Critique of "Being Logical"

Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking by D.Q. McInerny is an introduction to the science and art of thinking and living logically. The 129-page guide was published in 2005 by Random House Trade Paperbacks and can be purchased for around ten dollars. The author D.Q. McInerny is currently a professor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Lincoln, Nebraska and has written a variety of pieces on religious philosophy to include Philosophical Psychology, and an article on the use of contraception. In the words of McInerny, “Logic is the very backbone of true education” (McInerny, 2005, p.ix). Yet in the Preface, he goes on to say “To my mind, logic is the missing piece of the American educational system, the subject that informs every other subject from English to history to science and math” (McInerny, 2005, p.ix). In his book McInerny attempts to guide his readers through the process of seeing the world and evaluating their circumstances in an objective and critical manner. Ultimately he aims to instill an intrinsic need for truth gained through logic that his readers will utilize in everyday life. Being logical consists of five sections, the first three serve as a foundation for logical thinking. They consist of Preparing the Mind for Logic, The Basic Principles of logic and Argument – the Language of Logic. The last two sections, The Sources of Illogical Thinking and The Principal Forms of Illogical Thinking put the foundations of logic into action by pointing out errors that one may make while attempting sound logic. The last two sections, specifically section five synthesizes the material previously covered in the book by defining the ways in which reasoning can go awry. McInerny wrote of 28 principal forms of illogical thinking. The eleven most notable forms of illogical thinking can be grouped by their basic causes: a basic misinterpretation of language and arrival at a conclusion through illogical processes, a lack of critical thinking or

References: Keeter, S. (2007). Trends in Public Opinion About the War in Iraq, 2003-2007. Retrieved October 3, 2011 from Pew Research Center Publications: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/431/trends-in-public-opinion-about-the-war-in-iraq-2003- 2007. MCInerny, D.Q. (2005). Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.