Useful Pages

A Bibliography on Logic and Reasoning

These provide excellent introductions to logic, formal deductive and inductive argument, and reasoning:
Copi, Irving, Cohen, Carl and Kenneth McMahon. 2011. Introduction to Logic (14th edn.). Prentice Hall, Boston, Mass. and London.

Gensler, Harry J. 2010. The A to Z of Logic. Scarecrow Press, Lanham.

Hacking, Ian. 2001. An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Layman, Charles Stephen. 2002. The Power of Logic (2nd edn.). McGraw-Hill, Boston.

Layman, Charles Stephen. 2005. The Power of Logic (3rd edn.). McGraw-Hill, Boston. [the most recent edition.]

Lipton, Peter. 2004. Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd edn.). Routledge, London.

Lipton, Peter. 2007. “PrĂ©cis of Inference to the Best Explanation, 2nd Edition,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 74.2: 421–423.

Manktelow, K. I. 2012. Thinking and Reasoning: An Introduction to the Psychology of Reason, Judgment and Decision Making. Psychology Press, Hove, East Sussex and New York.

Pirie, Madsen. 2007. How to Win every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic. Continuum, London.

Skyrms, B. 2000. Choice and Chance (4th edn.). Wadsworth, Belmont, CA.

Soccio, Douglas J. and Vincent E. Barry. 1991. Practical Logic: An Antidote for Uncritical Thinking (4th edn.). Harcourt Brace, Fort Worth.

Soccio, Douglas J. and Vincent E. Barry. 1997. Practical Logic: An Antidote for Uncritical Thinking (5th edn.). Cengage Learning. [the most recent edition.]

Buonomano, Dean. 2011. Brain Bugs: How the Brain’s Flaws Shape our Lives. W.W. Norton, New York and London.
For mathematics and reasoning, see:
Seife, Charles. 2010. Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception. Viking, New York.

Paulos, John Allen. 1990. Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences. Penguin, London.
On statistics and its pitfalls, see:
Bram, Uri. 2012. Thinking Statistically (2nd edn.). Createspace.
For a longer bibliography on inductive reasoning, see:
John M. Vickers, “Inductive Reasoning,” Oxford Bibliographies.
Of course, inductive reasoning is strongly related to probability (and, above all, epistemic probability). Good introductions to probability include the following:
Galavotti, M. C. 2005. Philosophical Introduction to Probability. CSLI Publications, Stanford.

Gillies, D. 2000. Philosophical Theories of Probability. Routledge, London.

Hacking, Ian. 2006. The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas about Probability, Induction and Statistical Inference (2nd rev. edn.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Hacking, Ian. 2001. An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Mellor, D. H. 2005. Probability: A Philosophical Introduction. Routledge, London.

Childers, Timothy. 2013. Philosophy and Probability. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Informal logical fallacies present an omnipresent problem in argument and reasoning, and these can be divided into:
(1) Fallacies of relevance;
(2) Fallacies of defective induction;
(3) Fallacies of presumption;
(4) Fallacies of ambiguity (sophism).
A detailed list of the fallacies can be seen here:
(1) Fallacies of Relevance
Irrelevant Appeals
Appeal to emotion (argument ad populum)
Appeal to pity (argument ad misericordiam)
Appeal to Force (argumentum ad baculum)
Appeal to Authority (argumentum ad verecundiam)
Appeal to nature (argument from nature)
Appeal to Ignorance (argumentum ad ignoratiam)
Red herring fallacy
Irrelevant Conclusion (ignoratio elenchi)
Straw man argument
Ad Hominem Argument
Poisoning the well
Guilt by association
Naturalistic fallacy
Moralistic Fallacy
Argument from silence (argumentum ex silentio)
Genetic fallacy
Gambler’s Fallacy
Tu quoque
(2) Fallacies of defective induction
Argument from Ignorance (ad ignorantiam)
Appeal to Inappropriate Authority (ad verecundiam)
False cause
Hasty generalization
Faulty generalization
Other inductive fallacies
Slothful induction
Overwhelming exception
Biased sample
Misleading vividness
Statistical special pleading
(3) Fallacies of presumption (fallacies of illegitimate presumption)
Complex question
False cause
Begging the question
Accident
Converse accident
No True Scotsman Fallacy (fallacy of ambiguity and presumption)
(4) Fallacies of ambiguity (sophisms)
Fallacy of equivocation
Fallacy of amphiboly
Fallacy of accent
Fallacy of composition
Fallacy of Division
Other fallacies relevant to economics include the following:
(1) Paradox of thrift/saving
(2) Paradox of costs
(3) Paradox of debt
(4) Paradox of liquidity
(5) Paradox of tranquillity (Minsky).
Links
“Informal Logical Fallacies and Cognitive Biases,” June 28, 2011.

External Links
Bradley Dowden, “Fallacies,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Changing minds and persuasion
http://changingminds.org/

List of cognitive biases
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

Edward Feser,“What is an ad hominem Fallacy?,” April 18, 2013.

1 comment:

  1. Paradoxes are not fallacies. Fallacies are generally errors in first order logic. Paradoxes are a natural result of higher order logic. The Keynesian paradoxes are not true paradoxes. They result from Keynes's inability to completely shake off quantity of money thinking. This is really a category error, not a paradox.

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