Revised 01/2023

PHI 111 - Logic (3 CR.)

Course Description

Introduces inductive and deductive reasoning, with an emphasis on common errors and fallacies. The assignments in the course require college-level reading fluency and coherent communication through written reports. This is a Passport and UCGS transfer course. Lecture 3 hours. Total 3 hours per week.

General Course Purpose

PHI 111 identifies and assesses inductive and deductive arguments in formal and informal language and to identify common fallacies. It fulfills a general education humanities requirement and meets some major requirements.

Course Prerequisites/Corequisites

None.

Course Objectives

Critical Thinking

  • Construct, identify, analyze, and assess deductive and inductive arguments.
  • Apply standards of rational discourse to identify good reasoning.
  • Identify unexamined (or under-examined) assumptions in one’s thinking.
  • Identify and avoid common fallacies.
  • Identify reliable information that is relevant and appropriate for addressing complex issues.

Communication

  • Through written, visual, and/or oral communication construct and evaluate arguments, justify reasoning, and identify and respond to objections.

Civic Engagement

  • Engage in discussion rationally, and understand the value of debate in sustaining a civil society and democracy and for the pursuit of truth through inclusive participation.

Major Topics to Be Included

Introduction to Logic

  • Identify and distinguish between types of sentences, inferential and non-inferential passages, and deductive and inductive arguments.
  • Recognize and construct counterexamples and counterarguments.
  • Define and identify necessary and sufficient conditions.

Induction

  • Identify and assess analogical reasoning; construct analogous arguments.
  • Identify and assess causal reasoning or scientific reasoning.

Fallacies

  • Define and identify common informal fallacies.
  • Define and identify common formal fallacies, in informal and/or formal language.

Propositional Logic and Natural Deduction

  • Translate statements from informal language to well-formed formulae and vice versa.
  • Identify and apply symbols and truth tables for conjunction, negation, disjunction, conditionals and biconditionals.
  • Evaluate propositional statements, sets of statements, and arguments using truth tables directly and indirectly and/or using truth trees.
  • Define, identify and construct proper substitution instances of statement forms and rules of inference and rules of replacement.
  • Construct proofs using rules of inference and rules of replacement to demonstrate the validity of arguments and the truth of tautologies, with each step correctly justified.
  • Construct proofs using Indirect Proofs and/or Conditional Proofs to demonstrate the validity of arguments and the truth of theorems, with subproof(s) properly structured and each step correctly justified.

Categorical Reasoning

  • Translate categorical propositions and syllogisms from informal language to standard form.
  • Identify and apply the logical relationships among categorical propositions to deduce the validity or invalidity of immediate inferences, using both the traditional and modern interpretations.
  • Construct and identify Venn diagrams for four main types of categorical propositions, using both the modern and traditional interpretations.
  • Identify whether a categorical syllogism is valid or invalid, using the rule-based method, by constructing Venn diagrams and/or by applying the medieval mnemonic method, using both the modern and traditional interpretations.