Philosophy 102: General Logic
Spring 2009, Section 1: Furman Hall 217
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:10am-10:00am

 

Instructor: Ted Parent
Email: tparent@email.unc.edu
Cell phone: 919-260-4897; Office: Furman Hall 115
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:00am-11:00am, and by appointment.

 

Logic is the study of methods and principles used to evaluate our reasoning. In this course, we will learn methods and principles for evaluating the two main types of reasoning: Deductive and Inductive reasoning.

 

Texts:

  • Bergmann et al. (2008), The Logic Book, 5th edition, Prentice Hall.
  • Hacking (2001), An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic, Cambridge.
  • Various handouts

 

Course Assignments:

(1)   There will be four quizzes scheduled throughout the semester (see below); each is worth 17.5% of your final grade.  If you are absent for a quiz, I will allow you ONE opportunity for a make-up quiz. Any further missed quizzes will receive a grade of zero.

(2)   Final exam worth 30% of the final grade. You can take the exam either on Apr 24th at noon (preferred), or on Apr 29th at 3pm.

(3)  Homework is due each Friday in class (with a few exceptions, see below). Homework is a requirement for the course, rather than a constituent of the final grade. (They are meant to help you prepare for the quizzes and final exam.) It is graded on a pass/fail basis, where ‘pass’ reflects a “good faith” effort to complete the homework correctly. Failure to give a “good faith” effort on the homeworks can lower your final grade. Note: You will eventually be provided with the correct answers to each problem. No late homeworks accepted. If you are unwilling to abide by this policy, please drop the course.

 (4) Extra credit can be earned by scoring points in “WHO WANTS TO DO SOME LOGIC??” (see below). You also get extra credit if you correct a mistake I make in class. Those with the most extra points will be bumped up half a letter-grade when I assign final grades.


N.B. Excellent or poor participation/attendance will also affect your final grade.

 

 

Tentative Schedule

Informal Logic

*WEEK ONE
Jan 7                            Introductory session.
Jan 9,                           Validity and Soundness. Bergmann et al. Ch. 1; Hacking Ch. 1

 

WEEK TWO

Jan 12                          Validity and Soundness (cont’)

Jan 15, 16                    Argument Fallacies [refer to handout].

 

WEEK THREE

Jan 19, 21                    Argument Fallacies (cont’)

Jan 23                          Quiz on Informal Logic

 

Deductive Logic

*WEEK FOUR

Jan 26, 28, 30              Bergmann et al., Ch. 2: A New Language “SL”

 

WEEK FIVE

Feb 2, 4, 6                   Bergmann et al., Ch. 2 (cont’)

 

*WEEK SIX

Feb 9                           Quiz on Translations

Feb 11, 13                   Bergmann et al., Ch. 4: Proving a conclusion in SL.

                                                 

WEEK SEVEN

Feb 16, 18, 20             Bergmann et al., Ch. 4 (cont’)

 

WEEK EIGHT

Feb 23, 25                   Bergmann et al. Ch 4 (cont’)

Feb 27                         Quiz on Proofs

 

*WEEK NINE

Mar 2, 4, 6                   SPRING BREAK

 

Inductive Logic

*WEEK TEN

Mar 9, 11, 13               Hacking Ch. 2: Introduction. (Ch. 3 optional)

 

WEEK ELEVEN

Mar 16, 18                   Hacking, Ch. 4: Basic Concepts

Mar 20:                        Hacking , Ch. 5: Conditional Probability           

 

WEEK TWELVE

Mar 23, 25, 27             Hacking, Ch. 6: Probability Rules

 

WEEK THIRTEEN

Mar 30; Apr 1              Hacking Ch. 6 (cont’)

Apr 3                           Hacking Ch. 7: Bayes’ Rule

 

WEEK FOURTEEN

Apr 6, 8                       Hacking Ch. 7 (cont’)

Apr 10                         Quiz on Probabilities

 

*WEEK FIFTEEN

Apr 13, 15, 17            Interpretations of Probability [refer to handout] (Optional: Hacking

           chs. 11-13)                     

 

*WEEK SIXTEEN

Apr 20                         Closing session.

 

Cumulative Final Exam, Apr 24th at noon or Apr 29th at 3pm, in Furman Hall 217.

 

* indicates a week without homework.

 

 

 

Rules for WHO WANTS TO DO SOME LOGIC??

Sometimes we will be playing a game when doing logic exercises in class. The game begins when I say “the game begins.” When you are called on, you have the choice to answer “play!” or “pass” [I will call on people by going through the class roster, in alphabetical order.]

  • If you answer “play!,” you get to work out a logic exercise in front of the class for  a chance at extra credit.
  • If you answer “pass,” you don’t have to do anything. But you give up your chance to win extra credit until the next time you are called on.

If the player makes a mistake on the exercise, other students have the opportunity to “steal” the extra credit. I will call on the first one to raise their hand when a mistake is made. But I will not call on anyone before it is clear that the player has made a genuine mistake (and not merely a “typo”). Anyone raising their hand prior to that becomes ineligible for the steal.

  • If you are called on for the steal, you must take the player’s place at the front of the room, correct the player’s mistake, and (if necessary) finish the rest of the exercise correctly.
  • If the stealer herself makes a mistake, everyone (including the player) can then steal from the stealer.! (Same rules for stealing apply).

1pt. of extra credit is awarded to whoever finishes the exercise correctly.