ABSTRACT
This chapter teaches the reader how to use some important tools for critical reasoning. We learn how to identify arguments, and how to evaluate them (testing their validity, and the truth of their premises). These tools are applied in an extended example concerning the beginning of life. We familiarise ourselves with arguments containing conditional premises, noting those which can lead us astray, and contrasting those which can play a very useful role in testing the truth of some claim. These points are illustrated by an examination of some particular views concerning the beginning of life. We are introduced to the method of reflective equilibrium, to the structure of inference to the best explanation, and to the use of thought experiments. A critical examination of J. J. Thomson’s arguments concerning abortion provides an extended illustration of many of these tools. These tools will be employed in the remainder of this book.
