PHILOSOPHY 1020 – INTRODUCTION TO LOGIC (version 1.1) MWF 1:25-­‐2:15 Spring 2015 Dr. Kelly Smith 208 Hardin Hall 650-­‐1093 Cell 653-­‐7233 H* [email protected] *Feel free to call me 6:30 AM -­‐ 9:30 PM weekdays or 8:30 AM -­‐ 9:30 PM weekends Office Hours: MWF 12:45-­‐1:15 and 2:30-­‐3:00 or by appointment Texts: There are no texts in the textbook store for this course – students will be supplied with all required materials electronically. Clemson Thinks2: Clemson University has instituted a university wide initiative called Clemson Thinks2 where a number of faculty across the disciplines will teach intensive critical thinking courses to foster these skills. I have redesigned my logic course to be one of these classes. To be sure, logic has always been about getting students to think, but in a traditional logic course this is often fairly narrowly focused, with emphasis on the kind of formal reasoning skills like those in mathematics. I have thoroughly revamped this course to teach not only formal skills, but also a variety of informal techniques. The goal of this class is nothing less than to help you think better: more clearly, more critically, and in more depth. If it’s successful, it will be the most important class you ever take. In a world where anyone can access any factual information with a few keystrokes, it matters much more that you can think effectively than that you have memorized content. But even the best thinkers amongst you will quickly see weaknesses you didn’t even realize you had, and learn techniques to fill these gaps. You will know you have gotten your money’s worth when your family and friends refuse to argue with you anymore because you always win…J Undergraduate TA: There will be an undergraduate teaching assistant for this class -­‐ a senior Philosophy major who are very familiar with critical thinking. Their job is to help you – they are not involved in grading, so you don’t have to worry about what they think of you or anything like that. To be clear, you certainly do not have to use them and you can always come straight to me with whatever you wish. But I have found in the past that many students like being able to approach another student with their issues, so don’t be shy about using them to help. If you have a question that you are afraid to ask me or if you just can’t understand the way I explain something, I encourage you to reach out to your TA. WARNING: This class will be intense. In addition to the Socratic discussions, there will also be assignments to complete before every class, along with daily quizzes. So if you are looking for an easy class where you don’t have to be actively involved, you should drop now. Tentative Schedule of Classes W 1/7 What to expect in this class (and Monty Python too) I. Arguing about God F 1/9 The Argument by Design reading on blackboard Arrange for CT2 testing M 1/12 The Cosmological Argument W 1/14 The Moral Argument F 1/16 Russell’s Why I am not a Christian reading on blackboard Team debate topics distributed M 1/19 NO CLASS -­‐ MLK day W 1/21 The Ethics of Belief reading on blackboard II. Formal Logic F 1/23 Arguments, Enthymemes, Indicator words, standard form and validity Notes for the entire formal logic section are on blackboard Debate team preferences must be turned in by class time today M 1/25 Homework 2.1 and 2.2 W 1/27 Truth tables, the operators “not” & “and” F 1/29 The operators “or”, “Not Both”, “But Not Both” & “If, Then” Debate Teams assigned M 2/2 The operators “only if”, “unless” & “if and only if” W 2/4 Homework: Exercise 3.1 (Parts A-­‐C) F 2/6 Immediate Inferences IQ2 (debate podcast) analyses due M 2/9 Modus Ponens, 3 terms & affirming the consequent W 2/11 Modus Tollens, denying the antecedent & conditional F 2/13 Homework: Exercise 3.2 (all parts) M 2/16 Homework: Exercise 3.3 (Parts A and B) NOTE: I will not be in class for the next 3 meetings, but class will still meet W 2/18 Midterm Exam III. Informal Logic F 2/20 Teams meet to plot mass debate strategy (attendance mandatory) M 2/23 Teams meet to plot team debate strategy (attendance mandatory) W 2/25 Authorities about factual events F 2/27 Authorities about Public Attitudes NOTE: teams debating the first week need to start meeting next week Post fallacy handout M 3/2 Basic fallacies (study handout before class) reading on blackboard W 3/4 Fallacies in advertising (bring 1 example to class) F 3/6 Ordinary language fallacies M 3/9 Mass debate 1 Team debate strategy due today for the first debate teams W 3/11 Mass debate 2 F 3/13 Mass debate 3 3/16-­‐20 NO CLASS – SPRING BREAK M 3/23 Team Debate 1 W 3/25 Team Debate 2 F 3/27 Team Debate 3 M 3/30 Team Debate 4 W 4/1 Team Debate 5 F 4/3 Team Debate 6 M 4/6 Team Debate 7 W 4/8 Team Debate 8 F 4/10 Team Debate 9 M 4/13 Team Debate 10 NOTE: I will be out of town for the next two classes W 4/15 Something – maybe “Speed dating” PSA discussions? F 4/17 Something – maybe “Speed dating” PSA discussions? Arrange for CT2 testing M 4/20 Argument PSA presentations Argument PSA’s must be posted on class youtube channel by 6AM W 4/22 Argument PSA presentations F 4/24 Argument PSA presentations IMPORTANT NOTE: You should never take a class without first checking out the professor carefully. I recommend Rate My Professors: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com This is not a perfect rating by any means, but it’s often very valuable if you look for patterns over many comments. Grading: Midterm Exam 20% Class Participation 20% Mass Debates & Misc. assignments 20% Team Debate 20% PSA 20% I do not curve individual assignments, though I will occasionally curve the final grades, if necessary. Each class is different, but a typical distribution of final grades would be 20% A's, 40% B's, 30% C's, and 10% D's and/or F's. As a general rule, if you are good at logic and you work hard, you have a good shot at an A. If you meet only one of those requirements, you will likely get a B (those who at least try hard will usually receive at least a C, though not always). Class Participation: Class