4 ms·

Um, really ignorant question here, but what book on reasoning can I read to be able to see through arguments and debates like you just did? I want to learn abou

• jessriedel 16y ago
  Boy, it's hard to answer such a flattering comment without letting it get to your head and sounding like a pompous jerk! I'll give the same advice I give as a teaching grad student to undergrads who think us grad students are incredibly smart: it only takes a tiny amount of knowledge or training for someone to have that you don't for them to seem so much smarter. Don't be fooled. As a grad student enslaved by a university, I have become quite familiar with all the arguments about the purpose and place of research vs. teaching. Anyways, this confusion between normative and empirical claims is extremely common; once you become aware of the difference, you see it everywhere. The easiest way to familiarize yourself with this and related ideas is to take a introductory course on moral philosophy or read an introductory textbook. Unfortunately, even if I thought the book I used in college was all that great (it was OK), I forgot the name of it. The material is fairly universal at the introductory level, though, so any decent book would do.
  • foenix 16y ago
    This book got me started: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Philosophy/?view=usa&ci=9780195134582 http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Philosophy/?vi... As a student about to start on the honours portion of my degree, I find solace in analytic philosophy (as opposed to those damn ethical/post-modern philosophers).
• jackfoxy 16y ago
  Start here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies