Queens University of Belfast
School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy
PHL1003
Introductory Logic
Convenor: Joe Morrison
Spring Semester 2013-2014
Module Convenor:
Room:
25.01.16
Email address:
j.morrison@qub.ac.uk
Consultation Hours:
on demand
Timetable
Lectures:
Mondays 2pm – 3pm, Sociology Building (6 College Park) / 0G / 026
AND
Thursdays 11am – 12pm, Peter Froggatt Centre / 02 / 018
Tutorials:
Five classes, all held on Mondays, meeting between 9am and 5pm. All
classes meet in 25UQ / 01 / 011. Consult QOL to sign up for a group.
Assessment:
Coursework:
Mid-term test (week 6)
Deadlines:
During (and instead of) the first lecture in week 6.
Examination:
2 hours
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School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy
Student Handbook
This module guide should be read in conjunction with the Undergraduate Student
Handbook which contains important details of School policies. A copy of the
Undergraduate Student Handbook can be obtained from the School Office (25
University Square) or downloaded from the resources section of any PAI or PHL module
on Queen’s Online.
MODULE DESCRIPTION
For our purposes, the study of logic is the study of argument. This module explores the
following questions:
• What counts as an argument?
• What makes one argument better than another?
• What do we mean by ‘better’ here?
• What’s special about the arguments that logicians study?
We use arguments to convince and persuade other people of things, but we could use other
methods to get the same results (like bribery or threats). Sometimes a good argument might
be less persuasive than a bad one that’s accompanied by violence or flirtation.
Logicians are less interested in:
• The presentation of arguments: whether they’re shouted out or wept over (this can be
‘oratory’ and ‘rhetoric’)
• The content of the arguments: whether they’re about jam rather than justice
They are more interested in:
• The structure of an argument
• The contribution that an argument’s structure makes to how good it is
On this module we’ll be learning some of the distinctive terminology and technical machinery
used by logicians – we’ll be introduced to concepts such as deduction, entailment, proof,
validity, logical force, quantification, and a lot more. The main technical component is
predicate logic, and the technical part of the module will involve translation of relevant
English sentences into symbolic notation, and vice versa, along with methods for assessing
the validity of candidate arguments so characterized. Applications of the formal machinery to
standard philosophical problems will be considered along the way.
MODULE AIMS:
The module aims
• to provide an introduction to fundamental logical notions such as validity and entailment
• to deliver an examination of the nature of critical thinking in argumentation
• to consider some treatments of elementary issues in the philosophy of logic
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LEARNING OUTCOMES:
On successful completion of this module, students will:
• acquire at least a limited ability to practice symbolic reasoning at the most basic level
together with a more discursive grasp of the basic notions of logic, and of standard
examples of fallacious reasoning;
• develop skills in analysis and communication;
• develop the ability to comprehend and some ability to formulate clear and extended
arguments.
SKILLS
This module will assist in developing students’ skills in a number of important areas. These
include:
Intellectual skills
•
Analytical Thinking: identify, understand, interpret and evaluate relevant subject-
•
Critical & Independent Thinking: ability to think critically and construct one’s own
specific arguments made by others; construct independent arguments
position in relation to existing and ongoing debates in the field
Professional and career development skills
•
Communication Skills: ability to communicate clearly with others, both orally and in
•
Teamwork: ability to work with others in a team, negotiate conflicts and recognize
•
Self-Reflexivity: ability to reflect on one’s own progress and identify and act upon
•
Time Management: ability to negotiate diverse and competing pressures; cope with
writing
different ways of learning
ones own development needs with respect to life-long learning and career
development
stress; and achieve a work / life balance
Technical and practical skills
•
Information Technology: demonstrate the knowledge and ability to use
contemporary and relevant ICT
Organizational skills
•
Demonstrate ability to use evidence to develop logical and clear arguments; show
aptitude for the effective use of information in a direct and appropriate way
Assessment
The assessment structure for this module is as follows:
Coursework: 30%
Examination: 60%
Tutorial Participation: 10%
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Aside from formal assessment, students will also be provided with preliminary feedback on
their progress in Week 3 of the course. Each week students will be completing problem sets
in preparation for their tutorials, which will be peer marked (a source of direct feedback
about each students’ ability to both complete the work and assess other students’ work). In
week 3 the problem sets will also be reviewed by the module convenor, as an additional
layer of feedback, as a guide to further learning.
