Summary of Nicholas Capaldi & Miles Smit's The Art of Deception

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 Not everything that is written contains an argument. In order to determine whether a text contains an argument, we must carefully examine the structure of the text. The first step in analyzing a text for argument is to identify the author's main purpose. Is the author introducing a new idea or refining an existing one. Is the author describing an experience or an event. Is the author entertaining or informing. Does the author urge the audience to believe something or to reject something. Once we know what the author's purpose is, we can identify whether the text contains arguments. If the text contains one or more main arguments, then it probably does. If it contains only one or more subgoals, then it probably doesn't. An argument is a chain of statements that are intended to prove some conclusion. A subgoal is a dependent part of an argument that supports its conclusion. For example, suppose an author claims that all men are mortal, and then presents several examples of men who have died. This author has presented one main argument and several subgoals, each supporting its own conclusion: 1. All men are mortal 2. Socrates is a man 3. Socrates died 4.

#2 When you see the word it, substitute the word the for it, and you will have the entire sentence.

#3 A TL;DR is a shortened way of saying too long; didn't read. It is a summary of the main points of a text. It is a good idea to use short-and-sweet summaries as study guides for your reading.

#4 A TL;DR is a short summary of the main points of a text. It is a good idea to use short-and-sweet summaries as study guides for your reading.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Sep 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350031010

IRB Media

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Insights on Nicholas Capaldi and Miles Smit's The Art of Deception

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

There are many different types of writing, and it is often difficult to determine which one is present in a text. Authors rarely begin a work by announcing their purpose and describing their method.

#2

The pronoun it refers to the entire phrase whensoever a man transferreth his right, or renounceth it. The pronoun refers to a singular antecedent, which is the immediately preceding noun with the same number.

#3

The reader can see that a conclusion suggests itself from reading the two premises. What conclusion. We can conclude that transferring or renouncing a right is an action performed with the intention of gaining some good for the agent.

#4

The premises of an argument are the clause or clauses following the italicized words. The pattern of two sentences or clauses flanking the words for or because indicates that what precedes for or because is a conclusion, and what follows is one or more premises.

#5

The standard form for the presentation of a sorites is as follows: Argument I: Premise 1: Conclusion 1: Argument II: Premise 2: Conclusion 2: Sample Problem Two Consider the following sorites from Aristotle's Politics: Every state is a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view to some good.

#6

The state is a political community that is the highest of all communities and embraces all the rest. The state aims at good in a greater degree than any other community, and at the highest good.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The ideal of logic has been the structure of an argument patterned after geometry. The Western mind has constructed and reconstructed all arguments as deductive arguments, which