PHIL 100 General Logic

Fall, 2011
Schedule of Reading Assignments

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Download a printer-friendly PDF version (not ADA accessible) of this schedule and Adobe Acrobat Reader

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Professor Stern
Phone: (818) 677-4853
Sierra Tower, Room 508
Office hours: MW 11:40 AM - 1:10 PM, and by appointment
Email: cindy.stern@csun.edu

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SYLLABUS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Required Textbook:

Vaughn, Lewis. The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims, 3d edition. Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-19-537792-7

Schedule of assignments:

• THIS SCHEDULE MAY BE MODIFIED DURING THE COURSE OF THE SEMESTER. Any changes will be announced in class and on the class announcements web page, and written into the schedule below. Revisions to the schedule page itself may lag behind these announcements.
• Exercise solutions will not be collected. However you should be prepared to give your answers and discuss the exercises in class.
• Near the end of each chapter is at list of KEY WORDS. If any of their meanings do not seem clear to you, ask about them in class.
• Look at the SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ at the end of EACH CHAPTER. Ask about any questions whose answers do not seem clear to you.
• Items under the ‘Bring file to class’ heading are on moodle, except as noted for 10/3. You will need to use the CLASS EXERCISE FILES in class, often for group work, so it is particularly important that you bring them on the on the appropriate dates.

Week	Date	Topic	Reading	Exercises	Bring file to class
1	8/29	Introduction
	8/31	Basic concepts	pp. 3-22	1.1 #1-18; 1.3; 1.4; 1.7 (pp. 22+)	Supplement 1; Class Exercise 1
2	9/5	LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
	9/7	Obstacles to Critical Thinking	pp. 35-54	2.1 # 5-21; 2.4; 2.5 (pp. 54+)	Class Exercise 2
3	9/12	Inductive vs. deductive; components of arguments	pp. 67-88	3.1; 3.2, 3.4 I. #2,5,6,9 (pp. 73-74; 79-81;87-88)	Supplement 2
	9/14	Analyzing arguments	pp. 88-101	3.5 #1-5; 3.6 #1-3 & 8-10 (pp. 94-95)	Supplement 3; Class Exercise 3
	9/16	Friday, September 16 is the last day to drop a class or change the basis of grading. (See http://www.csun.edu/anr/soc/calendar.html#fall11.)
4	9/19	Analyzing arguments	pp. 96-112	3.9 # 2-4,8,12,22; 3.10 #1,3,4 (pp. 103+,109+)	Class Exercise 4
	9/21	Analyzing arguments	pp. 96-112	(in-class practice diagramming arguments)	Class Exercise 5
5	9/26	CATCH UP AND REVIEW	pp. 96-112	Sample test (moodle)	Sample Test 1 Class Exercise 5
	9/28	TEST 1 and begin next section
6	10/3	Reasons for belief and doubt	pp. 123-145	4.1 # 1-14; 4.2 # 1-6 (pp. 163-165)	Supplement 4
	10/5	Reasons for belief and doubt	pp. 145-168	4.1 # 15-22 Groups bring items for Field problem 1 or 3, and Field problem 4 (p. 166). (Groups will work on answering the questions in class.)	Class Exercise 6: Items for Field problems as at left.
7	10/10	Faulty Reasoning	pp. 176-193	5.1 #1-13 (p. 202)
	10/12	Belief and Doubt; Faulty Reasoning	pp. 176-202	5.1 #14 – 21, 5.2 #1-14 & #20-23; 5.3 #1-6 (pp. 202-205)	Class Exercise 7
8	10/17	CATCH UP AND REVIEW		Sample test (moodle)	Sample Test 2
	10/19	TEST 2 and begin next section
9	10/24	Propositional logic	pp. 217-228; Supplement 5	6.1, 6.2 #1-8; 6.3 #1-8 (pp. 228-230	Supplement 6
	10/26	Propositional logic	pp. 231-245	6.8 # 1-5, 8-10, 16-18; streamlined evaluation for 6.9 #1,2,3,9,10 (pp. 242-244)	Class Exercise 8
10	10/31	Categorical logic	pp. 251-268	7.2 # 1-8, 14,15; 7.3 # 7-10, 20 (pp. 263-264); 7.4 #3,4,6,7,9,10; 7.5 # 2-9 (pp. 268-269)	Class Exercise 9
	11/2	Categorical logic	pp. 269-279	7.6; 7.7; 7.8 # 1-5 & 10 (pp. 276-278)	Class Exercise 10
11	11/7	CATCH UP AND REVIEW		Sample test (moodle)	Sample Test 3
	11/9	TEST 3 and begin next section
12	11/14	Inductive reasoning	pp. 284-308	In 8.1 & 8.2, #1-6 & 10-12; 8.3 # 1,2,5; 8.5 (pp. 297-302)
	11/16	Causal arguments	pp. 311-322	8.7 #3,4,7; 8.8 # 1-7; 8.9 #2, 11, 12, 20; 8.10 #1-4 (pp. 310-311; 327-331)	Class Exercise 11
13	11/21	Inference to the best explanation	pp. 341-361	Ask any questions about 9.1; Do 9.4 (pp. 349-353) We will go over 9.5 in class	Class Exercise 12
	11/23	Inference to the best explanation	pp. 355-384	Ask any questions about 9.6; Do 9.9 3 3-6(pp. 371; 381-382)	Class Exercise 13
14	11/28	Judging scientific theories	pp. 389-411	10.1 # 3-6; 10.2 # 4-8 (pp. 411-405)	Class Exercise 14
	11/30	Judging scientific theories	pp. 389-411	10.4 # 1,4,5,8; 10. 5 passage 2; 10. 6	Class Exercise 15
15	12/5	CATCH UP AND REVIEW		Sample test (moodle)	Sample Test 4
	12/7	TEST 4

Last modified September 18, 2011.