ABSTRACT
Reasoning is viewed as a matter of both attitude and knowledge: one is unlikely to reason well about any subject unless one is deeply desirous of doing so, and one has some knowledge of the subject about which the reasoning is to be done. Neither a closed mind nor an empty one is likely to produce much that would qualify as effective reasoning. Reasoning has to do with the careful and critical use of language. Indeed, reasoning and language usage are so tightly intertwined that it is often difficult to tell whether a particular problem should be considered a problem of reasoning or one of language usage—and perhaps, at least for practical purposes, it does not matter which way it is perceived. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
