental ideas that not everybody learns. And if you spend any time on the internet, you will see that very few people seem to have any idea how to argue properly. Something like this, made mandatory to teenagers, would help at least ease a major problem our society has. (You might say, well if we just teach these nuts how to argue, they'll be harder to debunk. But I think the opposite is true: if people understand proper arguments at 16, they might not fall for bunk in the first place when they're 30. Well, I can hope.

[Basim Sahaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good resource to expand your critical thinking skills to filter out the noise in daily life arguments.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

basically just thankful this means i’m nearly done with this hell hole of a unit. my lecturer also always dunks on govier and since i blindly trust her, ill agree that govier is kinda dumb.

[Abbey Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice basic explanation.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one of the most readable university course textbooks I've encountered.