Philosophy 106: Critical Thinking  Summer 2011 (Ezio Vailati)

Where to reach me: PH 2212; phone: 3376; homepage: http://www.siue.edu/~evailat . Click on "Courses" and then on "Critical Thinking" to find this very syllabus.
Office Hours:  MW 10:00-11:00 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  13th edition (Rental text) [C].
2) Some handouts and 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) Diagramming arguments:
May 23: general intro. Reading: Peruse C. 4-35
May 25: Argument diagramming. Reading: C. 41-59.  Download diagramming exercises ; Diagramming FAQ.
Download exercises First quiz

May 27: Same as above. Download more exercises. Second quiz

May 30: No class

June 1: More diagramming; Fallacies: Peruse C 118-154. Third quiz

C) Probability, gambling, and some decision theory.

June 3: C. 591-602; Download handout on probability.  Download probability exercises
June 6: Same as above. Fourth quiz
June 8: What do Tests tell us?  Download more probability exercises; Optional: Inductive arguments; and Testing theories. Midterm.
June 10: C. 603-609. Download material on bets ; Download Decision Theory . Download decision theory exercises
June 13: More decision theory. Fifth quiz
June 15: More decision theory and puzzles.

D) A very quick intro to game theory

June 17: Basic ideas of classical game theory. Sixth quiz

June 20: Evolutionary game theory

June 22: Same as above. Seventh quiz
June 24: Final exam

IV) Course requirements and grades

1) Seven quizzes, some take-home, some in-class, each worth 10 points. 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 60 points
3) A final exam, covering the main topics of the course, worth 70 points.
4) There are 200 possible points in this class.  The correspondence between points and course grades is as follows: 200-180: A; 179-155: B; 154-130: C; 129-110: D; below 110: F. There is no curving of grades.

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, be forewarned that some students find it difficult.  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.  If in spite of your efforts you are having difficulties, come and see me as soon as possible.
Finally, remember that you'll get out of this course only as much as you'll put into it.