r. ·.nforntal ISSN 0824-2577 logic vol. vi, no. 2 eds., J. Anthony Blair & Ralph H. Johnson July 1984 contents ARTICLES Informal Logic and the Theory of Reasoning Maurice A. Finochiarro................ . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 The Evaluation of Critical Thinking Programs: Dangers and Oogmas John E. McPeck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 9 Possible Worlds and Imagination in Informal Logic John Eric Nolt ..................................... 14 The Nature of Critical Thinking Harry P. Reeder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17 CRITICAL REVIEW . 0\ 'N\ntl~O{ un\\je{S\t~ Critical Thinking and Educatio by John Mff~ck) 0 \981. Perry Weddle. . . . . . . . . . .. . ...... t;. .... :-: ......... . NOTES \..edd~ l\\)~at'i Arguings and Arguments Fred Johnson ..................................... 26 Teaching Informal Logic in High School Pamela Courtenay Hall ............................. 27 ANNOUNCEMENTS .................................. 8,28 from the editors In this space in our last issue, we presented, in nuce, our conception of informal logic and set forth our editorial policy. In so doing, we neglected to add two important riders. INFORMAL LOGIC is published by the editors three times a year, in Winter, Spring and Summer. All subscriptions begin with the Winter number; later subscribers receive the current volume's back issues. Rates: Individuals: Canada & U.S.A. $10IVolume $4/lssue; Other $14IVolume $5/lssue (includes airmail postage). Rates: I nstitutions: Canada & U.S.A. $15IVolume $6/lssue; Other $19IVolume $8l1ssue (in- cludes airmail postage). Managing Editor: Peter F. Wilkinson. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION: Manuscripts submitted for publication should be typewritten, double-spaced throughout, with wide margins on a standard size bond paper, Notes, also double-spaced, should appear on separate sheets at the end of the manuscript. Special symbols should be typewriter compatible if at all possi- ble. Diagrams should not be cramped and should be amply set off from the typescript above and below. Send three copies from Canada and the U.S.A. (one copy from overseas), with the author's name appearing only on an enclosed letter giving title, affiliation, and complete mailing address. Please indicate in your covering letter if you want the enclosed material con- sidered for inclusion in the refereed section of the jour- nal. Non-refereed material should conform to the above copy guidelines, except that one copy is sufficient. Con- tributors should keep copies of all materials. Manuscripts will not be returned unless return postage is prepaid by cheque, money-order, reply coupons or Canadian stamps. Copies of the editors' and referees' comments will be sent to authors, whether or not the ar- ticle is accepted for publication. Send subscription orders or queries to the Managing Editor. Send manuscripts and other editorial material to the Editors: INFORMAL LOGIC, Department of Philosophy, Univer- sity of Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4. First, our conception of informal logic is offered as a broad reference point, and we shall not insist that others must share our conception of it I ndeed, as the contents of the current issue show, the pages of this journal are open to those who have a different way of conceptualizing informal logic. And that is as it should be. For at this stage of the game, with the overall shape of things still blurry, no one is in a position to declare precisely what informal logic is. Second, we failed to give equal billing in our policy to the cognate entefprise which goes under the rubric of "critical thinking." It is to be noted, in this connection, that the founding members of AILACT-the Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking-could do no better than to juxtapose the two terms: informal logic and critical thinking. What the precise relationship between the two is cannot become clear until the identity questions which plague each have been solved. In the meanwhile, we are quite happy to publish articles and other material dealing with the theory, of practical applications and pedagogy of critical thinking, as well as informal logic. In so stating, we are simply making official what has been our practice for some time. 2 in this issue We continue with the publication of papers presented ~t the Second I nternational Symposium on I nformal Logic In order to make them available to a wider audience. This issue features three more of them (those by Finocchiaro, McPeck, and Nolt). In "Informal Logic and the Theory of Reasoning," Maurice Finocchiaro offers an interesting and novel account of informal logic as a philosophical theory of reasoning. In his paper, "The Evaluation of Critical Thinking Programs," which provoked some of the liveliest discussion at the Symposium, john McPeck takes issue with the view that the testing and evaluation of critical thinking is an empirical matter. In "Possible Worlds and Imagination in Informal Logic," john Nolt has adapted the possible worlds approach to the problem of determining (and teaching students to determine) whether an argument is valid. Harry Reeder's paper, "The Nature of Critical Thinking," is a thorough and thoughtful weaving together of the strands of many papers published in this journal's p~edecessor. Appended to his article is a comment by Richard Paul, who refereed the article, along with Reeder's response. Also in this issue is a critical review by Perry Weddle of john McPeck's book, Critical Thinking and Education •• editorial board Robert Binkley University of Western Ontario Robert Ennis University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Trudy Govier University of Calgary Merrill Hintikka Florida State University David Hitchcock McMaster University Howard Kahane University of Maryland- Baltimore Country Richard Paul Sonoma State University Robert C. Pinto Univesity of Windsor Nicholas Rescher University of Pittsburgh Michael Scriven University of Western Australia Douglas Walton University of Winnipeg John Woods University of Lethbridge George Yoos St Cloud State University