Phil 101: Logic, Reasoning and Persuasion
Rutgers University, Summer 2010, Section B6
Time:
6:00pm-10:20pm, M W
Place:
Frelinghuysen Hall 205, College Ave Campus
Website:
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/∼wbstarr/teaching/phil101 (Sakai)
Instructor:
William Starr
Email:
wstarr@philosophy.rutgers.edu
Office:
3 Seminary Place, Office 317; map
Office Hours:
Wednesdays 2-4pm & By Appointment
Course Description
This course is designed to teach you to be better at recognizing, identifying, analyzing, and
constructing arguments. To put it more succinctly: the goal of this class is to make you a critical
thinker. The first half of the class will be dedicated to understanding what exactly a rational
argument is and identifying many of the things that go wrong when people attempt to write
and evaluate arguments. In the second half of the class four important kinds of reasoning will
be examined in detail: deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, causal reasoning and evaluative
reasoning. Throughout, the course will focus on criticizing and writing actual arguments drawn
from the news, legal writings and classic literature.
Textbook
Critical Thinking, 9th Edition by Brooke Noel Moore & Richard Parker (Moore & Parker 2009)
• The text has a webpage with many helpful resources: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/
sites/0073386677/student_view0/index.html
• The text is available at NJ Books. Beware: you must get the 9th edition!
Grading
• 50%: 2 Exams (Midterm: 20%, Final 30%)
• 40%: 5 Homework Assignments
• 10%: Class Participation
◦ We will do in-class pop quizzes and group exercises. Pop quizzes will be graded and with
the group exercises I will randomly call on students to present their group’s solution. If
you aren’t here when I call your name, you loose the participation points for that day.
To excuse such an absence, you are required to get a Dean’s note.
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Schedule
Date
Homework Exercises
Reading
Topics
Week 1
06.02
Critical Thinking Basics
HW1 Out
1-22
Introduction, Basics
Week 2
06.07
Arguments, Clarity, Credibility
HW2 In, HW3 Out
06.09
41-55, 71-5
Arguments, Vagueness
75-93, 105-135
Ambiguity, Credibility
Week 3
Rhetoric, Fallacies
06.14
06.16
HW3 In, MT Out
147-69, 183-200
Persuasion, Fallacies
211-29
More Fallacies
Week 4
06.21
Deduction
MT In, HW4 Out
06.23
254-86
Deduction I
297-338
Deduction II
Week 5
06.28
Induction, Causation
HW4 In, HW5 Out
06.30
346-73
Induction
385-413
Causation
Week 6
07.05
07.07
Evaluative Reasoning
HW5 In
436-69
Ethics, Law & Aesthetics
None
Final Exam
Note: MT abbreviates Take-Home Midterm
Website
There is a Sakai site for this course. It will be tremendously helpful for you to check it regularly.
I will post lecture slides, homework assignments and other announcements on the website. The
chat room and discussion board can be used to post questions about the readings, assignments
or lectures. (Sakai: https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal)
Homework
Homework assignments will be given out in accord with the schedule above. To avoid unnecessary
paper waste, you will be asked to type your assignments and submit e-copies through your drop
box on Sakai. This means that you must submit these assignments before coming to class. You
are free to work with your fellow students on the assignments. In particular, you can use the Sakai
chat room to discuss any difficulties or puzzles you may encounter while doing your homework.
Each assignment is worth 100 points and consists of 3-5 exercises, each worth 20 points. Partial
credit is given. The following is a rough break down of how the homework is graded:
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Homework Grading Scale
• A:
◦ 100-95: 0-1 minor errors
◦ 94-90: 1-2 minor errors
• B+:
◦ 89-85: 3-4 minor errors
• B:
◦ 84-80: 5-6 minor errors or 1 major error
• C+:
◦ 79-75: 6-7 minor errors or 1 major & 1-2 minor errors
• C:
◦ 74-70: 8-9 minor errors or 1 major & 3-4 minor errors
• D:
◦ 69-60: 10-11 minor errors or 2 major errors
• F:
◦ 59-0: 12-13 minor errors or 3 major errors
There is clearly a bit of art to classifying mistakes as major or minor, and even to counting mistakes for that matter. If you disagree with or are confused about the grade on your assignments,
you are welcome to discuss them with me during office hours.
As for late homework, here is the official policy.
Late Homework Policy
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•
•
•
With a dean’s note, you can turn in homework late without being penalized
1-3 Days Late: 10 point penalty (i.e. one letter grade)
4-6 Days Late: 20 point penalty (i.e. two letter grades)
And so on, with 10 points every 3 days
Exams
The Midterm will be a take-home exam that will be given out on 06.16 and due in class on 06.21.
The Final Exam will be taken on the last day of class.
If you miss an exam you will need a Dean’s note to make it up.
References
Moore, B. N. & Parker, R. (2009). Critical Thinking. New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill, 9th edn.
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