1.
Attendance and Tutorial Participation
• Students must attend two lectures per week
• Students must attend one tutorial per week.
Past performance on logic modules convincingly demonstrates that attendance is an accurate
predictor of performance; students who show up to lectures and tutorials consistently
outperform students whose attendance is desultory. Since learning logic is an essentially
cumulative exercise (each week builds upon concepts and techniques acquired in the
previous weeks), it is essential that students maintain regular attendance and make direct
contact with the course convenor (Joe – j.morrison@qub.ac.uk) if they have been absent, to
make sure they don’t fall behind. The same is true for students who are attending but
struggling: contact j.morrison@qub.ac.uk as soon as possible.
Students receive a mark out of 10 for their participation and general contribution to tutorials
on all undergraduate modules excluding the dissertation, internship or project. ‘Attendance
and participation’ for this module does not mean simply being physically present in the room
where the tutorial takes place; there is designated problem set which needs to be completed
before each tutorial; students who turn up without having attempted to complete the
problem set (or without their attempted answers) will be considered as an absent/noncontributory participant. The participation mark will count as 10% of the overall mark for the
module. Marks will be awarded for individuals not groups. For further details, see the
School’s Undergraduate Student Handbook.
This module is worth 10 credits on the ECTS scale (equivalent to 20 Queen’s University CATS
points, Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme). This is calculated by the University as the
equivalent of 200 hours’ academic study over the course of the semester (12 ‘teaching’ weeks
plus the three week examination period). Students should therefore expect to spend on
average at least 13 hours each week undertaking academic study associated with this
module.
2.
Coursework Assignments
The coursework component worth 30% of the overall assessment is the class test, to be sat
during week 6. It will be discussed more during the module.
3.
Examination
An examination worth 60% of the overall assessment which will be of two hours’ duration.
IMPORTANT Notes regarding re-sit examinations:
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A) Re-sit examinations will take place in August 2014. Students should bear this in mind when
making work, holiday, or other plans for the summer period.
B) Re-sitting a failed examination for a capped module mark of 40: Where a student fails the
examination component of a module’s assessment requirements and is required to re-sit for
a capped module mark of 40, the student shall be required to complete a set of problems from
a previous year's examination paper.
Students are encouraged to submit the ‘re-sit’ paper as soon as possible, particularly for a
Semester 1 fail if a mark is to be processed by the Board of Examiners in June and assist
student progression. The latest date for submission of the paper if it is to be considered by
the Board of Examiners in June is the final day of the May-June examination period in which
the School Office is open, i.e. 12 noon Friday 6 June 2014. The absolute latest date for
resubmission of the paper if it is to be considered by the Board of Examiners following the
August re-sit examination period is 12 noon Friday 22 August 2014.
Conceptual Equivalents Marking Scale
The School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy uses the University’s conceptual
equivalent marking scheme for all undergraduate assessment. Individual pieces of work are
allocated a ‘discrete’ mark. For further information on the University’s conceptual equivalent
marking scheme and the marks used, see the School’s Undergraduate Student Handbook.
This is available from the School Office and will be posted on the resources page on QOL for
each module. This is University’s conceptual equivalent marking scale can also be accessed
on line at:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/AcademicStudentAffairs/FileStore/Filetoupload,53857,en.
pdf
Feedback
Students should note that feedback on their academic progress is available in a variety of
forms, not just in terms of written feedback on set assignments:
•
Students can approach course convenors and other teaching staff in their set Office Hours
(available from the School Office), or otherwise by appointment, to talk about
their academic progress, issues relevant to the course, or to discuss in more
detail the written feedback that they receive on set assignments.
•
Students should meet with their Personal Tutors to discuss their overall academic progress
at least once a semester. Bringing assignment marksheets to these meetings may
help in discussing ways of improving assignment performance and preparing for
exams.
•
The school is introducing a “feedback day” where staff will be available to discuss
assignments
The School is committed to return written feedback on set assignments to students within
three weeks of the deadline for submission of coursework.
