From the Editors 

We are pleased to present this Special 
Issue of Informal Logic devoted to the 
work of Nicholas Rescher that has had an 
important bearing on the development of 
informal logic and argumentation. The 
topics covered-plausible reasoning, 
inconsistency, rationality, and fallacies in 
argumentation-constitute a cross section 
of Rescher's work on logic. He has written 
over 40 monographs and numerous arti-
cles, and his influence has been felt in 
almost every area of philosophy. He is cur-
rently the editor of American Philosophi-
cal Quarterly and the History of 
Philosoph)" Quarterly, and the executive 
editor of Public AfJairs Quarterly. Rescher 
has been a member of our Board of Refe-
rees and a strong supporter of work in 
informal logic. Last November he was 
honored by colleagues and associates with 
a Colloquium at the University of Pitts-
burgh marking 30 years of service there. 

We hope you will find the contents of 
this Special Issue stimulating. More Spe-
cial Issues are planned for the future. 

We would like to correct an oversight 
in the last issue. Pat Castagna compiled the 
Index in Vol. 13, No.3, and we wish to 
thank him for his freely given help in this 
regard. 

Finally, we take this opportunity to 
welcome the newest member of our edito-
rial staff-Dr. Jonathan Adler, Department 
of Philosophy, Brooklyn College. Jonathan 
has agreed to serve as the Book Review 
Editor-and we look forward to working 
with him to bring you up-to-date with use-
ful reviews. 

A Word from Informal Logic's Book 
Review Editor 

Since the scope of Informal Logic is 
broad and interdisciplinary, I want to 
review related works in neighboring areas 
including rhetoric. linguistics and prag-
matics, education, and cognitive psychol-
ogy. (In fact, this issue contains a good 
example-the review of Deanna Kuhn's 
empirical study of competence in argu-
ment by Jonathan Baron.) Suggestions for 
appropriate books to review are welcome. 
particularly in these areas. Also, those of 
you who are interested in contributing 
reviews are invited to let me know. Aside 
from reviews and review articles (or criti-
cal studies) on recent works (and some 
near-recent works that we may have over-
looked). two other types of reviews will be 
solicited. First, I think it would be valuable 
to publish reexaminations of important, 
and perhaps, underappreciated, historical 
works in light of contemporary develop-
ments. Again here, suggestions and volun-
teers are welcomed. Second, we will 
publish very brief (125 word limit) 
abstracts of textbooks in the field written 
by the texts' authors. While I intend to 
write to all textbook authors. any of you 
who would like to get right to it, without 
waiting for my prompt, are encouraged to 
do so. 

Thanks. 
Jonathan E. Adler