Logic: Principles of Reasoning

Lawyers, doctors, and mathematicians use logic while building arguments, diagnosing diseases, and proving theorems. This course explores the techniques of logic while developing your analytical reasoning skills and your ability to produce arguments and identify fallacious reasoning. After learning foundational concepts such as validity, soundness, and consistency, you'll explore the process of evaluating language-based arguments. You and your classmates will identify common fallacies, discern patterns of proper reasoning, and use Venn diagrams to evaluate syllogisms. Moving on to the study of formal logic, the method of analyzing and validating arguments by means of symbolic notation, you'll use truth tables to evaluate complex arguments and employ natural deduction techniques to prove arguments valid. You'll analyze editorials, speeches, and philosophical works; construct arguments about enduring questions and contemporary issues; engage in debates; and write proofs. By the end of the course, you will have developed rigorous analytical reasoning and critical thinking skills crucial to academic and professional inquiry. While this is a humanities class, you'll use symbolic notation and write proofs common in math classes. Typical Class Size: 16-18 Course Overview Learning Objectives: Understand informal and formal as well as inductive and deductive patterns of reasoning Engage in class discussions and debates centered on logical problems and their implications Learn how to symbolize English sentences in the language of propositional logic, and use truth tables to determine potential logical properties within a sentence or argument Hone your techniques of logic to produce written proofs that showcase your rigorous analytical reasoning and critical thinking skills Analyze editorials, speeches, and philosophical works, then construct arguments about enduring questions and contemporary issues