eBook Argumentation and Debate download

This book is recommended by Professor David Zarefsky, a Professor of Argumentation and Debate and Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. I wholeheartedly endorse Professor Zarefsky's recommendation.

I believe this book is in at least its 12th Edition, a fact which argues for its popularity and superior quality.

Professor Zarefsky's recommendation of this book is contained in his "Course Guidebook" to his 24 lecture series entitled ARGUMENTATION: THE STUDY OF EFFECTIVE REASONING, a 12-hour DVD series published by The Teaching Company, or The Great Courses. Prof. Zarefsky lists this book as "Essential Reading" at the end of various chapters of his "Course Guidebook" that accompanies his DVD lecture series.

The essential attraction this book holds for me is in the subject of this book's subtitle, "CRITICAL THINKING" and "REASONED decision making."

Chapter 1 of this book is entitled "CRITICAL THINKING," which is defined on page 2 as "The ability to ANALYZE, CRITICIZE, and ADVOCATE IDEAS; to REASON inductively and deductively; and to reach factual or judgmental conclusions based on sound inferences drawn from unambiguous statements of knowledge or belief."

Page 2 defines "Argumentation" as "REASON-giving in communicative situations by people whose purpose is the JUSTIFICATION of acts, beliefs, attitudes, and values."

The foregoing two definitions describe this book's subject matter in a nutshell.

Parenthetically, some books which have the term "critical thinking" in the book's title, never describe what "critical thinking" means!

My particular interest in the recent field of "critical thinking" is that textbooks in this field treat the subject of "fallacies," or what is known in the corresponding field of logic as "informal fallacies." This book discusses fallacies in Chapter 10. The modern "critical thinking" field is contributing significant new understanding of the - previously moribund - subject of "informal" fallacies.

"Fallacy spotting" is one of the most important skills of a "critical thinker."

Chapter one was completely ripped out, I will be returning for a replacement

Got this book for $10 dollars with supposedly "good" condition....turns out it was in perfect condition. Not even a penmark in it. Perfect price for what I got.

Purchased this book at a significant savings over the College book store's offering. Great place to find new or used school books.

This book I only opened twice, once before the midterm and once right before the final. Although I did not use the book it wasn't too terrible. I have had two professors for my communications classes, one uses a book, the other does not, so even though I only used the book twice, with only one of my professors requiring books, it made it a little nicer.

Excellent condition and price.

Purchased this book for an Argumentation class. I was very excited about debating issues with fellow classmates. We were required to read two chapters each night and come to class prepared to discuss them. I'm not a "professional" debater nor do I use the terminology in this book on a daily basis. It was next to impossible to read/comprehend the material and I felt really dumb going to class not knowing what we were going to discuss. The definitions given don't really explain things in "dummy" terms and if you're not familiar with the language or debate process, good luck! I suppose the way the book is set up (the order of the chapters) are good & useful, but again it's the definitions that really hurt my learning in this course. If you're using this for an Intro class, hopefully your teacher will review what you need to know!

When I learned debate, it was the 1996 version of this book, but it has gotten better! This is a great book whether you are a beginning novice debater wanting to learn how to compete in academic debate or an experience debater looking to solidify your theory arguments.