Title : Philosophy 230: Introduction to Formal Logic

Ticket Number : 17984

Time : TR 02:00 - 03:15 p.m., Fall Semester 2009

Place : JR 243

Prerequisite : Completion of GE Analytical Reading/Expository Writing; either GE Mathematics or MATH 210

Instructor : Takashi Yagisawa

Office Hours : TR 03:20 - 04:20 p.m. in Sierra Tower 530; also by appointment

Textbook : The Logic Book, by Bergmann, Moor, & Nelson, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill)

Solutions to Selected Exercise Problems

Description :

Introduction to modern deductive logic; includes propositional logic and theory of quantification. This course satisfies the “Critical Thinking” component of the “Basic Skills” section of the General Education Program, which recognizes critical reasoning as a fundamental competence. Courses in this part of General Education take reasoning itself as their focus. Their goals are to provide students with criteria and methods for distinguishing good reasoning from bad and to help students develop basic reasoning skills that they can apply both within a broad range of academic disciplines and outside the academic environment. Students are expected to acquire skill in recognizing the logical structure of statements and arguments, the ability to distinguish rational from non-rational means of persuasion, skill in applying the principles of sound reasoning in the construction and evaluation of arguments, and an appreciation of the value of critical reasoning skills in the pursuit of knowledge.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will: 1. Explain and apply the basic concepts essential to a critical examination and evaluation of argumentative discourse; 2. Use investigative and analytical thinking skills to examine alternatives, explore complex questions and solve challenging problems; 3. Synthesize information in order to arrive at reasoned conclusions; 4. Evaluate the logic and validity of arguments, and the relevance of data and information; 5. Recognize and avoid common logical and rhetorical fallacies.

Course Objectives :

(1) Students will recognize and produce definitions of basic concepts essential to critical examination and evaluation of argumentative discourse: e.g., argument, premise, conclusion, deductive validity, deductive soundness, truth-functional validity, quantificational validity. (2) Students will recognize and make competent use of important logical operations, such as negation, conjunction, disjunction, conditional, and quantification. (3) Students will translate English sentences into two basic languages used in formal logic, viz., the language of truth-functional logic and the language of quantificational logic. (4) Students will apply standard techniques of truth table and natural deduction for truth-functional logic, involving important inference rules (e.g., modus ponens, modus tollens, reductio ad absurdum, disjunctive syllogism) to determine important truth-functional logical properties and relations: e.g., truth-functional validity, truth-functional consistency, truth-functional equivalence. (5) Students will apply standard techniques of natural deduction for quantificational logic, involving important inference rules (e.g., universal instantiation, existential elimination) to determine important quantificational logical properties and relations: e.g., quantificational validity, quantificational consistency, quantificational equivalence. (6) Students will recognize and avoid common logical fallacies: e.g., affirming the consequent, denying the antecedent, confusing ‘only if’ with ‘if’, and confusing ‘some’ with ‘some but not all.’

The Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) are targeted by the corresponding Coure Objectives (CO) as follows: SLO 1 ... CO (1)-(5); SLO 2 ... (3)-(5), SLO 3 ... (2), (4), (5); SLO 4 ... (2)-(5); SLO 5 (2)-(6).

Topics Covered :

Deductive validity, deductive soundness, logical consistency, logical truth, logical falsity, logical indeterminacy, logical equivalence, truth-functional connectives, syntax and semantics of the language of truth-functional logic, truth tables, truth-functional validity, truth-functional entailment, truth-functional consistency, truth-functional truth, truth-functional falsity, truth-functional indeterminacy, truth-functional equivalence, universal and existential quantifiers, syntax and semantics of the language of quantificational logic, quantificational validity, quantificational entailment, quantificational consistency, quantificational truth, quantificational falsity, quantificational indeterminacy, quantificational equivalence, formal proof by natural deduction in truth-functional logic, formal proof by natural deduction in quantificational logic.

Requirements & Grading :

There will be Five Mini-Tests and One Big-Test. There will be no final examination.

Only the best three of the five mini-test grades count; 20% each. The big-test grade counts 40%. Every enrolled student who fails to take the big-test will receive a WU for the course.

