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The Art of Argument, The Argument Builder, and The Discovery of Deduction

Publisher: Classical Academic Press
Author: Aaron Larsen, Joelle Hodge, and Shelly Johnson
Review last updated: March 2011
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The Art of Argument

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Classical Academic Press publishes a series of three logic courses. Students should begin with The Art of Argument, then they can use the other two courses in whatever order they choose.

The Art of Argument

by Aaron Larsen and Joelle Hodge

The Art of Argument introduces students to informal fallacies, but at a slightly more challenging level than books like The Fallacy Detective. The content and style of delivery make this most suitable for high school level, although some students in junior high might be ready for it. The course seems to have been written for Christian students since it draws on examples familiar to and of interest to them. A non-Christian might find some topics provocative, but there’s no “Christians are right and everyone else just isn’t thinking clearly” attitude.

This course incorporates humor with examples drawn from current events, popular culture, advertising, religion, and politics, history. There are loads of photos and illustrations, many of them humorous. The authors sometimes create dialogues between two students, Nate and Tiffany, and the philosopher Socrates.

The text begins with an introduction to logic then divides the rest of the text into two units. The first unit deals with fallacies of relevance (e.g., ad hominem, snob appeal) and the second with fallacies of presumption (e.g., begging the question) and clarity (e.g., distinction without a difference).

Lessons don’t follow a consistent format, which keeps things interesting. Review questions, review exercises, worksheets, and “dialectic exercises” show up unpredictably. Some writing is required and some review exercises direct students to do research such as “Look for examples of print advertisement that make use of the argumentum ad verecundiam” (p.86).

The text has a glossary at the end and chart of the fallacies printed on the inside front and back covers. Two appendices are optional. One is a script for “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Election,” that can be ready or acted out. The other is a dated but apropos short story, “Love is a Fallacy” by Max Shulman.

The course can easily be used for independent study, but it would be fun to have group class meet about once a week for discussion.

The teacher’s edition serves as an answer key for the student book, and it also has quizzes and tests and their answer keys.

The Argument Builder

By Shelly Johnson

While The Art of Argument teaches students to identify bad arguments, The Argument Builder helps students learn to construct strong or valid arguments. This course requires significantly more reading and writing than The Art of Argument. There are far fewer illustrations. Author Shelly Johnson ushers students through a process of building arguments, beginning with definitions then working through the different elements: the use of testimony to buttress arguments and the use of comparisons, relationships, and circumstances.

The issue of school uniforms recurs throughout the book as a key “theme” for the various lessons, although many other topics are also introduced. The book ends with an appendix on “Holding a Debate”; the debate is supposed to be about school uniforms. Most home educated students can probably understand the issues related to school uniforms even though the school dynamics might be outside their experience. Even though students have been thinking and writing about school uniforms, it might be good to come up with a more pertinent topic for a first debate among home educated students.

Lessons begin with text and are followed by questions. Often interspersed with the questions are brief passages to be analyzed--some written by the author of this text and others by authors such as John Donne, Francis Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, and Thomas Paine. The questions include defining terms, identifying the thesis of a passage, and other comprehension type questions. But far more time is spent on analysis and work with the various components of arguments. While very little research is required, students can learn to build stronger arguments by doing additional research on some of the topics, especially if they participate in a debate. A glossary is at the back of the book.

While students can work through this text independently, they would get more out of studying it through a group class of some sort. Brainstorming and discussing ideas with others would greatly enhance the learning process. Some of the questions might be used for discussion rather than as written assignments. And, obviously, participating in a debate requires a group of some sort. There’s enough Christian content in this book that it really works best for Christian students.

The Teacher’s Edition for this course reprints the entire student book with overprinted answers. It adds a page of teaching suggestions, a few pages of teacher’s notes, and “additional exercises” for each chapter that you could use as supplements or assessment tools.

The Discovery of Deduction

By Joelle Hodge, Aaron Larsen, and Shelly Johnson

All three authors involved in the first two books contribute to The Discovery of Deduction. While the publisher suggests it might be used with students as young as eighth grade, it’s more likely that you will use it with high school students.

This is an introduction to formal logic and its symbolic language. The course begins with categorical logic then moves on to propositional logic. However, it makes real life applications to keep it interesting and practical rather than just theoretical.

It uses Socratic dialogues throughout the text. In the introductory chapter students are told to read Socrates’ Apology online then answer a series of questions. Students participate in reading, research, discussion, and written activities.

The student and teacher books are laid out in a fashion similar to The Argument Builder. The Teacher’s edition includes student pages overprinted with answers.

Pricing

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    • Discovery of Deduction

    Discovery of Deduction

    Aaron Larsen

      The Argument Builder

      The Argument Builder

      Shelly Johnson

      The Argument Builder, Teacher's Edition

      The Argument Builder, Teacher

      Shelly Johnson

      The Art of Argument

      The Art of Argument

      Joelle Hodge

          Instant Key

          • Suitable for: independent work or group class
            Audience: junior high through high school
            Need for parent/teacher instruction: moderate
            Prep time needed: depends upon learning situation
            Teacher's manual: essential
            Educational philosophy: classical
            Religious perspective: Christian

          Publisher's Info

          • Classical Acadmic Press

            3920 Market St.
            Camp Hill, PA17011

            (866) 730-07115
            www.classicalacademicpress.co


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