Kevin Stilley

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January 19, 2011 by kevinstilley

Diairesis and Prohairesis

Plato's ManDiogenes Laertius has handed down to us some fascinating source material in his work Lives of Eminent Philosophers. The historical background he provides for Paul’s address on Mars Hill is extremely enlightening, and yet it seems to be completely ignored by most expositors of the book of Acts. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Philosophy Tagged With: Ancient Western Civ, Anthropology, Blog, critical thinking, decisions, definitions, Diogenes, logic, philosophers, Philosophy, Plato, taxonomy, VeggieTales

July 31, 2008 by kevinstilley

Books on Logic and Logical Fallacies Recommended By Henry A. Virkler

In his book A Christian’s Guide To Critical Thinking, Henry A. Virkler recommends the following books on Logic and Logical Fallacies:

Vincent E. Barry and Douglas J. Soccio, Practical Logic

Stuart Chase, Guides to Straight Thinking: With 13 Common Fallacies

Irving M. Copi, Introduction to Logic

S. Morris Engel, With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies

C. L. Hamblin, Fallacies

Madsen Pirie, The Book of the Fallacy: A Training Manual for Intellectual Subversives

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: critical thinking, logic

May 28, 2008 by kevinstilley

Argumentum ad misericordiam

Tomorrow I must turn in grades for the classes I taught at the college this Spring. Over the last few weeks I have fielded no less than nine appeals for mercy.

“If I don’t make a good grade I will lose my scholarship.”

“If I don’t make a good grade it will look bad on my pageant documentation.”

“I would have done better but ….

Well you get the idea.

These appeals to mercy are know as the argumentum ad misericordiam fallacy. In the Fall I plan on starting the semester with a discussion of it. Rather than present a reasoned argument with supporting information the appellant makes an attempt to evoke sympathy. Even if logically irrelevant such an argument can be successful if the one to whom the plea is made is a compassionate bloke. Personally, I would prefer that they bring me a shiny red apple — or a cup of Starbucks coffee.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Blog, college, critical thinking, Grades, logic, Philosophy, Reasoning

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