The Art of Argument, An Introduction to the Informal Fallacies
by Dr. Aaron Larsen & Joelle Hodge

New edition now available.

The content and instruction are unchanged, but this better-than-ever edition now includes:

• Significant revisions for greater clarity and relevance in examples, dialogues and discussion questions.
• Over sixty “phony” advertisements to illustrate each fallacy.
• Interior hand-drawn illustrations.
• A skit demonstrating the fallacies for students to perform.
• The short story “Love is a Fallacy” by Max Shulman.
• New cover.

"My chief objection to a quarrel," Chesterton wrote, "is that it ends a good argument." 

Junior high aged students will argue (and sometimes quarrel), but they won't argue well without good training.  Young teens are also targeted by advertisers with a vengeance. From billboards to commercials to a walk down the mall, fallacious arguments are everywhere you look. The Art of Argument was designed to teach the argumentative adolescent how to reason with clarity, relevance and purpose at a time when he has a penchant for the "why" and "how", and now, this new revision is designed more than ever, to equip and sharpen young minds as they live, play, and grow in this highly commercial culture. As always, this course teaches students to recognize and identify twenty-eight informal fallacies, and now this eye-catching text includes over sixty slick and clever, “phony advertisements” for items from blue jeans to pick-up trucks, which apply the fallacies to a myriad of real life situations.

In The Art of Argument, students study the common fallacies that so commonly characterize contemporary thinking and writing. We regard the mastery of informal logic (the logical fallacies) as a "paradigm" subject by which we evaluate, assess and learn other subjects--it is a sharp knife with which we can carve and shape all manner of wood.  Mastery of informal logic is a requisite skill for mastering other subjects. 

As a fundamental text in the dialectic curriculum, The Art of Argument will impart to students the skills needed to craft accurate statements and identify the flawed arguments found so frequently in editorials, commercials, newspapers, journals and every other media.

This text comes in a workbook format with clear explanations and many updated illustrations and examples to insure understanding and mastery.  The text aims at the practical application of the informal fallacies through an analysis of current social, commercial and political issues, which are discussed and evaluated. This practical application should insure that students continue to evaluate arguments, detect fallacies and reason well long after the course is completed.

Students master 40 fallacies (such as begging the question, the straw man, ad hominen, et al) by studying many pertinent examples. The text features a variety of:

• Dialogues
• Worksheets
• Real-world Applications
• Phony advertisements
• Dialectic Discussion Questions
• Tests
• Now Including – Fun extras such as a humorous skit for students to perform, and the famous short story, Love is a Fallacy by Max Shulman

The Art of Argument begins with simple definitions and explanations and features frequent teaching by means of witty dialogues featuring Socrates and his American friend Tiffany. Students completing this text should be able to apply their logical skills in every other subject by detecting fallacies in others while avoiding such fallacies themselves.  We think you will find this text a cornerstone text useful for every other subject your student tackles. 

SAMPLE CHAPTERS and "HOW TO" FILES:

The Art of Argument (New PDF Sample) pop up window
How to use the AA Teacher's Materials (PDF) with the AA Student Text. pop up window