Thinking Purpose by Susan Stebbing (59 results)

paperback. Condition: Used; Acceptable. Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. The book is perfectly readable and fit for use, although it shows signs of previous ownership. The spine is likely creased and the cover scuffed or slightly torn. Textbooks will typically have an amount of underlining and/or highlighting, as well as notes. If this book is over 5 years old, then please expect the pages to be yellowing or to have age spots. Grubby book may have mild dirt or some staining, mostly on the edges of pages. Aged book. Tanned pages and age spots, however, this will not interfere with reading. Damaged book. Slightly damaged in some way typically, a grazed corner or torn cover.…

Soft cover. Condition: Fair. Tears, scuffing, crease and dust spotting on cover and spine. A reading copy only with quite heavy handling wear and marks mostly on the cover including scuffing and tears.

Soft cover. Condition: Fair. Reprint. Tear of plastic on the surface of the spine, creases affecting some pages, scuffing and dust spotting on cover and spine. Brown marks on front end paper, creases on the cover.

Condition: As New. Unread book in perfect condition.

Condition: Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Condition: New.

Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. Thinking to Some Purpose. Book.

Condition: New.

Paperback. Condition: New. "I am convinced of the urgent need for a democratic people to think clearly without the distortions due to unconscious bias and unrecognized ignorance. Our failures in thinking are in part due to faults which we could to some extent overcome were we to see clearly how these faults arise. It is the aim of this book to make a small effort in this direction." - Susan Stebbing, from the Preface Despite huge advances in education, knowledge and communication, it can often seem we are neither well-trained nor well practised in the art of clear thinking. Our powers of reasoning and argument are less confident that they should be, we frequently ignore evidence and we are all too often swayed by rhetoric rather than reason. But what can you do to think and argue better?First published in 1939 but unavailable for many years, Susan Stebbing's Thinking to Some Purpose is a classic first-aid manual of how to think clearly, and remains astonishingly fresh and insightful. Written against a background of the rise of dictatorships and the collapse of democracy in Europe, it is packed with useful tips and insights. Stebbing offers shrewd advice on how to think critically and clearly, how to spot illogical statements and slipshod thinking, and how to rely on reason rather than emotion. At a time when we are again faced with serious threats to democracy and freedom of thought, Stebbing's advice remains as urgent and important as ever.This Routledge edition of Thinking to Some Purpose includes a new Foreword by Nigel Warburton and a helpful Introduction by Peter West, who places Susan Stebbing's classic book in historical and philosophical context.…

Condition: New.

Condition: New. 1st edition NO-PA16APR2015-KAP.

Condition: Very Good. 1941. Paperback. Good clean copy with minor shelfwear, bumped corners, some scoring in pencil, tanned pages, foxing, remains good-very good. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days.

Condition: New.

Condition: New.

Paperback. Condition: Good. [From the library of noted medical scholar Caroline Hannaway.] Softcover. Shelf wear. Some water damage, page ruffling. Owner's name on front end page. "A manual of first-aid to clear thinking, showing how to detect illogicalities in other people's mental processes and how to avoid them in our own." Caroline Hannaway was a historian of medicine with close ties to the Johns Hopkins Departments of History of Medicine and History of Science and Technology.…

Soft cover. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. * PUBLISHER : PENGUIN * YEAR : 1939 * ISBN : N/A * No OF PAGES : 244 * CONDITION : USED - ACCEPTABLE * OTHER: THE COVER IS HEAVILY RUBBED AND CREASED WITH BUMPING AND FADING ALONG THE EDGES AND CORNERS. THE COVER HAS SMALL STAINS AND MARKS TO BOTH SIDES WITH A TEAR AND PENNED WRITTEN NAME TO THE FRONT. THE SPINE IS HEAVILY RUBBED AND TANNED WITH BUMPING AND SMALL TEARS AT BOTH ENDS, WHICH HAS SLIGHTLY EXPOSED THE BINDING. THE BINDING IS FIRM. THERE IS A SMALL TEAR TO THE CENTRE OF THE FIRST FEW PAGES. THE PAGE EDGES ARE TANNED, THOUGH PAGES GENERALLY APPEAR CLEAN AND CREASE FREE. ALL IN ALL A NICE EXAMPLE OF THIS BOOK.…

Condition: As New. Unread book in perfect condition.

Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: no jacket (paperback). This 1945 paperback edition of "Thinking to Some Purpose" shows moderate wear, with a creased cover and some spine wear. The pages are yellowed with age, and there is slight foxing present. Despite these signs of age, the binding remains intact, and the text is clear and legible. There is no dust jacket, as typical for Pelican Books paperbacks.…

Condition: New. 2022. 1st Edition. Paperback. . . . . .

Condition: New. In English.

