Author: Monroe C. Beardsley
Publisher: Oliphant Press
ISBN: 1443731544
Size: 49.72 MB
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THINKING STRAIGHT A Guide for Readers Writers by Monroe C. Beardsley SWARTHMORR COLLEGE New York PRENTICE-HALL, INC ACKNOWLEDGMENTS JL HIS BOOK is a shorter version of Practical Logic also published by Prentice-Hall, Inc., ig o. The first six chapters are taken over in exactly the same form, but Chapters 7 and 8 present a selection of the material in the last nine chapters of Practical Logic. In writing this book I have received a considerable variety of assistance, which I am glad to acknowledge. The idea of the book, and of what is most original in its pur pose, came to me from Mr. William A. Pullin, Assistant Vice-Presi dent of Prentice-Hall, Inc., who has been constantly helpful, in a number of ways, at every stage of its composition. I thank Pro fessor Maynard Mack, Department of English Literature, . Yale University, for his guidance when the writing was just getting under way, and for many useful suggestions about the manuscript. I thank Professor Thomas G. Pollock, Dean of Washington Square College, New York University, for his patient and thorough editing of my various drafts, and for his valuable comments and corrections. Other readers have improved the manuscript in many ways. I think they will recognize their contributions, and I am grateful to all of them. They are Professor Ernest Nagel, Department of Philosophy, Columbia University Professor Henry W. Sams, Chair man of the College English Staff, the University of Chicago Pro fessor Glenn Leggett, Department of English Literature, the Ohio State University Professor John Gerbcr, Department of English Literature, the Iowa State University Professor Bruce Dearing, Department of English Literature, Swarthmore College and Professor Alburey Castell, Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota. I have learned a great deal that has helped me to write this book from discussions with my colleagues in the Department of Philosophy at Swarthmore College Professor Richard B. Brandt, Professor Roderick Firth, and Mr. Sidney Morgenbesser. Finally, I should like to record my indebtedness to two persons whose contributions, though deep and pervasive, are not so easy to vi Acknowledgments define. I owe much to my friend and former colleague, Professor William K. Wimsatt, Jr., Department of English Literature, Yale University. An important part of what I have put into this book derives from what he has taught me about rhetoric, and I should never have undertaken to write it without certain convictions that have grown out of our discussions. And I owe very much indeed to my wife, Elizabeth Lane Beardsley, Department of Philosophy, the University of Delaware. From her I learned some of the books underlying and controlling principles of semiotic. Her en couragement carried me through several difficulties, and she clari fied for me a number of philosophical and linguistic problems. In the fullest sense, she has been a help meet for me. M. C. B. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments v Preview ix CRITICAL READING STRAIGHT THINKING READING FOR IN FORMATION HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 1. Sizing Up an Argument 3 1. STATEMENTS, 3 2. EXPOSITION AND ARGUMENT, 8 3. GETTING THE POINT, 12 4. THE ANATOMY OF ARGUMENT, 78 5. PUTTING YOUR REASONS IN ORDER, 22 OUTLINE SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1, 25 EXERCISES 1-3, 26 2. Some Verbal Pitfalls 32 6. MEANING AND CONTEXT, 33 7. AMBIGUITY, 38 8. THE FALLACY OF EQUIVOCATION, 42 9. VAGUENESS, 46 10. HOW TO PINDOWN YOUR MEANING, 50 OUTLINE-SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2, 53 EXERCISES 4-8, 54 3. Levels of Meaning 62 11. DENOTATION AND DESIGNATION, 63 12. DESIGNATION AND CONNOTATION, 68 13. STATING AND SUGGESTING, 73 14. SLANTING, 77 15. PLAIN DISCOURSE, 82 OUTLINE-SUM MARY OF CHAPTER 3, 86 EXERCISES 914, 87 4. Figurative Language 94 16. SIMILE AND METAPHOR, 96 17. INTERPRETING A META PHOR, 101 18. ANALOGIES THEIR USE AND MISUSE, 105 19. ANSWERING AN ANALOGY, 0 20. MANAGING FIGURES OF SPEECH, 114 OUTLINE-SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 4, 118 EX ERCISES 15-20, 118 vii viii Contents 5...
