From the Editors 

Maurice Finocchiaro, drawing on his 
own research and that of David Perkins, 
describes two different methods of study-
ing reasoning empirically, discusses their 
theoretical presuppositions, and proposes a 
method for improving reasoning. 

Michael Burke questions the particular 
intersection of theoretical model and inter-
pretive principle that results in verdicts of 
denying the antecedent. He argues that this 
verdict of fallacy relies on questionable 
assumptions, and that what would count in 
the final analysis as denying the antecedent 
is rarely found in published arguments. 

Every instructor of critical thinking or 
informal logic who supplies the students 
with rules, strategies and criteria has expe-
rienced the urge to warn them, "But use 
your judgement!" In his article, Paul Healy 
discusses the grounds for that advice, 
and in addition, suggests ways to make it 
operational. 

This journal has often published 
"Replies" to papers that have previously 
appeared in it, but this issue contains our 
first back-to-back-to-back Exchange. We 
invited Steve Fuller to submit a paper he 

read at an Association for Informal Logic 
and Critical Thinking session at the Amer-
ican Philosophical Association Eastern 
Division meetings, since we see connec-
tions between informal logic and the field 
of social epistemology that Fuller has pio-
neered. We asked Miriam Solomon to 
reply, and then offered to Fuller space for a 
rejoinder. 

Some hold that the bigness of the con-
temporary science industries puts today's 
science beyond the pale of the citizenry's 
critical scrutiny. This is the problem Fuller 
addresses, seeking first to diagnose the 
problem correctly, then to advance a solu-
tion. Solomon argues that size may not be 
as pivotal, nor as much of an epistemic fac-
tor, as Fuller thinks. 

Three interesting books are reviewed 
in this number. One is a new textbook in 
the field, by Richard Feldman. The other 
two-the reviews of C. A. 1. Coady's book 
on testimony, and of Frederick Schauer's 
book on the role of rules in (especially 
legal) decision-making-are monographs 
that have implications for informal logic 
and critical thinking. 

INFORMAL LOGIC is published with the support and generous financial assistance of the Dean of Arts 
and the University of Windsor, Canada.