Book cover of Arguing and Thinking: A Rhetorical Approach to Social Psychology

Book description

Michael Billig's rhetorical approach has been key to the discursive turn in the social sciences. His witty and original book examines argumentation and its psychological importance in human conduct, and traces the connections between ancient rhetorical ideas and modern social psychology. In a new introduction, he offers further reflections on…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Arguing and Thinking as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book provides a very important background to how critical thinking needs to be seen in terms of how it fits with the ancient skills of rhetoric.

The author demonstrates how the skills of argumentation (central to critical thinking) were central to how classical scholars (including Aristotle, Protagoras, Quintilian, and Cicero) saw the huge value in being skilled in rhetoric. For example, the maxim of Protagoras that there are two sides to every question is given (with a worry for us -is there?).

The celebrated discussion between God and Moses in the Midrash is a wonderful example of how one’s…

From Roy's list on learning how to think critically.

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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