'Jt.?r)40 
Negation, 17~dftdit~onals and Equivalence, 4. 
Testing Deductions for Correctness,S. Sum-
mary: The Truth-Table Test for Deductive 
Correctness, 6. Ignoratio Elenchi.) Ch. 4: 
Inductive Argument (1, Induction: ItS-Descrip-
tion, 2. Inductive and Deductive Arguments, 3.' 
Elements of Probability Theory, 4. Secundum 
Quid or Hasty Generalization,S. Another De-
ceptive Duo: Meaningless and Unknowable 
Statistics, 6. Statistical Graphs, 7. Post 
Hoc: A Causal Fallacy, 8. Seven Sophisms, 9. 
Analysis of Post Hoc.) Ch. 5: The Ad Vere-
cundiam (1. Five Forms orAd-VerecunCIiaiii;2. 
Towards the Model of Argument Involved, 3. 
Inconsistency, 4. Plausibility Screening,S. 
Plausible Argument.) Ch. 6: Dialectic Cl. 
Basic Rules of DialectIC, 2. A Pract~cal Ex-
ercise in Dialectic: The Discussion Group, 3. 
Dialectic: Its Evaluation, 4. The Fallacy of 
Complex Question,S. summary.) Ch. 7: 
Arguin~ in a Circle (1. Two Models of Petitio, 
2. LocatIng-the Fallacy of Petitio, 3. Mill's 
Puzzler, 4. DeMorgan's Defen.se, 5. Circles in 
Dialectical Games, 6. Evaluating Allegations 
of Circularity.) Ch. 8: Formal and Informal 
Logic Cl. Logical Form~ 2. Formal Logic, 3. 
Interim Summary, 4. Equivocation,S. Arnphi-
boly, 6. Why Equivocation is a Problem for 
Logic, 7. Ignoratio Elenchi Again.) Ch. 9: 
Formal Systems Cl. An Elementary Formar Sys-
tem, 2. Some Logically Interesting Properties 
of S, 3. The System S as a Logical Theory, 4. 
The System S: Its Elements,S. Some Logically 
Interesting-Properties of S, 6. Entailment 
Again.) Ch. 10 : Economic-Reasoning Cl. The 
Fallacy orOVer-Rating, 2. The Fallacy of Di-
vision, 3. The Fallacy of Composition, 4. Dia-
lectical Decision-Making, 5. Expected Utility 
Theory, 6. Decision Theory, 7. New Welfare Eco-
nomics, 8. The Prisoner's Dilemma.) Ch. 11; 
Extendin~ Deductive rog~C (1. Categorical--
proposit~ons, 2. Syl og~sms, 3. How to Set up 
a Venn Diagram Test for Validity, 4. Quanti-
fiers, 5. The System Q of Deductive Quantifi-
cational Logic, 6. Some Further Developments 
of Deductive Logic, 7. Concluding Remarks 
About the Fallacies.) AtPendix I: Sample 
Dialectical Disputation on cannIbalism). 
Appendix II: Debate on Capital Punishment. 
Selected Readings: on formal and informal 
logic, general reference and periodicals, on 
the particular fallacies, on different logics, 
historical. (f 

28 

tidbits 

The Last Word ... ? 

Nelson Pole 
Cleveland State University 

I once had a student who used to argue with 
me that the biblical account of creation was 
true. Once I dismissed him and his seeming-
ly ad hoc objections to evolution with the 
demand that he go to the library and read 
some accounts of the subject written by ex-
perts. He returned with an encyclopedia 
published at Oxford in the early 19th cen-
tury. It noted that the world was created 
in 4004 BC! 

Another student I had about the same time 
once carne to see me after a prolonged series 
of classes on the Euthyphro and piety. He 
told me that he had been warned not to take 
philosophy classes because they were all 
taught by atheists. He wanted to know if I 
and the professor for whom I was a TA were 
atheists. I assured him that one of the 
other professors in the department was a 
rabbi and that one of the other graduate 
students was a Priest (both were). And, 
they would not associate with atheists! He 
felt reassured. I felt then and I still do 
that anyone who would accept the two argu-
ments was not yet open to a more adequate 
account of the genetic fallacy. ~ 

INFORMAL LOGIC: The First International Symposium 

edited by Tony Blair & Ralph Johnson University of Windsor 

With this volume it might be said that the informal logic movement comes of age, and perhaps with it the new effort to relate logic 
as taught to logic as used. Its range and historical depth as an intellectual field are well illustrated in the papers on the fallacies, 
formalism, and pedagogy, and then substantiated in detail in the introductory article "The Recent Development of Informal Logic" 
and the massive "Bibliography of Recent Work in Informal Logic" by the editors. A specially commissioned paper by Tomko and 
Ennis (of the Cornell Critical Thinking Project and Illinois Rational Thinking Project) reviews the literature on available tests of 
reasoning skills. The connection with the "new rhetoric" movement in the law, recent work in set theory, and the traditional 
"fallacies approach" is made at several points. 

Several of the contributors are authors of popular informal logic texts; others are specialists on the logical problems of the field 
(e.g. digraphs of arguments) or on speCial applications (e.g. advertising). Publication of the first printing has been partially 
subsidized -as was the original conference -by the Canada Council. The book is 188 rather tightly packed pages and sells for $9.95 
+ $ .55 postage and packing, from Edgepress, Box 69, Pt. Reyes, CA 94956. (California residents add state tax of $ .60). (Visa and 
Mastercharge or personal check, money order, etc.) Information about subscriptions to the lnfonnal Logic Newsletter with its 
repertoire of worked examples, book reviews etc. is enclosed with each copy.