This course introduces the elements of sound reasoning, critical evaluation of arguments, and dialectic. It covers analytic strategies for problem-solving including: the elements of argument; informal fallacies; basic inductive and deductive inference (including sentential logic and some syllogistic logic); puzzle-solving with matricies; causal flow diagraming; tree-diagraming decision-problems. Excellent preparation for philosophical and political argument, the GRE, and the LSAT.
 

We will cover....

— Soundness vs validity, premises vs inferences, how to evaluate starting assumptions;
— Convincing or dialectically complete deductive and inductive arguments;
— How to criticize arguments by spotting formal and informal fallacies and other weaknesses;
— Different strategies or approaches to proving your thesis;
— Factual vs practical arguments; the use of statistics and probability;
— Basic inference forms and a brief introduction to symbolic logic with truth-tables;
— Causal flow charts and decision tree analysis;
— Using matricies and other analytic tools for solving complex logic puzzles;
— Introduction to necessity, possibility, counterfactuals, entailment and their uses in argument;
— Important aspects of moral, legal, and political argument.