Art of Argument and The Argument Builder Review

This article is in collaboration with Classical Academic Press.

The motto of Classical Academic Press is “Classical Subjects Creatively Taught.” which describes the products that they publish. On the Classical Academic Press website you will find curriculum products covering such subjects as Latin, Greek, Spanish, French as well as Bible, Poetry and Logic.

Recently our TOS Homeschool Crew members were sent the Art of Argument Student and Teacher Books as well as a DVD disk containing fallacy discussions (with students) of the first 7-8 fallacies members for review.

From Classical Academic Press,

“Logic is a fascinating subject for students in middle school or high school. As a fundamental part of the trivium, logic study will impart to students the skills needed to craft accurate statements and identify the flawed arguments found so frequently in editorials, commercials, newspapers, journals and every other media. We regard the mastery of logic as a “paradigm” subject by which we evaluate, assess and learn other subjects–it is a sharp knife with which we can carve and shape all manner of wood. Mastery of logic is a requisite skill for mastering other subjects.”

The logic products the crew received for review are geared toward grades 7th through 9th because it is the appropriate time-frame for students to study logic in the classical education curriculum. However, this logic curriculum is also appropriate for older students who have not been previously exposed to a logic curriculum .

The Art of Argument, An Introduction to the Informal Fallacies student book is published as a workbook which covers 28 fallacies using explanations and illustrations that analyze everyday ” current social, commercial and political issues.” The practical application provided in the Art of Argument prepares the student to “evaluate arguments, detect fallacies and reason.”

According to the Classical Academic Press website the Art of Argument text contains the following in order to teach the 28 fallacies:

Dialogues
Worksheets
Real-World Applications
Phony Advertisements
Dialectic Discussion Questions
Tests
Fun extras such as a humorous skit for students to perform, and the famous short story, Love is a Fallacy by Max Shulman

The Art of Argument has been revised to include:

Improved chapter and unit organization for greater ease of use
Fallacy explanations rewritten for clarity
Many added and updated examples
Ten new and revised advertisement illustrations

The teacher’s edition not only includes answer keys and reproducible quizzes which correspond to the student text but also includes the full student text along with chapter and unit tests. The Classical Academic Press website contains a link to pdfs which contain sample chapters as well as a How To file for the teacher’s edition of the Art of Argument. You can view the Sample Chapters for yourself as well as the How To File.

Both the student and the teacher’s edition of the Art of Argument can be purchased from the Classical Academic Press website.

The TOS Crew members were also able to review a DVD covering the first six fallacies which is from the Art of Argument DVD set that presents the fallacies through three experienced logic teachers and four students. You can view a sample fallacy discussion for what is called the Straw Man fallacy in the video below:

A few Crew Members received the second book in the logic series: The Argument Builder. This consists of a student book and a teacher’s edition. In this book, students learn to create sound and persuasive arguments.

In addition to the study of the informal fallacies which are studied in these first two courses, Classical Academic Press also publishes logic curriculum which presents formal logic. You can find all the products offered by Classical Academic Press on their website.

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Thanks to Barbara @ Alive In Spirit for writing this Crew blog article.