Contents

PHIL 102 Introduction to Logic

An introduction to the practice and study of reason, focusing on how to analyze arguments and how not to jump to conclusions. Special attention is paid to recognizing informal fallacies (the logical tricks which dominate political discourse in America today) and to understanding conditional (if … then …) statements. Students will be expected to write rigorous proofs. There will be a strong emphasis on symbolic logic (propositional logic including natural deduction).

Credits

3

Hours Weekly

3

Course Objectives

  1. 1. Recognize the premises and the conclusion of arguments; recognize arguments, both deductive and inductive; understand the difference between necessary and sufficient conditions; be able to translate conditional statements into standard form; and understand the definitions of validity, soundness, strength, and cogency.
  2. 2. Recognize the formal fallacies of denying the antecedent and affirming the consequent; be able to recognize informal fallacies.
  3. 3. Prove that informal fallacies are committed.
  4. 4. Render simple English sentences into propositional form; recognize the nature of truth functional operators; construct truth tables for propositions/arguments; and prove conclusions using the eighteen rules of inference and replacement.

Course Objectives

  1. 1. Recognize the premises and the conclusion of arguments; recognize arguments, both deductive and inductive; understand the difference between necessary and sufficient conditions; be able to translate conditional statements into standard form; and understand the definitions of validity, soundness, strength, and cogency.
  2. 2. Recognize the formal fallacies of denying the antecedent and affirming the consequent; be able to recognize informal fallacies.
  3. 3. Prove that informal fallacies are committed.
  4. 4. Render simple English sentences into propositional form; recognize the nature of truth functional operators; construct truth tables for propositions/arguments; and prove conclusions using the eighteen rules of inference and replacement.