I) ISSN 0226-1448 . y Inforn1'al logic neweletter newsletter neweletter neweletter vol. iii, no. 2 eds., J. Anthony Blair & Ralph H. Johnson March 1981 -------........ rol'''' the jj""$,?::"i1.J ot Windsol • ditors contenter 12 1981 , lUnsry IN THIS ARTICLE Attitudes to Reasoning Thomas J. Richards ••••••••• 2 RESPONSE Deduction, Induction and Conduction David Hitchcock CRITICAL REVIEW Toulmin's Bold Experiment (An Introduction to Reasoning) Ralph H. Johnson • • • • • ANALYSIS OF EXAMPLES ILN, ii/Supplement: No. 8 --- 1 David Hitchcock • 2 Ralph Johnson • ANNOUNCEMENT • • CONTENTS OF BOOKS RECEIVED Barker, EveISday Reasoning Fearnside, out Thinking Little, CritICiI Thinking and Decision Making • • • -.--. • • Thomas, Practical Reasoning in Natural Language, 2nd EdItion BOOKS RECEIVED 7 16 28 29 30 30 31 • 31 • • 33 Textbooks and Mongraphs • • • • • • • • 34 We are pleased to be able to reprint Pro- fessor Richard's article, "Attitudes to Reasoning" from the Australian gogic Teach- ers' Journal. Professor Richar s opens-up the question, "How is reasoning considered in the society in which we are trying to teach it?" As teachers we should know our students 1 also, as philosophers trying to have an impact we should know the social values and attitudes of the communities we want to influence. Professor Richards has some interesting things to say about the ethics of belief, too. The article was originally written in response to some pro- posed changes in the high school curriculum in the state of Victoria in Australia, how- ever its applications to the North American setting are pretty straightforward. Professor David Hitchcock's earlier con- tribution to the inductive-deductive debate which has been running in these columns has been the subject of a lot of critical comment from other contributors. We judged it only The Informal Logic Newsletter is published a minimum of three times a year, normally in Fall, Winter and Spring, with supplementary issues appearing from time to time. Pub- lished by the editors. SUBSCRIPTIONS: $4 to individuals, $8 to institutions, annually, payable to: Informal tli9 tfi Newsletter. All subscripticna begin wi e Fall number1 late subscribers receive the year's back issues. Special order back issues: $1.50 each 9r $5 per complete volume to individuals1 $2.50 each or $9 per complete volume to institutions. ADDRESS: (1) Subscription and advertising communications 'to the Managing Editor, (2) Manuscripts and other editorial communications to the Editors, both at: Informal Logic Newsletter, Department of Philosophy, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, N9B 3P4. .''1' fair, then, to allow Professor Hitchcock a reply to his critics. This will be the last thrust in the inductive-deductive debate that we will run in the ILN for a while~ (But didn't we say that before?) Your editors have, in the past, been loath to publish their own work in the ILN. lole view the Newsletter as a clearing-nouse and forum for others, not a personal mouthpiece. This policy of re~traint has had us bursting at the seams on more than one occasion, and finally the pressure has become too great. This year Ralph Johnson is on sabbatical leave, writing on informal logic. He has written a number of articles, none originally intended for the Newsletter. Thus it was that his co-editor, wearing editor's hat, approached him, wearing sabbaticant's hat, and convinced him to part with a couple of pieces for our columns. As a result we have an in-depth review of the recent text by Stephen Toulmin, Richard Rieke and Allan Janik, An Introduction to ~asonin~, the first part of which appears in th~s issue, and the completion of which will appear next issue. And in the next issue we will also run a piece by Johnson on the Principle of Charity. A NEWSLETTER/JOURNAL OF INFORMAL LOGIC? We appreciate the double bind many potential contributors to the ILN find themselves in. On the one hand, they want to support the ILN and put their work before an audience that-r5 interested in it: on the other hand they want to (a) support the informal logic movement by getting articles in informal logic published by established and prestigious journals (thus getting the subject/field recognized as a legitimate philosophical concern), and (b) advance their own work by having it taken seriously by the professional establishment. There is no simple solution to this very real dilemma. We would ask those who are writing articles in the field to include ILN in their rotation--send us a piece for every one or two you send to Phil. Review, -Meta- philosoph~, APQ or Phil. & Rhetoric. ~em­ ber, we g~ve you fast publication, quick published responses, and a readership 100% of whom are interested in informal logic. (Our current subscriptions total 335, and are growing weekly at a steady rate.) To several friends who have expressed con- cern that our evolution towards a journal would be at the cost of valued informality and ready accessabi1ity, let us reassure you that we see no need to give up the latter in order to become the forum for serious work in the theory ana-application of informal logic. Teaching ideas, examples for comment, brief notes, conference reports, notices, lists of textbooks, and so on--all must con- tinue to have plenty of space in these col- umns. -0 Very special thanks to June Blair for edito- rial and production assistance in getting out this issue, and to Violet Smith for typing it. 2 article Attitudes to Reasoning Thomas J. Richards La Trobe University I will make two assumptions in this paper. One is that reasoning can be taught: and the second is that the teaching of reasoning is the most important activity in the curric- ulum. In this I am at one with the Victor- ian Universities and Schools Examination Board, who have made English the one compUl- sory paper in Higher School Certificate, and who say in its prescription "The Course ... is intended to cultivate in students the whole variety of skillS involved in an ac- tive, critical understanding of written and spoken English •• , (to) enhance the student's critical abilities .•• training him to think and express himself more clearly ••• "1 At least, one would be forgiven for think- ing they and I are at one on the importance of reasoning. But more of that later. If I may make so bold as to improve upon the words of Leavis, whose thinking seems to dominate core English in the schools, I am looking for a logic that is for life. I want to devise a curriculum for Reasoning that can be taught in the schools and that aims to impart attitudes and skills of logicality and rationality: attitudes and skills that will serve in ways of importance in all as- pects of life. I am thus no~ concerned with what logic should be taught as a background for academic philosophy: nor with the ques- tion of what should comprise the elementary stages of a University course in Logic. I have my views about both these questions, and one of my views is that they are distinct questions. If you want my views on the first that I think is needed for academic philoso- phy.2 But that, for various reasons, seems of these questions, read my book, which is ! aimed at providing the background in Logic "Attitudes to Reasoning" first appeared in I the Australian rOgiC Teachers' Journal, Vol. IV, No. 1, pp. -11, and the editors of ILN express their gratitude to Professor Richards and to ALTJ editors R. A. Girle and T. A. Halpin ~their kind permission to reprint it here.