An introduction to reasoning Second Edition Stephen Toulmin Richard Rieke Allan Janik Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. New York Collier Macmillan Publishers LondonCopyright © 1984, Macmillan Publishing Company, a division of Macmillan, Inc. Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Earlier edition copyright © 1978 by Stephen Toulmin, Richard Rieke, Allan Janik Macmillan Publishing Company 866 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022 Collier Macmillan Canada, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Toulmin, Stephen Edelston, ‘An introduction to reasoning. Includes index. 1 Reasoning. I. Rieke, Richard D. Il. Janik, Allan. IIL Title, BCI77.T59 1984 160 83-16196 ISBN 0-02-421160-5 Printing: © 10 «1 12:'13«14 1516 ‘Year: ISBN = O0-O2-4211b0-5 BasedPreface In recent years the study of practical reasoning and argumentation has begun to play a larger part in college courses, especially at the introductory level. On this level, it is taught not just in philosophy departments, but also in departments of communication and English, as well as in professional schools of law and business. The resulting field of analysis and instruction goes by different names in different contexts: “informal logic” and “rhetoric” among many others. An Introduction to Reasoning has been written with an eye to the needs of all the current types of courses, and is designed to serve as a general introduction to them. The book presupposes no familiarity with formal logic, and is intended to provide an intro- duction to ideas about rationality and criticism without requiring a mastery of any particular logical formalism. The “basic pattern of analysis” set out in Parts II and III of this book is suitable for application to arguments of all types and in all fields. By contrast, the chapters in part VI discuss the special features associated with practical reasoning in different fields of argumentation—law, science, fine arts, management, and ethics, respectively. Parts IV and V deal with a number of general issues con- nected with the rational criticism of arguments as viewed from the standpoints of philosophy, communication, and other disciplines: they include a discussion of fal- lacies as nonformal failures in the process of reasoning, rather than as blunders in the mechanics of argumentation. In planning courses for particular purposes, it will probably be convenient for the instructor to select those parts of the book best adapted to the interests of the classes in question. Alll students will need a basic grasp of the material in Parts,