Very good overall class participation will positively affect a student’s course grade by as much as two notches: e.g., the grade C as determined by the mini-tests and the big-test may be upgraded to the course grade of C+ or B-. Poor participation or lack of participation will not result in the corresponding downgrading. In most class meetings, the instructor will call on students to provide answers to questions, usually from the text’s exercise sections but sometimes concerning the main body of the text, on the writing board for critique by the class. The instructor will record the satisfactoriness of the answers and critiques and tabulate the results at the end of the semester to determine the scores for the class participation. Not every student will be called on in every meeting. It is each student’s responsibility to be in class when the instructor call the student’s name, and be prepared to provide answers to the questions posed, or to participate in the critique of classmates’ answers

All mini-tests and the big-test will be graded on a curve; 90% of the highest points scored marks the lowest A, 80% the lowest B, 70% the lowest C, and 60% the lowest D. "+" and "-" will be used only with the letter grades for the course.

You are responsible for reading the relevant pages of the text and attempting the exercise problems prior to each class meeting. Any schedule change will be announced in class, and you are responsible for being aware of any such announcement.

Cheating and Plagiarism: Academic dishonesty is a very serious issue. For information on what constitutes academic dishonesty and the possible repercussions of and penalties for acts of academic dishonesty, visit the following CSUN page on the “Standards for Student Conduct.” The page also contains information on other aspects of the standards for student conduct:

http://www.csun.edu/a&r/soc/studentconduct.html

Special Needs: Students with disabilities must register with the Center on Disabilities and complete a services agreement each semester. Staff within the Center will verify the existence of a disability based on the documentation provided and approved accommodations. Students who are approved for test taking accommodations must provide an Alternative Testing Form to their faculty member signed by a counselor in the Center on Disabilities prior to making testing arrangements. The Center on Disabilities is located in Bayramian Hall, room 110. Staff can be reached at (818) 677-2684 (http://www.csun.edu/cod/).

SCHEDULE

All parts of the Schedule are subject to change at any time.

You are responsible for being aware of any announced update and acting accordingly.

August 25 ..... Pre-test, 1.1 - 1.4 (Basic Notions of Logic)

August 27 ..... 1.4, 1.6 (Basic Notions, continued)

September 01 ..... 2.1, 2.2 (Sentential Logic: Symbolization and Syntax)

September 03 ..... 2.4 (SL: Symbolization and Syntax, continued)

September 08 ..... Mini-Test #1; 3.1, 3.2 (Sentential Logic: Semantics)

September 10 ..... 3.3 (SL: Semantics, continued)

September 15 ..... 3.4, 3.5 (SL: Semantics, continued)

September 17 ..... 3.5 (SL: Semantics, continued)

September 22 ..... Mini-Test #2; 5.1 (Sentential Logic: Derivations)

September 24 ..... 5.1 (SD, continued)

September 29 ..... No Class

October 01 ..... 5.2 (SD, continued)

October 06 ..... Mini-Test #3; 5.3 (SD, continued)

October 08 ..... 5.3 (SD, continued)

October 13 ..... No Class

October 15 ..... 5.3 (Predicate Logic: Symbolization)

October 20 ..... Mini-Test #4; 7.1 - 7.3 (PL: Symbolization, continued)

October 22 ..... 7.4 (PL: Symbolization, continued)

October 27 ..... 7.4 (PL: Symbolization, continued)

October 29 ..... 7.6, 7.7 (PL Symbolization, continued)

November 03 ..... 7.7 (PL Symbolization, continued)

November 05 ..... 7.8 (PL Symbolization, continued)

November 10 ..... Mini-Test #5; 10.1 (Predicate Logic: Derivations)

November 12 ..... 10.2 (PD, continued)

November 17 ..... 10.2 (PD, continued)

November 19 ..... 10.2 (PD, continued)

November 24 ..... 10.3 (PD, continued)

November 26 ..... Thanksgiving Day

November 01 ..... 10.3

November 03 ..... Post-test, Review

November 08 ..... Big-Test

Each mini-test will last for one half hour. There will be no final examination.

October 8, 2009



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