Paperback. Condition: Good. Vintage Pelican. #A44. Thinking to Some Purpose by Susan Stebbing is a crisp, incisive guide to clear reasoning, written to help ordinary readers recognise sloppy thinking in public life and in themselves. Stebbing exposes the tricks of propaganda, muddled language, and unexamined assumptions, urging readers to cultivate intellectual honesty and precision. Her examplesâ"drawn from politics, advertising, and everyday argumentâ"remain strikingly relevant, showing how careful thought protects us from manipulation. A key early work in popular logic, ideal for collectors of philosophy, critical thinking, and Pelican-era intellectual writing.…

Condition: Very Good. 1941. Paperback. Good clean copy with minor shelfwear, bumped corners, some scoring in pencil, tanned pages, foxing, remains good-very good. . . . .

Paperback. Condition: Good. There are books that tell you what to think. Thinking to Some Purpose takes a rather more ambitious approach and attempts to teach you how to think in the first place. Written by L. Susan Stebbing and published in this 1952 Pelican Books edition, the work has become something of a classic in popular philosophy and critical thinking. First appearing during a period when public debate was becoming increasingly shaped by propaganda, advertising and political persuasion, it remains remarkably relevant in an age where everybody has an opinion and many people have several before breakfast. Stebbing was one of Britain?s most distinguished philosophers, but one of her greatest achievements was her ability to explain complex ideas without disappearing into academic fog. She recognised that clear thinking was not merely a scholarly pastime. It was a practical skill that ordinary people needed in everyday life. The book explores logic, reasoning, language and the many ways in which people manage to confuse themselves and each other. Readers quickly discover that human beings possess an astonishing talent for arriving at conclusions first and then searching enthusiastically for reasons afterwards. There is a wonderful irony at the heart of the subject. Almost everyone believes they are a rational thinker. History, politics, advertising and family arguments provide overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Stebbing gently but firmly invites readers to examine their own assumptions before criticising everybody else?s. What makes the book particularly fascinating is how modern it feels. Although published in the middle of the twentieth century, many of the problems Stebbing identifies remain stubbornly alive. Misleading arguments, emotional manipulation, vague language and confident nonsense continue to flourish with remarkable vigour. Readers may occasionally experience moments of mild discomfort as they recognise some of the intellectual traps described in the book. This is entirely normal. One of the side effects of learning about faulty reasoning is discovering how often one has personally engaged in it. There is also something refreshingly optimistic about Stebbing?s project. She genuinely believed that people could improve the quality of their thinking through practice and attention. In an era increasingly dominated by slogans and soundbites, this faith in reason feels almost heroic. The Pelican Books imprint was famous for bringing serious ideas to a broad audience, and this volume represents the tradition at its finest. It treats readers as intelligent adults capable of engaging with important questions without requiring a university seminar or a small mountain of footnotes. Modern readers may be amused to discover that many supposedly new problems of public discourse were already being discussed decades ago. The technology has changed dramatically. Human susceptibility to dubious arguments appears to have remained reassuringly constant. This 1952 Pelican Books edition remains in good condition and comes from the shelves of Crappy Old Books. It has survived more than seventy years of political campaigns, advertising revolutions, management jargon and internet comment sections, all of which have inadvertently strengthened its case. An excellent acquisition for philosophers, students, historians of ideas or anyone who occasionally suspects that clear thinking is in shorter supply than it ought to be. Intelligent, accessible and surprisingly entertaining, Thinking to Some Purpose is a reminder that the most useful tool we possess is often the one we forget to maintain.…

Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 304 pages. 7.81x5.06x0.71 inches. In Stock.

Soft cover. Condition: Good. Stebbing, L. Susan. Thinking to some purpose. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd., 1948 second reprint of 1939 first edition. Pelican Books ; A44. Paperback, Good. Pelican livery card covers, a little sunned to spine, with some rubbing and smudging to the front and small corner creases. Binding strong. 248pp. A few light foxing spots and light tanning to page edges; contents clean and bright. Lizzie Susan Stebbing (2 December 1885 - 11 September 1943) was a British philosopher. She belonged to the 1930s generation of analytic philosophy, and was a founder in 1933 of the journal Analysis. Stebbing was the first woman to hold a philosophy chair in the United Kingdom, as well as the first female President of Humanists UK. Stebbing's most popular work is Thinking to Some Purpose (1939), a book commissioned by Pelican Books and described on the cover as: "A manual of first-aid to clear thinking, showing how to detect illogicalities in other people's mental processes and how to avoid them in our own." RightWayUp Books aims to provide accurate and detailed descriptions. All images are of the actual book for sale - no stock images are ever used. Thank you for looking at this listing. Howard Coster (author photo) (illustrator).…

Condition: New. 2022. 1st Edition. Paperback. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Paperback. Condition: Good. Tanning to pages.

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. A very clean, bright square copy.