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Trent Dougherty Class Time: Thursdays 6:00-8:40 |
INTRODUCTION: This is a really neat class! It will be both challenging at times and rewarding. It might be the most practical class you ever take because it will help you think better. There's no subject matter per se, just learning how to think better. This will affect speech and writing skills as well. You can take these skills and apply them to any area of life: other classes, business, religion, auto mechanics, welding, poetry, whatever interests you. Are you a History major? Then you will think better about History. Are you an English major? Then you will think better about English. Biology? Nursing? Business? You get the picture.
Feel free to email me anytime with questions or comments. I get an alert on my phone whenever I get an email, so I typically respond very quickly.
Required Texts
Course Grade: 10% Weeklies, 40% Midterm; 50% Final
Assignments and other stuff will be posted to the class blog here: http://logicandinquiry.blogspot.com/.
When there are weekly assignments, they will vary in nature, but will often consist of either short (one to two pages) original dialogs or sample definitions or arguments and such taken from daily life. Normally, eight are required in all: four before the mid-term and four after. It is your choice which weeks to do them. Late assignments will not be accepted after one week and then only for a diminished grade. (example)
Links
Other Books of Interest
Approximate Schedule (this is a rough guess, not to be taken as written in stone: it is subject to change at any time, what we cover and how fast we move will be determined in situ. Summer sessions will obviously be condensed. Sample based on Spring Semester. Approximate schedule will follow week and meeting numbers, this is just to give an idea of what items we'll cover in what order).
| Week | Meeting | Topics (page numbers refer to material to be discussed that day) | |
| 1 | 1 | General Introduction to Logic and Inquiry | |
| 4 | L&I 1 and 2 -- 16 pages of reading - easiest reading of the course - general stuff about logic | ||
| 3 | 5 | L&I 3 and 4 -- 15 1/2 pages of reading - second easiest reading of the course - fairly abstract | |
| 6 | L&I 5 -- 10 1/2 pages of reading - first hard stuff, stick with it | ||
| 4 | 7 | L&I 7 -- 7 1/2 pages of reading | |
| 8 | L&I 9&10 -- 11 1/2 pages of reading - short reading, but lots of terms: good quiz material | ||
| 5 | 9 | L&I 11 and 12 -- 10 1/2 pages of reading - easier reading | |
| 10 | L&I 13 -- 12 pages of reading - a *lot* of information! Schedule a nap after this one! | ||
| 6 | 11 | L&I 14-16 -- 12 pages of reading - Looks *much* harder than it is. In the middle you'll be like "What the...?" but by the end you'll be like "Ooohh, OK." We'll also review chapter 13. | |
| 12 | Plato's Apology | ||
| 7 | 13 | Plato's Apology | |
| 14 | Plato's Apology | ||
| 8 | 15 | REVIEW FOR MID TERM | |
| 16 | MID TERM | ||
| 9 | NO CLASS SPRING BREAK -- PAR-TAY (responsibly) | ||
| NO CLASS SPRING BREAK -- PAR-TAY (responsibly) | |||
| 10 | 17 | Go over mid term. I've always found this helpful. Introductory remarks on argumentation and dialectic and rhetoric generally. L&I 17 -- 7 1/2 pages of reading -- short but sweet, we'll discuss this a lot | |
| 18 | L&I 18&19 -- 14 1/2 pages of reading -- not much reading, but you'll need to know it well for drills in class. | ||
| 11 | 19 | L&I 19&21 -- 16 1/2 pages of reading | |
| 20 | Real Life Reasoning: We'll go over examples of arguments you bring in the whole period. Good sources are newspapers, textbooks, homilies, conversations, magazines, or any books you've read. | ||
| 12 | 21 | L&I 25 | |
| 22 | Real Life Reasoning: We'll go over your examples of material fallacies. | ||
| 13 | 23 | L&I 23-24 - I'll make some remarks about how "modern" "mathematical" logic relates to "traditional" "Aristotelian" logic and give some examples. -- 15 pages of reading | |
| 24 | L&I 22 - I think this material will be enriched by my remarks on modern logic, so we'll take it out of order. | ||
| 14 | 25 | Plato's Crito | |
| 26 | Plato's Crito | ||
| 15 | 27 | Plato's Phaedo | |
| 28 | REVIEW FOR FINAL | ||
| 16 | FINALS WEEK |
25 periods of instruction and discussion. [TOP]
PowerPoint Notes (Open in browser or download)
