book: the philosopher’s toolkit

Baggini, Julian, and Peter S. Fosl. The Philosopher’s Toolkit: A Compendium of Philosophical Concepts and Methods.  Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing 2003.

I picked this book up in Borders over the weekend because it was the most thorough handbook I’ve seen on philosophical tools for argumentation. The book is fairly technical, covering “basic tools” such as deduction, validity, and tautologies to “tools at the limit” including Godel, impossibility, and underdetermination. This book seems to cover all the bits and pieces that went into my BA in philosophy, just in one handy volume. I plan to read it in depth over my vacation, to get a grounding in argumentation again. This book won’t be helpful in furthering established arguments, but will be helpful in reminding me how to approach arguments and what tools I can use to make my own arguments.