Being logical : a guide to good thinking / D.Q. McInerny.

Includes index.

Preparing the mind for logic -- The basic principles of logic -- Argument : the language of logic -- The sources of illogical thinking -- The principal forms of illogical thinking. Part One: Preparing the mind for logic -- Be attentive -- Get the facts straight -- Ideas and the objects of ideas -- Be mindful of the origins of ideas -- Match ideas to facts -- Match words to ideas -- Effective communication -- Avoid vague and ambiguous language -- Avoid evasive language -- Truth -- Part Two: The basic principles of logic -- First principles -- Real gray areas, manufactured gray areas -- There's an explanation for everything, eventually -- Don't stop short in the search for causes -- Distinguish among causes -- Define your terms -- The categorical statement -- Generalizing -- Part Three: Argument: the language of logic -- Founding an argument -- The move from universal to particular -- The move from particular to universal -- Predication -- Negative statements -- Making comparisons -- Comparison and argument -- Sound argument -- Conditional argument -- Syllogistic argument -- The truth of premises -- The relevancy of premises -- Statements of fact, statements of value -- Argumentative form -- Conclusions must reflect quanitity of premises -- Conclusions must reflect quality of premises -- Inductive argument -- Assessing argument -- Constructing an argument -- Part Four: The sources of illogical thinking -- Skepticism -- Evasive agnosticism -- Cynicism and naive optimism -- Narrow-mindedness -- Emotion and argument -- The reason for reasoning -- Argumentation is not quarreling -- The limits of sincerity -- Common sense -- Part Five: The principal forms of illogical thinking -- Denying the antecedent -- Affirming the consequent -- The undistributed middle term -- Equivocation -- Begging the question -- False assumptions -- The straw-man fallacy -- Using and abusing tradition -- Two wrongs don't make a right -- The democratic fallacy -- Substituting for the force of reason -- The uses and abuses of expertise -- The quantifying of quality -- Consider more than the source -- Stopping short at analysis -- Reductionism -- Misclassification -- The red herring -- Laughter as diversionary tactic -- Tears as diversionary tactic -- An inability to disprove does not prove -- The false dilemma -- Post hoc ergo propter hoc -- Special pleading -- The fallacy of expediency -- Avoiding conclusions -- Simplistic reasoning -- Afterword.