For courses in Introduction to Logic or Critical Thinking. Fundamental, Fresh, Focused. Rendered from Copi/Cohen's Introduction to Logic, the most respected introductory logic text on the market, this concise version explains all concepts and techniques clearly, accurately, and thoroughly, bringing them to life using a wealth of contemporary examples. Essentials of Logic was created in response to a need in the market for a book that effectively covered the fundamental issues in logic. The first edition of Essentials of Logic was abridged from Copi and Cohen's Introduction, 11th edition, with an eye to including all and only those elements that most logic teachers would consider essential. In the second edition, new topics have been added based on readers' suggestions. For example, indirect and conditional proof techniques have been added and many examples have been thoroughly revised and rewritten. The result is a book that closely reflects what users deem essential and does so in a way that is sensitive to the needs of today's students.

Just as The Elements of Style provides a quick and authoritative reference for writers, The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook for Critical Thinking provides a quick and authoritative reference for issues regarding reasoning. The Handbook provides clear and succinct discussions of the following issues: * Issues germane to clarifying sentences: ambiguity, vagueness, and propositional attitudes * General discussions of descriptions, explanations, and arguments * Criteria for evaluating observational statements and testimony * Categorical syllogisms, including issues germane to both the Boolean and Aristotelian interpretations * A complete system of propositional logic and a brief discussion of the use of truth tables * Induction: generalization and particularization arguments, analogies, arguments to the best explanation, Mill's Methods, counterfactual reasoning, and making decisions under risk and uncertainty * A brief discussion of the principle formulas involved in calculating probabilities * An extended discussion of informal fallacies * An essay on the relationship between critical thinking and writing