PHIL 110 Introduction to Logic and Reasoning

Fall Semester 2013 | Day | Burnaby

INSTRUCTOR: N. Fillion (nicolas.fillion at gmail.com)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is intended to introduce students to the art and science of logical reasoning, i.e., to the crucial but elementary methods needed to construct and assess logically valid arguments. The study of basic logic provides excellent preparation for intellectual work in many other disciplines. Students from all faculties will benefit from learning various methods of sound reasoning – methods that prize precision, clarity, rigor, practice, and patience. Students in this course should expect to develop an enhanced ability to engage in disciplined argument and to write in an organized and focused way.

This course assumes no prior knowledge of logic, and is intended for all students, whether they are planning further study in philosophy or not. We will introduce formal symbolic logic, focusing on argument structure, propositional logic and elementary quantificational logic. Applications to certain fields (such as philosophy, linguistics, computer science, mathematics, etc.) will be considered, if students manifest interest in those topics.

REQUIRED TEXTS

• Natural Deduction: An Introduction to Logic with Real Arguments, A Little History and Some Humour, Richard T.W. Arthur, Broadview Press, 2011.
• Additional material will be posted on course website (in PDFs).

RECOMMENDED TEXT

• The Logic Book, Merrie Bergmann and James Moore, McGraw-Hill, 2008.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• Participation - 5%
• Six (6) homework assignments online (3% each + 2% for completing all of them) - 20%
• Midterm - 25%
• Cumulative Final Exam - 50%
  

NOTE: All written assignments must be submitted to turnitin.com, which is a plagiarism-detection website.

Prerequisites: Philosophy 110 has no prerequisites and may be applied towards the Certificate in Liberal Arts, and the Q-requirement.