Critical Thinking

Required reading for more than 250,000 students since the publication of the first edition in 1986, Moore and Parker’s Critical Thinking has done more than any other text to help define the structure and content of the critical thinking course, while at the same time serving as a model for the creation of texts that students actually enjoy reading and learning from. The result is a genuinely successful teaching experience for the hundreds of instructors who have used and continue to use Moore and Parker’s text.

Features:

• The treatment of arguments and discussion of truth in Chapter 1 is improved.
• New material on the Internet and evaluating Web sites appears in Chapter 3.
• New collaborative learning exercises are featured throughout the text.
• The term "Rhetoric" replaces the categories of "Nonargumentative Persuasion" and "Pseudoreasoning" in Chapters 4 and 5, and Chapter 4 now treats pseudoreasoning and slanters as rhetorical devices.
• Instruction on identifying unstated premises is added to Chapter 9, along with new exercises and essays integrated into the chapter.
• A revised approach to inductive generalizing and causal argument appears in Chapters 11 and 12.
• The brief essays at the back of the text have been updated.

Proven Features:

• After two introductory chapters, the book divides into two parts: the first part covers claims, the second covers arguments. Students find the distinction between unsupported and supported claims natural; this organization allows the authors to address many features of claims and the variety of non-argumentative ways they are made before engaging the more complex discussion of arguments.
• Hundreds of examples and anecdotes—drawn primarily from politics, sports, high technology, entertainment, and academia—keep students interested and motivated.
• A focus on writing appears throughout. Chapter 2 focuses exclusively on guidelines for writing argumentative essays.
• A complete glossary of terms; answers to one-third of the exercises; cartoons; and the informal, often tongue-in-cheek writing style all help make critical thinking more comprehensible and approachable for beginning college students.