Better reasoning: techniques for handling argument, evidence, and abstraction

Abstract

Our ability to evaluate deductive arguments depends on our linguistic skill: what we know about the meanings of words and the significance of sentences. Sometimes we can directly recognize a semantic guarantee as we did in the simply syllogisms of the last chapter. but sometimes we detect such a guarantee indirectly, by semantically eliminating rival conclusions. In one way or another the test for deductive validity rests on our understanding the commitments of our words, the ramifications of what we say.