A Guide to Good Reasoning: Cultivating Intellectual Virtues - Second edition, revised and updated

Reviewed by Kathryn A. Webb Webb, Director of Nursing Simulation, Associate Professor, University of Saint Francis on 6/6/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book begins and remain consistent and comprehensive throughout. Each chapter, along with examples. activities, and a glossary build on knew knowledge and prepares for the next.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The information is provided with examples and definitions that are completely accurate. The book begins by instructing students to build reasoning by attributing for main question themes to every argument. The student is able to progress nicely in a linear pattern. One chapter must be completed to understand the next, by the end the students has perfect examples for communicating with greater ressoning skills and knowledge.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I would describe the principals taught in this text as timeless.

Clarity rating: 5

The text provides superb clarity of philosophy, reason, and thought throughout.

Consistency rating: 5

The text does not waiver from style or layout from one chapter to the next. The student understands the format and learning process from the first chapter.

Modularity rating: 5

This is, in my opinion, the brilliancy of this text. Reasoning and virtue are huge themes. In this text they become understandable and logical.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

One of the most logical and linear texts. The text inspires the desire to keep learning from chapter to chapter.

Interface rating: 5

The text has glossaries and exercises that are easily to navigate and comprehend.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice any grammatical errors. The text is well written.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

As stated, the principals taught in this text are timeless. The examples are take from relevant past and present articles and books that are very diverse and inclusive.

Comments

I found this to be a superb learning tool, especially helpful for the college Freshman.

Reviewed by Daniel Shannon, Professor of Philosophy, DePauw University on 12/30/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book covers all the basics of good critical reasoning and the importance of obtaining and employing intellectual virtues. The author goes into specifics, has many examples, and there are exercises for each section. The technical terms are explained, and there is a summary of the main points at the end of each chapter. The first chapters introduce the student to good reasoning and the later chapters introduce how to evaluate arguments.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content of the book is very accurate and precise. It is objective.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This is the kind of book that is not likely to go out of date. I imagine that as the second edition the author updated his examples and exercises, but the "rules of logic" do not change over time.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is very well written. It is lucid and even has some humor worked into the explanations and samples. There is, however, one case where the author, attempting to define the fallacy of "slippery slope," was unduly vague. He defines the fallacy as "mistakenly concluding that because fuzzy borders can be harder to see, they are nonexistent" (p.115). The fallacy is usually, and better, described as when someone mistakenly believes that because one bad event occurred, then a series of other bad events will also occur.

Consistency rating: 5

Consistent throughout and coherent.

Modularity rating: 5

The book lays out its theme progressively. In order to appreciate the later chapters you would have to understand the early chapters. However, the first few chapters could be taken separately, especially if one was interested in introducing students to the fundamentals of understanding arguments in a basic reasoning or philosophy class.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Topics are very well organized and logical.

Interface rating: 5

There are no problems

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book is well-written with hardly any errors. I found only one typo on page 91 where the # 2 was omitted in an enumeration of premises.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

There is no obvious insensitivity or bias in the writing, but since the examples and samples are taken from newspapers, magazines, history of science, and western literature, I can imagine that some students might not immediately grasp the references. Would any millennial likely know who H. L. Mencken or Senator Bob Taft was?

Comments

This is a superior quality informal logic textbook. It is recommended without reservations. My only qualm is that the author tends to go into a depth of detail that some students are not likely to appreciate.