"We might note that the theoretical perspective introduced in Logical Self-Defense has proved quite influential among textbook authors. It is to be found in modified form in A Practical Study of Argument byTrudy Govier Trudy Rose Govier (born August 3, 1944) is a Canadian philosopher known for her work in informal logic and argumentation. She is the author of the influential text ''A Practical Study of Argument''. She has also been a frequent commentator in Ca ..., in Attacking Faulty Reasoning byT. Edward Damer T. Edward Damer is an American philosopher and author. Biography Damer was a professor of philosophy and chair of the Division Visual and Performing Arts at Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia. He started on the Emory faculty in 1967 and re ..., in Logic in Everyday Life and Open Minds and Everyday Reasoning by Zachary Seech, in Thinking Logically by James B. Freeman, and in Good Reasoning Matters byLeo Groarke Leo Groarke (born 1953) is a Canadian philosopher, known for his contributions to argumentation theory and informal logic. Groarke has authored and edited a number of books, articles, and anthologies. Groarke has held numerous administrative pos ...and Christopher W. Tindale."
Education and work
He earned an honors Bachelor of Arts atPersonal life
According to Johnson's website, "I love to read, especially contemporary fiction. Among my favourite authors: John Updike, Alistair MacLeod, Joan Barfoot, Michael Connelly, Robert B. Parker. I love the plays of Shakespeare (especially ''King Lear''), and attend the plays at Stratford every year. This year, I look forward to seeing ''Oliver'' and ''Much Ado about Nothing''." "I love to listen to music, especially classical. Currently I am in a Chopin phase. I also am drawn to the music of Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert and Dvorak. I belong to The Mankind Project.... — a worldwide organization dedicated to calling men to consciousness and lives of service. I serve as an Elder and Board member in our local community. I exercise (jog, walk or bike) almost everyday 'sic'' I have been married to my wife Maggie for 38 years; have three children (Mary, Sean and Matthew) and two grandchildren — Brandin, 11, and Ivy Grace b. January 27, 2006!"Philosophy
As Johnson explains in ''Logical Self-Defense'' and his journal article "Making Sense of 'Informal Logic'", Informal Logic is the philosophical practice of understanding and evaluating natural language argumentation. Here fallacies are used in order to evaluate arguments. However, more simply the idea is to evaluate arguments based upon three essential criteria, again as explained in both "Making Sense of "Informal Logic"" and more thoroughly explained in ''Logical Self-Defense'', the premises of arguments must be relevant to the conclusion, sufficient to support it and acceptable to the audience. In this approach to logic, fallacies such as the "straw man" and "red herring" point to a deficiency in the premises in one of these three criteria. Johnson and Blair also place emphasis on how to identify arguments in everyday life, so that evaluators do not misinterpret the author's intention. In this way Logical Self-Defense identifies several different ways of interpreting arguments and their "look-alikes". For instance, they explain the distinctions between mere opinion, proto-argument, argument, case and explanation as well as provide criteria for helping to identify which is which, including context, verbal cues and logical structure. In his article "Charity Begins at Home" in ''Informal Logic'', Johnson combines and creates unified form of the "principle of charity" which he found to exist in four other forms in the works Thomas's ''Practical Reasoning in Natural Language'' (1973), Baum's ''Logic'' (1975) and in Scriven's ''Reasoning'' (1976). In doing so, he created a more developed "principle of charity" to which Informal Logicians could refer. Accordingly, in this article section II attempts to unify these four versions by making one the foundation, while the others work as its corollaries. Then, after creating a better account of the "principle of charity", Johnson spends Section III of the article addressing some of the issues involved in the application of the "rinciple of charity" and finally Section IV addresses a proposed restriction for the use of the "principle of charity". His article "The Principle of Vulnerability" in ''Informal Logic'' seeks to offer defence to the principle that all arguments should be considered susceptible to criticisms. As such Johnson argues that the arguer of an argument should not seek to "immunize" their argument from criticism. The article also takes considerations both in support of, and opposed to the principle into account. In this article, one of the more notable ideas presented is the notion of "manifest rationality", which Johnson described in this way: "The practice (of arguing) is characterized by a trait I call manifest rationality. In the practice of argumentation, rationality is not merely the inner reality but also the outward appearance of the practice. The practice must not just be rational; it must also appear rational. This is why the Arguer is expected to respond to objections and criticisms from others, and not ignore them or sweep them under the carpet. It's not just that sweeping them aside would not be rational and hence not be in keeping with the spirit of the practice. It's that it would be such an obvious violation of it—and it would be seen to be such."References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Ralph American logicians Canadian philosophers Living people 1940 births Xavier University alumni Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters alumni American emigrants to Canada