Where to reach me: PH 2212; phone: 3376; homepage: http://www.siue.edu/~evailat
. Click on "Courses" and then on "Critical Thinking" to
fond this very syllabus.
Office Hours: M 5:00-6:00; W 1:00-1:30, and by appointment if needed.
I) Course objectives: 1) to develop the student's ability to identify and evaluate arguments; 2) to introduce the student to some basic logical notions and some fundamental concepts of probability and decision theory.
II) Texts:
1) Copi-Cohen, Introduction to Logic 12th edition (Rental text)
[C].
2) material to be downloaded from my homepage. If you have no
internet access at home, get a free account on campus.
III) Course outline:
A) Arguments:
week 1: 8-10 Jan. general
intro. Reading: Peruse C. 5-20.
Jan 10: First quiz.
week 2-3: 17-24 Jan. Argument diagramming.
Reading: C. 21-56 Download diagramming exercises
; Diagramming FAQ.
Download exercises
. Download more
exercises
24 Jan: Second quiz.
B) Translations and propositional deduction.
week 4: 29-31 Jan C. 307-329; download connectives;
download translation
exercises
week 5: 5-7 Feb. (Download argument
validity). Download common
errors. Download table
of logical values
7 Feb: Third quiz.
week 6: 12-14 Feb: (download argument
validity exercises). Proving an argument's invalidity (Download)
14 Feb: Fourth quiz
week 7: 19-21 Feb: Same as above.
21 Feb: Midterm. Download midterm
sample
C) Fallacies; arguments by analogy.
week 8: 26-28 Feb: C 125-151; 159-63.
Reading: C 443-457
28 Feb: Fifth quiz.
F) Probability, gambling, and some decision theory.
week 9: 12-14 March: C. 552-568; Download handout
on probability. Download probability
exercises
week 10: 19-21 March. Same as above.
21 March: Sixth quiz
week 11: 26-28 March. C. 569-575; Tests.
Download more probability
exercises; Inductive
arguments; Testing
theories
weeks 12-13: 2-11 April: Download material on bets
; download Decision Theory
. Download decision
theory exercises
11 April: Seventh quiz.
week 14: 16-18 April. More decision theory. Downoad Utility
18 April: Eighth quiz.
week 15: 23-25 April. Dynamic games. Summary
IV) Course requirements and grades
1) Eight quizzes, some take-home, some in-class, each worth 5% of the course
grade. Their dates are given in the course outline. No make up quizzes will
be given unless in extreme circumstances. Some extra-points quizzes
may be given in class or as a take-home only to those present in class. No exceptions
at all.
2) A midterm exam, worth 30% of the course grade.
3) A final exam, covering the main topics of the course, worth
30% of the course grade.
4) There are 200 possible points in this class. The correspondence between
points and course grades is as follows: 200-180: A; 179-150: B; 149-125: C;
124-110: D; below 110: E.
V) Academic policies
1) Cheating of any kind will dealt with according to the draconian guidelines
of CAS .
2) Students are responsible for knowing what has been said in class,
including announcements. Quizzes may be based on classroom discussions
not derived from any written material. If for any reason you miss some
classes, make sure to find out what has been done in class.
VI) Some advice
Although this is a 100 level class, some students find it difficult. Hence,
if you want to do well, you must put real work into it. This means
reading (not just glancing at) the book and the on-line material. Moreover,
since much of the material covered in this course involves learning skills,
and learning skills requires practicing them, you are unlikely to do well
in this course without doing the practice-exercises regularly (It's really
true!). If in spite of your efforts you are having difficulties, come
and see me as soon as possible.
Initially, some students find Copi difficult to read. If you are one of
them, try and read the book more slowly and make a real effort to understand
it. This will improve both your critical and your reading skills.
Finally, remember that you'll get out of this course only as much as
you'll put into it.