David Hitchcock (2017): On Reasoning and Argument: Essays in Informal Logic and Critical Thinking

Excerpt

It is a daunting task facing any reviewer who looks to appraise what amounts to the oeuvre of a scholar of David Hitchcock’s stature. His output, of course, exceeds what is gathered in this collection, and includes a critical thinking textbook (1983), a coauthored text (with Milos Jenicek) on medical argumentation (2005), and a collection with Bart Verheij on the Toulmin model (2006). But the book under review, boasts over thirty essays from nearly four decades of work and represents the cream of Hitchcock’s thinking on issues that reside at the heart of argumentation theory. J. Anthony Blair’s foreword explains the organization and inclusions of the book, while highlighting the value of the postscripts that close each Part. The foreword also stresses the underlying issues in informal logic that characterize virtually all of the chapters, along with the high quality of the philosophical thinking involved. …