'You shouldn't drink too much. The Earth is round. Milk is good for your bones.' Are any of these claims true? How can you tell? Can you ever be certain you are right?For anyone tackling philosophical logic and critical thinking for the first time, Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning Well provides a practical guide to the skills required to think critically. From the basics of good reasoning to the difference between claims, evidence and arguments, Rob...

'You shouldn't drink too much. The Earth is round. Milk is good for your bones.' Are any of these claims true? How can you tell? Can you ever be certain you are right?For anyone tackling philosophical logic for the first time, here is a practical guide to the skills required to think critically. From the basics of good reasoning to the difference between claims, evidence and arguments, Jamie Carlin Watson, Robert Arp and Skyler King cover the topics found in an int...

The maths we learn in school can seem like an abstract set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In fact, Jordan Ellenberg shows us, maths touches on everything we do, and a little mathematical knowledge reveals the hidden structures that lie beneath the world's messy and chaotic surface. In How Not to be Wrong, Ellenberg explores the mathematician's method of analyzing life, from the everyday to the cosmic, showing us which numbers to defend, which ones to...

'After a lifetime of dabbling in philosophy without tackling logic, I bought a couple of books on the subject and was soon totally lost. This book saved me.' - Amazon 5 star review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Unlike so many logic books, this one is easy to follow, step by step. Strongly recommended for beginners.' - Amazon 5 star review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐When you see black clouds looming and predict it's going to rain, you're using logic. Wh...

The Stuff of Thought is an exhilarating work of non-fiction. Surprising, thought-provoking and incredibly enjoyable, there is no other book like it - Steven Pinker will revolutionise the way you think about language. He analyses what words actually mean and how we use them, and he reveals what this can tell us about ourselves. He shows how we use space and motion as metaphors for more abstract ideas, and uncovers the deeper structures of human thought that have been shaped by evol...

"If I have learned anything in ten years of formal debating, it is that arguments are no different: without a good understanding of the rules and tactics, you are likely to do poorly and be beaten."—HENRY ZHANG, President of the Yale Debate AssociationYour argument is valid and you know it; yet once again you find yourself leaving a debate feeling defeated and embarrassed. The matter is only made worse when you realize that your defeat came at the hands of...

A concise guide on how to write a good essay, written by someone who has graded a heck of a lot of them. It contains essay writing strategies, helpful tips, and a step-by-step process guide. The second edition has a sample essay and extensive examples of pragraph structure and paraphrasing. Learn how to get the highest grade possible for your work and avoid the mistakes that so many students make.

What is the relationship between democracy and critical thinking? What must a citizen in a democracy know to make the word democracy meaningful? In A Short Course in Intellectual Self-Defense, historian and educator Normand Baillargeon provides readers with the tools to see through the spin and jargon of everyday politics and news reporting in order to decide for themselves what is at stake and how to ask the necessary questions to protect themselves from the manipulations of the governmen...

Like other tools, language was invented, can be reinvented or lost, and shows significant variation across cultures. It's as essential to survival as fire - and, like fire, is found in all human societies.Language presents the bold and controversial idea that language is not an innate component of the brain, as has been famously argued by Chomsky and Pinker. Rather, it's a cultural tool which varies much more across different societies than the innateness view suggests.

**Bayes' Theorem and Bayesian Statistics: Your Gateway to Understanding**Dive into the fascinating world of Bayesian statistics with "Bayes' Theorem and Bayesian Statistics," the essential beginner's guide in the acclaimed "Getting Started With Statistics" series.**Why You Need This Book:**- **Demystify Bayesian Statistics:** Learn Bayes' Theorem in plain English, free from intimidating mathematical jargon.- **Accessible Introduction:** Perfect for beginners ...

This lively introduction to figurative language explains a broad range of concepts, including metaphor, metonymy, simile, and blending, and develops new tools for analyzing them. It coherently grounds the linguistic understanding of these concepts in basic cognitive mechanisms such as categorization, frames, mental spaces, and viewpoint; and it fits them into a consistent framework which is applied to cross-linguistic data and also to figurative structures in gesture and the visual arts. C...

This book concentrates on argumentation as it emerges in ordinary discourse, whether the discourse is institutionalized or strictly informal. Crucial concepts from the theory of argumentation are systematically discussed and explained with the help of examples from real-life discourse and texts. The basic principles are explained that are instrumental in the analysis and evaluation of argumentative discourse. Methodical instruments are offered for identifying differences of opinion, analyz...