In Defense of Informal Logic

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. In Defense of Informal Logic

   • Don S. Levi

   Pages 1-15

3. Begging What is at Issue in the Argument

   • Don S. Levi

   Pages 16-28

4. The Fallacy in the Treatment of the Ad Baculum as a Fallacy

   • Don S. Levi

   Pages 29-41

5. In Defense of Rhetoric

   • Don S. Levi

   Pages 42-58

6. Towards a More Dynamic Conception of Argument

   • Don S. Levi

   Pages 59-76

7. The Case of the Missing Premise

   • Don S. Levi

   Pages 77-95

8. The Limits of Critical Thinking

   • Don S. Levi

   Pages 96-110

9. Why do Illiterates do so Badly in Logic?

   • Don S. Levi

   Pages 111-124

10. Teaching Logic: How to Overcome the Limitations of the Classroom

    • Don S. Levi

    Pages 125-138

11. The Application of Logic to Fields Other Than Itself

    • Don S. Levi

    Pages 139-153

12. The Gettier Problem and the Parable of the Ten Coins

    • Don S. Levi

    Pages 154-168

13. The Unbearable Vagueness of Being

    • Don S. Levi

    Pages 169-184

14. Zhuangzi: Philosophical Disputation as Transformative

    • Don S. Levi

    Pages 185-208

15. Back Matter

    Pages 209-224

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My impulse when I decided to collect into a single volume the essays on topics in logical theory and related subjects that I have written in the last fifteen years was to borrow from the title of a work by Sextus Empiricus, and call my collection "Against the Logicians." Although the essays address a variety of problems that interest me, the thread that runs through them is a scepticism about how logicians see things. So, the title appealed to me. However, I had second thoughts and chose instead a title of one of my own essays, "In Defense of Informal Logic", which emphasizes my support for other approaches. Although my criticisms of logical theory are designed to cut deeply, I do not want to be unresponsive to the needs that it is supposed to satisfy. However, my position that we have adequate resources for critically analyzing a particular argument and 00 not need a theory of argumentation, will not completely satisfy those who think that there is a need for it. So, I want them to know that I am taking their concerns seriously.

• Nation
• argue
• formal logic
• logic

• University of Oregon, Eugene, USA

  Don S. Levi

Policies and ethics