Syllabus For Deductive Logic

Evangel University, Spring 2007, M, W, F - 12:00-12:50 a.m. AB2-305
Phil 111, Professor Douglas F. Olena

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Purpose of Deductive Logic in the Curriculum:

Deductive Logic serves the student by giving him or her the tools to read aguments and evaluate the content by publicly accepted standards. It helps the student see flawed logic and prepare a response. Many arguments presented as proof for a position are in error and need to be unpacked by careful examination of the logic of the argument. The course in Deductive Logic also helps the student learn to solve puzzles in natural and formal discourse.

Course Description:

Systematic study of the principles of correct thinking, focusing on deductive reasoning. Attention to traditional Aristotelian logic and elementary propositional logic.

Addendum to the Course Description:

This Introduction to Deductive Logic will explain the structure and content of formal language arguments. Some attention will be given to the origins of formal logic with reference to Aristotle's formalizations as well as the 19th and 20th centuries and the history of modern logic and its place in language, mathematics and science. Truth tables, symbolization and formal proof techniques will be discussed in detail and practiced continually. The content of the course will be reinforced with exercises from the required text book and other texts. Frequent testing will also reinforce the student's grasp of the core content of the course.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the course, you should be able:

To outline all of the major parts of any argument.
To be able to use key terms and concepts of formal language arguments.
To rewrite in logical form any argument from natural language.
To symbolize any declarative natural language statement.
To prove the validity of any formal argument using the tools of symbolic logic.
To demonstrate in written and oral form certain logical and analytical skills for evaluating arguments.

Texts:

Required:

"A First Course in Logic", K. Codell Carter

Course Requirements:

Read the Carter text and do selected exercises.
Complete homework exercises to be handed in.
Be prepared to demonstrate logical skills in the classroom.
Take quizzes, a mid-term and a final exam.

Grading:

1/3 — Class participation and homework, including periodic quizzes.
1/3 — Section tests
1/3 — Final exam

A note about class participation: This course requires daily effort for the student to be successful. Normally there is a dividing line between those who "get it" and those who don't. If you are one of those who don't get it, you will need to spend a good deal of time mastering even the basics of this material. You must, for a good class grade be prepared to participate by answering questions I pose, and be prepared to go to the board to demonstrate your skill performing the required problems and exercises.

Addendum:

If you have any questions about any of this syllabus or any of the course requirements, please email me. You are responsible for everything in this syllabus and if you fail to hand in an assignment, you are still responsible for it and will be graded without it. I may remind you the assignment is due, but am not obligated to. I will also direct you to this syllabus if the answer you seek is in it.

I have made and will make mistakes. When I do, I am disposed to favor the student. Begging me to reconsider a grade sometimes will help you, though the last time I read a paper for the second time, I found more mistakes, and realized why I had given the student the grade I did. I did not lower the student's grade.

If you are having trouble in class, please see me, email me or call me. I am more likely to be generous to you if we have a relationship of some kind. If you sneak into class late, leave early, never say anything in class or out of it, show no interest in the material, etc., there are few options to me when it comes to grading your work. I will be as fair as humanly possible, but if I don't know you, all I will have is the work you give (or don't give) me.

As much as the techne of education disposes us to treat each other perfunctorily, I am convinced that the effort required to master the material is a very humanizing process. We depend on each other for this conversation to be productive. Fostering relationships between fellow students and professors will be to our mutual advantage.