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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The triumph of rhetoric is like...a virus infection.", 19 May 2005
W. Ward Fearnside and his co-author, William B. Holther, have written a textbook on critical thinking which is so cogent that it remains an important teaching text even to the present. Originally published in 1959 and still in print, the book presents fifty-one separate fallacies of argumentation commonly used in everything from political spin to advertising, marketing, and even personal relations, and discusses them in clear, unambiguous, easily comprehensible language. At the outset, the authors liken argument to a manufacturing process, pointing out that "if materials are up to standard, the operator efficient, and the machine running smoothly," that the finished product will pass scrutiny. In argumentation, they see the basic facts as the "material," the person making the argument as the "operator," and logic as the machine. Dividing their text into three sections, they discuss in detail the Material Fallacies (problems with facts), Psychological Fallacies (problems with the bias of the person arguing), and Logical Fallacies (problems with logical processes). The Material Fallacies section discusses making improper generalizations, assuming causes, making false classifications, and presenting false dilemmas. The many examples, sometimes humorous, that they give for each section parallel arguments readers will recognize from daily life. Because the examples are short, followed by thorough explanations, they really come to life and stick in the reader's mind. The Psychological Fallacies include: Emotional Coloration (charged language), Misusing Authority, Stirring up Prejudice, Rationalizations, Biased Misconstructions (including cultural biases), and Diversions (humor, ridicule, red herrings, creating impossible conditions). For each section the examples are numerous, pertinent, and easily recognizable in daily life. The Logical Fallacies section is the most difficult but most interesting section, as Fearnside and Holther take the reader through the basics of logic, illustrating that logical validity is not the same as "truth"--logically valid statements can be patently untrue (because of factual, not logical, errors). They use graphics to illustrate the "undistributed middle term" in syllogisms and the improper conversion of propositions (making broad generalizations about Y based on "some" X or "no X"). Numerous exercises for each fallacy appear at the end of the book, and an excellent index makes it easy to find specific fallacies, examples, and definitions. Even more important now, in the the age mass media, the internet, and instant global communication, than it was in 1959, Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument remains a major contribution to clear thinking and communication. Mary Whipple
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