My impulse when I decided to collect into a single volume the essays on topics in logical theory and related subjects that I have written in the last fifteen years was to borrow from the title of a work by Sextus Empiricus, and call my collection "Against the Logicians." Although the essays address a variety of problems that interest me, the thread that runs through them is a scepticism about how logicians see things. So, the title appealed to me. However, I had second thoughts and chose instead a title of one of my own essays, "In Defense of Informal Logic", which emphasizes my support for other approaches. Although my criticisms of logical theory are designed to cut deeply, I do not want to be unresponsive to the needs that it is supposed to satisfy. However, my position that we have adequate resources for critically analyzing a particular argument and 00 not need a theory of argumentation, will not completely satisfy those who think that there is a need for it. So, I want them to know that I am taking their concerns seriously.

Inhalt

Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. In Defense of Informal Logic. 2. Begging What is at Issue in the Argument. 3. The Fallacy in the Treatment of the Ad Baculum as a Fallacy. 4. In Defense of Rhetoric. 5. Towards a More Dynamic Conception of Argument. 6. The Case of the Missing Premise. 7. The Limits of Critical Thinking. 8. Why do Illiterates do so Badly in Logic? 9. Teaching Logic: How to Overcome the Limitations of the Classroom. 10. The Application of Logic to Fields other than Itself. 11. The Gettier Problem and the Parable of Ten Coins. 12. The Unbearable Vagueness of Being. 13. Zhuangzi: Philosophical Disputation as Transformative. References. Name Index. Subject Index.