PHIL 119: "LOGIC" FALL 2004 Instructor: Thomas Brister Office: Benedict 307 Class Meeting Times: Section One: M 2:30-5:00 Section Two: TR 10:30-11:15 Phone: 381-6480 Email: tbrister@sbc.edu Office Hours: T 2:30-3:30 Classroom: Benedict 216 Texts and Readings Howard Kahane and Nancy Cavender, Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric (9th edition), Wadsworth 2002 (Kahane) *on line or on reserve Assignments and Evaluation Test (20) Essay 1 (20) Essay 2 (20) Participation (20) Final (Debate) (20) Course Overview This is an introduction to "informal logic". Our aim is to sharpen our reasoning skills through a study of the basic structure of valid arguments, common logical fallacies, and psychological impediments to clear reasoning and thinking. After consolidating these basic principles, we will turn our attention to writing and language in order to evaluate more complex extended arguments. We will then be in a position to use these various conceptual tools to analyze various aspects of the mass media. Since this is a presidential election year we will have ample opportunity (unfortunately) to evaluate many of the bad arguments and much of the psychological manipulation explained in our text and other readings. We will leave some room at the end for class debates on particular controversial issues of interest. Critical thinking skills are really at the heart of the ideal of a liberal arts education, and the tools that you will acquire in this class can be used anywhere and everywhere. This is also a class with few 'sacred cows', so come prepared to have your views challenged! Each class will have several 'hands-on' exercises, and students are expected to help in providing material from outside class in order to practice what we learn from the text and other sources. You must be willing to be an active particpant in order to make this work. Calendar of Topics Readings Additional Resources Introduction (8/26) Informal Logic Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking (AILACT) Critical Thinking on the Web John Dewey, How We Think (1918) The Philosopher's Magazine online I. Reasoning WEEK ONE: 8/31 and 9/2 Good and Bad Reasoning Kahane Chapter One Rick Garlikov, "Reasoning, and What it is to be Rational" San Jose University's Critical Thinking Webpage Critical Thinking Glossary Robert H. Innis: Critical Thinking Website Critical Thinking Consortium Ed Brandon, Argument Analysis Monty Python, The Argument Clinic WEEK TWO: 9/7 and 9/9 Deduction and Induction Kahane Chapter Two II. Fallacies WEEK THREE: 9/14 and 9/16 Fallacious Reasoning-I Kahane: Chapter Three Charles Krauthamer, "The Case for Bush" Michael Kinsley, "The Case Against Bush" Fallacy Files Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies (free login required) Bruce Thompson's Fallacy Pages Informal Logical Fallacies (Talitha May) Conversational Cheap Shots Leo Kee Chye, Critical Thinking The Wooly Thinker's Guide to Rhetoric Bad Moves by Julian Baggini WEEK FOUR: 9/21 and 9/23 Fallacious Reasoning-II Kahane: Chapter Four WEEK FIVE: 9/28 Fallacious Reasoning-III reading day: 9/30 Kahane: Chapter Five WEEK SIX: 10/5 and 10/7 Review Week Kahane: Review Chapters 1-5 in preparation for text III. Language WEEK SEVEN: 10/12 and 10/14   10/14: introduction to section on "psychological impediments" (second half of class 10/11 for Monday section) **Test on Reasoning and Logical Fallacies** "Ghosts of Sweet Briar College" -- what would Mr. Kahane have to say about this?! take a look and we will talk about some of this in class after the test. An Introduction to Social Influence (Working Psychology) Groupthink: Wikipedia The History of Crowd Psychology Meme Central / Memes.org / a Mimetic Lexicon Jim Holt, "Uncertainty About the Uncertainty Principle", Slate, 2002 Fuzzy Logic (wikipedia) The Temperament Sorter Test (registration required -- optional if you're uncomfortable with this) and/or Andy's Bucket-o-Memes: Psychological Types (with a test section) WEEK EIGHT: 10/19 and 10/21 Psychological impediments NO CLASS on 10/21 Kahane: Chapter Six Groupthink (wikipedia article) Memes (wikipedia article) Skeptics.com / Skeptical Enquirer / The Skeptics Dictionary / Parapsychology Foundation / Parapsychological Association / Parapsychology Links and FAQ / Michael Cremo's Forbidden Archeology / Dr. Ian Stevenson / Rupert Sheldrake / Synchronicity Times The Weekly World News/ National Enquirer Enneagram and MBTI / Jung Typology Test / Association for Psychological Type / Temperament / The Personality Page WEEK NINE: 10/26 and 10/28 Language Kahane: Chapter Seven George Orwell, Politics and the English Language Doublespeak (wikipedia article) The Vocabula Review Richard Mitchell, Less Than Words Can Say and the "Underground Grammarian webpage" CriticalReading.com Essays and Arguments About General Semantics / General Semantics Homepage / General Semantics (wikipedia article) Plain English Movement / Jargon, Weasel Words, and Gobbledygook / Dilbert Gobbledygook Generator / Postmodernism Generator / Noam Chomsky on Postmodernism WEEK TEN: 11/2 and 11/4 Evaluating Extended Arguments / Writing Kahane: Chapters Eight and Nine **Essay I due 11/9** Style Guide From The Economist magazine William Strunk Jr, The Elements of Style Charles King, "Battling the Six Evil Geniuses of Essay Writing", APSA Writing Argumentive Essays IV. Media WEEK ELEVEN: 11/9 and 11/11 Advertising Kahane: Chapter Ten AdBusters / Propaganda / Advertising Age / PR Watch FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) ("liberal") and AIM (Accuracy in Media) ("conservative") Google: News Media Watchdogs / News Media: Analysis and Opinion Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Monopoly Made Simple (chart of media ownership)/ Who Owns What? (Columbia Journalism Review)/ Who Owns the Media (Take Back the Media) Studies of the Media / MediaChannel.org WEEK TWELVE: 11/16 and 11/18 Managing the News Kahane: Chapter Eleven Jerry Mander, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television v. Zack Stenz, Feed Me TV Todd Kappelman, "Marshall MacLuhan: The Medium is the Message" **Essay 2 due 12/3** Thanksgiving holidays 11/23 and 11/25 V. Debates and Controversies WEEK THIRTEEN: 11/30 and 12/2 Textbooks: Managing Worldviews Kahane: Chapter Twelve CLASS DEBATES begin John Stewart Mill, "Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion", On Liberty Paul Feyerabend, Against Method WEEK FOURTEEN: 12/7 and 12/9 Conclusion CLASS DEBATES The Noam Chomsky Archive (ZNet) H. L. Mencken George Orwell   Final Exam: Debate and Write up Synopsis of Debate (due by end of exam period)