participation is fully 20% of your grade, and this can easily make that critical difference between the letter grade you want and the one you get, so don’t forget it. If you rarely talk in class and your participation grade is a 60%, for example, that will effectively remove 8 full points from your final grade in class, so the highst grade you could possibly get with that participation level is a 92! One common problem with participation is that, since students don’t see it in any tangible way, they tend to forget I am grading it. Rest assured, though: if you lose focus and forget about participation, your class grade will suffer, sometimes dramatically! If you ever want to know how you are doing with participation, you can ask me and I will give you an estimate of your grade to date. Another common confusion about participation is that someone who shows up all the time should get an A for participation. However, while it is true that you must show up to participate, you must keep in mind that participation means more than simply showing up -­‐ it means that you actually contribute in some form to class discussions on a regular basis. It is important that you take part in the class discussions whenever you can and in any way you can. For example, there's nothing wrong with pointing out that what we are discussing is stupid, bogus, impractical, wrongheaded or just plain weird (it may well be) -­‐ just don't be intimidated if I ask you WHY it's stupid, etc. If you learn nothing else in a Philosophy class, you must learn to think for yourself and then articulate and defend your views. Debates: You will all have some basic training in formal and informal logic by the time we start debating. Now you need to learn to apply those skills and this often means being able to think critically “on the fly”, as someone else is speaking. Debate is a fun if intense way of practicing these critical skills: 1) Listening carefully as people speak 2) Figuring out precisely what their arguments are 3) Seeing the weak spots in these arguments 4) Articulating counterarguments that target these weaknesses General Debate Rules: 1. For each debate day, there will be a general topic with a some background information and a specific resolution that everyone is expected to read and think about before the debate begins. Each teams will represent opposite positions on the resolution. For example, the resolution might be “Kelly is an awesome teacher” and one side would be arguing that this statement is true, while the other would have the unenviable job of arguing that it’s false…J 2. I am going to try a different, very simple, debate structure this semester. So the teams will take turns and each turn will last 1 minute. 3. During each one minute period, it’s up to the designated speaker to fill the 1 minute by saying something that will move the ball in a favorable direction for your team. 4. Brief consultations (no more than 30 seconds) with team members are allowed. 5. To make it interesting and even handed, we will have a bowl in front of each team and in the bowl will be pieces of paper with each team member’s name on it. When it’s a team’s turn, they will draw a name and that person is “up” for the next minute. 6. Once a name is drawn, it is set aside and another name is drawn when a team’s turn comes around again. This means that you will rarely know exactly when your name will come up but you do know that you will be forced to participate as often as your teammates. And this gives you a strong incentive to really pay attention, take notes, etc. 7. Once the bowl is empty, the names of all team members will be replaced and “shuffled” to start the cycle again. 8. Team members can consult while the other team is speaking but: a. You can not do this in an annoying or distracting fashion. b. Tactically, listening is as important as preparing your own points, so someone on your team must be paying attention to what the other team is saying at all times. 9. Any member of any team can assert a “Gotcha!” at any point. This is essentially an accusation that the other team has made one of the logical mistakes we have studied this semester (invalid argument, fallacy, booby trap). You will need to quickly make your case and then I as the judge will either sustain or overrule your claim. If the claim is sustained, 2 points will be transferred from the opposing team’s score that day to your team. However, if you claim is overruled, 1 point will be transferred from your team’s score to the opposing team. Each team will be allowed one free rejection – so you can make one false accusation without suffering for it. The idea is to make everyone really be on the lookout for these, both when they are speaking and when the other team is speaking. But you can hurt yourself by throwing around loose accusations, so you need to use good judgment when crying Gotcha! Mass Debate Rules As this process can be a bit intimidating at first, we will start with a series of 3 mass debates. Here are some specifics about how that will work: 1. All students will participate on each of the three mass debate days. 2. However, students will not know what topic side they will be on until class begins. So you will have to prepare by thinking about the resolution from both sides. 3. At the beginning of class, teams will be announced and the debate will continue for the entire class period. This will give everyone at least one chance to speak and roughly half of you will have two chances. Team Debate Rules 1. Teams of 3-­‐4 students each will be announced well in advance, allowing you time to prepare carefully. You are STRONGLY advised to meet several times with your team to plot strategy, and are encouraged to meet with your TA and/or instructor as well (and the sooner, the better). It’s important to note that the grading standards will be much higher for the team debates than with the mass debates. 