PHIL 115
Critical Reasoning
Course
syllabus
Time:
Fri.,
Place: 00W
W175
Item no. 1878
Instructor:
W. Russ Payne
Office Hours:
Mon. - Fri.
Office: B
100 F
e-mail: wpayne@bcc.ctc.edu
Texts: A Concise Introduction
to Logic, by Patrick J. Hurley.
Additional Course Materials will be posted on our
class website which you can navigate to from the following address:
www.bcc.ctc.edu/artshum/studentinfo.asp
Organization
and Content:
Our goal in this course will be to work through
chapters 1, 3, 6 and 9 of A Concise Introduction to Logic. This material will include a basic
introduction to the principles of sound reasoning and argumentation, a close
examination of common mistakes in reasoning and an investigation of inductive
reasoning, probability, and scientific reasoning. We will also learn a bit about deductive
reasoning, but a thorough introduction to deductive methods of reasoning is
reserved for the natural sucessor to this course, Phil. 120 Introduction to
Logic.
Course
Requirements:
Your grade in this
course will be determined by your performance on four exams, one short papers on an assigned topic and homework assignments. Exams will constitute about 2/3 of your course
grade. The other half of your course
grade will be based on homework and a few short writing assignments. Make-up exams will be given in only the most
dire cases and then only at my discretion. You should consult the BCC course catalog for
information on grading standards at this institution.
Homework assignments
will consist primarily of exercises from the text. Problems and questions on the exams will, by
and large, resemble those found in the exercises from the text. We will have one exam on each of the chapters
we will cover. The fourth and final exam
will mainly cover chapter 9, but it will also cover a few important points from
the earlier chapters. Your writing assignments will provide opportunities to
apply what you've learned from your study of the principles of sound reasoning
and informal logic.
Absences in excess of 3
may adversely effect your grade. Your classroom participation will also be
considered in determining your final grade.
Your contributions in class can help you.
Student
Conduct
Maintaining a good
learning environment will be your responsibility as well as mine. I look forward to having some lively
discussions in class. Of course I will
insist that the highest regard and respect for each other be a guiding
principle of these. Inappropriate or
disrespectful behavior may adversely effect your grade
in the course.
The internet has made
Plagiarism easier than ever. It has also
made catching Plagiarism easier than ever.
Trust me, my search engines are better than
yours. Write your own stuff.
I have a duty to report
cheating, plagiarism and conduct conduct that is destructive to the course to
administration and to student services.
I would appreciate not having to act on that duty.