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It is important that students who complete the class test receive feedback in a timely fashion
so that they can properly prepare for their exams. Students can therefore expect to receive
feedback on their class test within no later than three weeks of the assessment (this policy
does not apply to students who miss the class test). The module convenor will contact all
students advising them when marked hardcopies of their class tests are available to collect in
the Main Office, 25 University Square. If students have not received feedback within three
weeks of the deadline, they should contact their module convenor directly. Students who
wish to discuss their grade should do so with the convenor, email j.morrison@qub.ac.uk to
arrange an opportunity to talk about it.
School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy
Student Handbook
This module guide should be read in conjunction with the Undergraduate Student
Handbook which contains important details of School policies.
A copy of the Undergraduate Student Handbook can be obtained from the School Office
(25 University Square) or downloaded from the resources section of any PAI or PHL
module on Queen’s Online.
Plagiarism
The School takes a very severe line on students who plagiarise work.
Students who attempt to pass off another’s work as their own will receive a
mark of ZERO. In some cases, acts of plagiarism can result in the student
failing the entire degree. Remember, plagiarism includes information from
books, newspapers, journals and the Internet. All suspected cases of
plagiarism will be investigated in line with University procedures.
For details of University Regulations on Academic Offences, see:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/media/Media,408941,en.pdf.
The page also provides a link to guidance on how to identify and so avoid
plagiarism. Please also refer to the School’s Student Handbook Guide for
more information about referencing and plagiarism, as well as general
advice on essay-writing:
www.qub.ac.uk/pisp/FileStore/PDFfiles/Filetoupload,38127,en.pdf
Lecture Schedule
Logic lectures are being delivered by Roger Clarke (roger.clarke@qub.ac.uk), and he’s very happy
for you to get in touch with him to discuss the material, the course, or your work.
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Week
Topic
1 (3-7 Feb.)
Intro, Admin, Key notions (ch. 1)
2 (10–14 Feb.)
Truth-Functional Logic: Symbolisation (ch. 2)
3 (17-21 Feb.)
Truth Tables (ch. 3)
4 (24-28 Feb.)
First-Order Logic (ch. 4)
5 (3-7 March)
Revision: chs. 1-4
6 (10-14 March)
Class test | Interpretations (ch. 5)
7 (17–21 March)
Monday’s lecture is cancelled due to St Patrick’s Day.
Thursday’s is on Interpretations (ch. 5)
8 (24-28 March)
Natural Deduction for TFL (ch. 6)
9 (31 March-4 April)
Natural Deduction for FOL (ch. 7)
Easter Break
(7-25 April) No Lectures, Seminars or Tutorials
10 (28 April-2 May)
Revision: chs. 5-7
11 (5-9 May)
Monday’s lecture is cancelled due to 5th being a bank
holiday.
Thursday’s lecture is Summary & Exam Advice.
12 (12-16 May)
Reading Week – No Lectures
St Patrick’s Day: 17 March 2014
Reading Day: 18 March 2014
August re-sit examinations: Monday 11 August – Saturday 23 August 2014
Deadline for return of examination results: Tuesday 2 September 2014
Tutorial Schedule
Tutorials will be held once a week beginning the second week of the semester. You should
consult Queens online (https://learn.qol.qub.ac.uk/home/) to sign up for your tutorial
groups. You are advised to do this as soon as possible to be sure you sign up for a suitable
time. Once tutorial groups are full, students will be automatically blocked from signing up.
Tutorials are compulsory in the School, and tutorial participation (see below) counts for 10%
of your final grade. If you cannot attend a tutorial for legitimate reasons, you MUST contact
your tutor beforehand to explain your absence (contact either directly or through the School
Office). You must make every effort to acquire the class material if you are absent.
Logic tutorials are being delivered by Paddy McQueen (pmcqueen01@qub.ac.uk) and Joe
Morrison (j.morrison@qub.ac.uk); you should feel free to contact them to discuss your work,
your attendance, or anything else about the course in general.
