u/kbysm

I'm a philosophy student (continental background, interested in critical theory and practical ethics) and I've been working through Logic: A Complete Introduction by Siu-Fan Lee. While it covers a lot of ground, I'm finding it tries to do too much at once: combining informal fallacies, philosophy of language, and formal logic (categorical, propositional, predicate) in one volume. I feel like each topic is treated too shallowly.

My primary goal is to improve my argumentation skills for academic writing and potential work in practical ethics (AI ethics, medical ethics, etc.). I want to really learn about:

· Argument structure and evaluation
· Informal logical fallacies
· The relationship between language and argument

I'm planning to study formal logic separately using forall x: Calgary (which is free, rigorous, and focused purely on formal systems).

So my question is: what is the best dedicated book on arguments and logical fallacies? I'm looking for something focused, not a textbook that touches on these topics as a secondary concern.

I've heard of:

· Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide by Bowell & Kemp
· The Art of Reasoning by David Kelley
· Logical Self-Defense by Johnson & Blair

Which of these (or others) would you recommend for someone in my position? I want something philosophically that will help me analyze and construct better arguments in academic contexts.

Thanks in advance!

I'm a philosophy student (continental background, interested in critical theory and practical ethics) and I've been working through Logic: A Complete Introduction by Siu-Fan Lee. While it covers a lot of ground, I'm finding it tries to do too much at once: combining informal fallacies, philosophy of language, and formal logic (categorical, propositional, predicate) in one volume. I feel like each topic is treated too shallowly.

My primary goal is to improve my argumentation skills for academic writing and potential work in practical ethics (AI ethics, medical ethics, etc.). I want to really learn about:

· Argument structure and evaluation
· Informal logical fallacies
· The relationship between language and argument

I'm planning to study formal logic separately using forall x: Calgary (which is free, rigorous, and focused purely on formal systems).

So my question is: what is the best dedicated book on arguments and logical fallacies? I'm looking for something focused, not a textbook that touches on these topics as a secondary concern.

I've heard of:

· Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide by Bowell & Kemp
· The Art of Reasoning by David Kelley
· Logical Self-Defense by Johnson & Blair

Which of these (or others) would you recommend for someone in my position? I'm not looking for a "critical thinking” which I keep coming across. I want something philosophically rigorous that will help me analyze and construct better arguments in academic contexts.

Hello,

I made a post here maybe about a month ago about an introduction to Marxist thought, many recommended Tuckers Marx-Engel’s reader so I’ve been working my way through that and now would say that I feel fairly confident in my understandings of the main tenets of Marxist theory.

But I’m also quite bored of the pure Marxist theory that I’ve been reading. A topic I’ve been circling recently (YouTube videos or my own train of thoughts) is to do with ideology, how ideology acts as a structure, how it actually works, what counts as an ideology etc, and so would like to see if anyone had a reading recommendation to approach this topic.

I did my own searching and found ‘ideology’ by eagleton looked quite good as it covers certain thinkers (gramsci althusser etc) views, plus is not too long.

Any help is appreciated :)

Hello all,

I’m a philosophy student but I have a passing interest in anthropology. I recently read a book by David Graeber called Possibilites: Essays on Hierarchy, Power and Desire (or something like that). There was one essay called There Never Really Was a West and at some point during the essay he touched on certain cultures and their forms of democracy and how they came to be.

Had me thinking, where and when did certain cultures begin to become more complex and experiment with systems of organisation. I just wanted to know if anyone had any recommendations about this because it sounds like it would be a very interesting topic to write on and read abouts.

Hello all,

I’m doing an undergrad in philosophy and the area I seem to have an interest in is critical theory. I asked my professor about this and he told me that critical theory began with the Frankfurt school so I should begin there.

So far I’ve read:

The Grand Hotel Abyss

Modern Marxism: introductory lectures on Frankfurt school critical theory.

And I’ve read about 1/3 of the dialectical imagination and then plan to read immanent critiques.

It’s going well but I’ve got quite a gap in my understanding of Marxist theory. I’m sure you can imagine terms like reification or commodity fetishism get thrown around in these works.

As such what are the best books that I can read to catch up on what I’m missing in terms of my Marxist theory? Rather than just going straight into das kapital I’d rather read a more formal introduction to Marxist theory.

Thanks for any help.