Informal Logic’s Influence on Philosophy Instruction

Authors

  • J. Anthony Blair

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22329/il.v26i3.454

Keywords:

informal logic, critical thinking, philosophy instruction, theory and practice, philosophy courses in argument, philosophy courses in critical thinking

Abstract

Informal logic began in the 1970s as a critique of then-current theoretical assumptions in the teaching of argument analysis and evaluation in philosophy departments in the U.S. and Canada. The last 35 years have seen significant developments in informal logic and critical thinking theory. The paper is a pilot study of the influence of these advances in theory on what is taught in courses on argument analysis and critical thinking in U.S. and Canadian philosophy departments. Its finding, provisional and much-qualified, is that the theoretical developments and refinements have had limited impact on instruction in leading philosophy departments.

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