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Week
Topic
1 (3-7 Feb.)
no tutorial
2 (10–14 Feb.)
problem set 1 (ch. 1)
3 (17-21 Feb.)
problem set 2 (ch. 2)
4 (24-28 Feb.)
problem set 3 (ch. 3)
5 (3-7 March)
problem set 4 (ch. 4)
6 (10-14 March)
problem set 5 (chs. 1-4)
7 (17–21 March)
no tutorial (St Patrick’s day clashes with the tutorials)
8 (24-28 March)
problem set 6 (ch. 5)
9 (31 March-4 April)
problem set 7 (ch. 6)
Easter Break
(7-25 April) No Lectures, Seminars or Tutorials
10 (28 April-2 May)
problem set 8 (ch. 7)
11 (5-9 May)
no tutorial (Monday’s bank holiday clashes with the tutorials)
12 (12-16 May)
problem set 9 (chs. 5-7) / exam revision advice.
St Patricks Day: 17 March 2014
Reading Day: 18 March 2014
August re-sit examinations: Monday 11 August – Saturday 23 August 2014
Deadline for return of examination results: Tuesday 2 September 2014
Tutorial Topics and Readings
The primary way to learn logic is to do it, which is to say: to attempt to translate English
sentences and arguments into formal languages, and to attempt to do proofs and other
operations using the techniques of formal logic. Sitting in lectures is only a small component
of what’s required; you must spend time outside of class trying to do it for yourself. [In the
same way that sitting in a lecture about how to ride a bike doesn’t help you that much in
acquiring the ability to ride bikes; you need to spend a lot more time actually practicing it for
yourself].
Each week the tutorial will be centred around a set of exercises that students must complete
and bring with them. The content of each set of exercises will be directly related to the
concepts and techniques covered in the preceding week’s lectures. See the note about
attendance and participation above. The problem sets will be distributed on the QOL pages
for this course.
The course textbook is a book called ‘For All x’ by P.D. Magnus, which was modified by T.
Button to serve as the textbook for his Logic class at Cambridge; we’ll be using Button’s
Cambridge version. It’s an open-access text, published with a Creative Commons license,
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which means that it’s free for you to download, print, and share. Paper copies of the text
will be on sale cheaply in the classes, purchase is mandatory.
There is also a solutions booklet for the exercises in the text, which you can find here:
http://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/tecb2/forallxsol.pdf BUT we strongly recommend that you refer to
a problem’s solution only once you are confident you have solved it. Working through the
problems on your own will be far more useful to you than looking up the answers.
Week 2 | Tutorial 1:
Required exercises: Problem set 1
Week 3 | Tutorial 2:
Required exercises: Problem set 2
Week 4 | Tutorial 3:
Required exercises: Problem set 3
Week 5 | Tutorial 4:
Required exercises: Problem set 4
Week 6 | Tutorial 5:
Required exercises: Problem set 5
Week 7 | No tutorial
Since one of week 6’s lectures was the class test, there are fewer new concepts /
techniques to prepare for a tutorial. In addition, St. Patrick’s day interferes with the
scheduling for tutorials this week.
Week 8 | Tutorial 6:
Required exercises: Problem set 6
Week 9 | Tutorial 7:
Required exercises: Problem set 7
Week 10 | Tutorial 8:
Required exercises: Problem set 8
Week 11 | No tutorial
Monday 5th is a bank holiday.
Week 12 | Tutorial 9:
Required exercises: Problem set 9.
Further reading
There are plenty of excellent textbooks which are good supplementary resources for
acquiring a grasp of introductory logic. A very brief and easy way in (and reasonable!), while
less of a textbook and more of an overview, is:
Joe Morrison – Logic: A Bullet Guide (Hodder Educational Press)
A bunch of good textbooks:
• Paul Tomassi – Logic (Routledge)
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• David Barker-Plummer, John Barwise, John Etchemendy – Language, Proof and Logic
•
•
•
•
(University of Chicago)
Bergman, Moor, Nelson – The Logic Book (McGraw Hill)
Graham Forbes – Modern Logic (OUP)
Samuel Guttenplan – Languages of Logic (Wiley)
Wilfred Hodges – Logic (2nd Edition, Penguin 2001)
Increasingly there are great free logic resources online. Here are some that are
recommended, a PopularSearchEngine search will bring them up.
• Russell Marcus – What Follows: A Logic and Philosophy Text
• Paul Teller – A Modern Formal Logic Primer (there are accompanying automatic proof–
checkers linked through the page at UC Davis)
• Zach Ernst – Free Logic Now!
• Howard Pospesel and David Marans – Arguments: Deductive Logic Exercises
• Katazhyna Papzhytska – Logic Self Taught.
• The University of Oxford share their intro to logic materials at
http://logic.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/ – note that they’re based on the Hodges textbook
above, so the pages are mostly only useful if you’ve got hold of a copy of that.
• A group in Amsterdam have openly shared a rather different, dynamic, but nonetheless
excellent text called Logic in Action: http://www.logicinaction.org/
• Similarly, David Velleman at NYU has an interestingly interactive ‘textbook’ called Blogic.
These texts are listed here so that you can find different (and complementary) ways for you
to get your head around the concepts that are involved in logic. Often enough, hearing
about the same idea in several different ways helps you to build up a more thorough
understanding of how that idea is supposed to work.
In addition, these text books have many exercises and examples to work through, so once
you’ve done your problem sets for the tutorial you can continue to practice the skills you’re
using on new cases. But be warned, not all of these textbooks use precisely the same
notation. For instances, sometimes the term ‘and’ is represented by ‘&’, and sometimes by
‘⋀ ’ – there are other differences in conventions as well. They’re insignificant differences (it’s
mostly like the difference between writing the letter A so that it looks like ‘a’ or so it looks
like ‘a’ – it could be confusing to someone who didn’t know that they’re precisely the same
letter, but they are, and the difference really doesn’t mean anything).
If you want to know more about the role that logic plays in philosophy, and about the
philosophical issues associated with logic, you could take a look at:
• Graham Priest – Logic: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford Very Short Introductions)
• Susan Haack – Philosophy of Logics (CUP)
A recent, readable, and slightly unorthodox book which looks at the history and (social)
development of logic is:
• Michael Shenefelt & Heidi White – If A Then B: How the World Discovered Logic
although note that no part of this course requires that you become at all familiar with the
history of logic. That’s a different thing altogether, just as learning the history and
development of high-jumping is very different from learning how to be a high-jumper. This
book is mentioned here just in case you are interested.
Student Experience Bursary
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Students wishing to purchase books using the Student Experience Bursary can do so using
their Student Card at the "Pop-Up" Blackwell’s bookstore which will be open at the Students’
Union during the first 10 weeks of the autumn semester and the first five weeks of the
spring semester. Students can also purchase books with the Student Experience Bursary by
using their Student Card at Blackwell’s online site which may be accessed through the
student portal.
Summary of Module Review (2012-13)
This year’s module is newly developed for 2013-14, and is being lead by entirely different
members of staff, using different texts, and with a different format for delivering and
assessing materials. So last year’s module review is largely irrelevant, apart from the
following insights:
1. Students who attend lectures and tutorials consistently pass logic modules, while
students with patchy attendance consistently fail. Attendance is a key predictor of
achievement.
2. Students who attend a lot and do the exercises report enjoying their newly acquired
abilities.
School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy
Student Handbook
This module guide should be read in conjunction with the Undergraduate Student
Handbook which contains important details of School policies.
A copy of the Undergraduate Student Handbook can be obtained from the School Office
(25 University Square) or downloaded from the resources section of any PAI or PHL
module on Queen’s Online.
Study Abroad
All students taking courses in the School of Politics, International Studies and
Philosophy have the opportunity to study abroad as part of their degree irrespective of
whether they are studying a language.
If you are taking a three-year degree in International Studies (single, major, joint),
Philosophy (single, major, joint), Politics (single, major, joint) or PPE then you can
apply to spend a semester abroad. Understanding the language at the host institution is
not a requirement as many of the places with which the School has exchange
arrangements hold their courses in English.
For more information, see:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofPoliticsInternationalStudiesandPhilosophy/Studyingatt
heSchool/Undergraduates/StudyAbroad/ or contact Dr Cillian McBride, the School’s Study
abroad coordinator (c.mcbride@qub.ac.uk).
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