2. For each team debate, there will be a podcast of an hour long debate amongst experts on the same topic provided in advance. a. Members of the teams discussing that topic will be required to prepare and turn in a preparatory analysis in advance (see instructions below). However, be aware that preparing the analysis is an absolute minimum of work -­‐ students really should do much more preparation than this. b. The podcast analysis is not a team effort – each individual member of the team is expected to do this entirely on their own. Part of the reason for this is to force each member to prepare some ideas before they get together for serious strategizing. c. Students not on one of that topics teams are required to listen to the podcast before the debate in class begins, but are not required to prepare an analysis, though they may do so for EC if they wish. 3. No later than one week before the debate (and preferably earlier), each team is required to turn in a team strategy plan (see instructions below). 4. The debate will last long enough for each member of each team to have had at least 3 opportunities to speak (20-­‐25 minutes). 5. Then members of the student audience will be given 3 minutes to write a single brief (no more than 2 sentence) question for either team, which they will turn in to the judge. Especially good questions will earn the questioner EC points, so the audience has an incentive to pay attention and think critically. 6. The judge will pick questions to pose to each team, alternating back and forth. Teams are now free to divide the response to these questions whoever they wish, though they will still only have 1 minute to reply to each question. Debate Preparatory Analysis The preparatory analysis is to be produced by each member of the team assigned to that topic INDIVIDUALLY – this part of the debate is not a group effort. The analysis must contain the following elements: 1. A brief outline of the main arguments made in the assigned podcast, in the order in which they occur (that is, don’t just chat in general about what came up, but rather say “Mr. X argued this, then Ms. Y said that.”). To do this properly, first make careful note as you are listening, noting the gist of each argument as it occurs. You will definitely need to pause the podcast often and will have to replay some parts to make sure you have it right. Don’t turn this unedited list in, however. Instead, once you have a complete list of the arguments, go back and clean it up by getting rid of minor arguments, repetitions and redundancies. 2. Don’t give each argument in great detail, but try to capture the essential principles employed in the main arguments. Generally speaking, most main arguments can be captured in a couple of sentences (a short paragraph at the most). Minor arguments (where someone says C as a way to support the second premise of a main argument, etc.) can probably be either ignored or folded into the way you present the main argument. Think of this as an “executive summary”. Your job is to show the basic structure of the arguments such that someone expert at critical thinking but who has not listened to the podcast could quickly see the strengths and weaknesses of both sides without having to wade through a lot of extraneous detail. Judging properly what is essential and what isn’t is an art you have to learn by practice – too little detail and it’s so vague as to be useless, but too much detail and the critical elements get lost. 3. Don’t feel obliged to put the arguments into the standard form we learned in formal logic unless you think this helps. Sometimes, you lose more trying to shove a complex argument into a simple form than you gain. On the other hand, it is sometimes very useful – as when you want to argue the argument is actually invalid. 4. Once you have completed the podcast analysis, you need to do some additional work on your own. The idea here is to give each member of the team something to bring to the table when the team first meets to talk strategy: a. You need to do some research on your topic and find one piece of factual evidence not presented in the podcast that would be useful to your team. b. You need to come up with at least one good argument not covered in the podcast supporting your team’s side of the resolution (more than one is nice, but I am more interested in quality than quantity). c. You need to come up with at least one good objection not discussed in the podcast to an argument the other side did make in the podcast (more than one is nice, but I am more interested in quality than quantity). Team Debate Strategy Plan No less than one week before your team debates in class (and preferably sooner), you need to turn in a team strategy plan. To do this well, the team needs to have had several meetings (physical or virtual), which means the team has to start preparing at least 2 weeks in advance of the debate. Two hours of team conversation, with an additional 2-­‐3 hours of preparation by each team member is probably an absolute minimum investment to avoid embarrassment. Remember: preparation is absolutely key to a good debate. If you prepare carefully, you will look great and make it look easy, but if you skimp on the preparation you can be in the uncomfortable position of watching as your team is taken apart, argument by argument, in front of the entire class. Trust me when I say you want to avoid this – it’s painful to watch and even more painful to experience. Your plan should include: 1. The 2-­‐4 main arguments your team plans to rely on. 2. The 2-­‐3 main arguments you expect the other team to rely on. 3. The 2 main objections you expect the other team to make against your main arguments. 4. The responses you will offer to the objections in 3 above. 5. The main objection you plan to use against your opponents argument (note: a great objection to an argument the opponent never uses is not so hot). 6. The basic response you expect your opponent to make to the objection in 5 above. 7. Some indication that you have thought through how you will work the presentation given the arguments you have and the random system for participation. 8. As with the preparatory analysis, the goal here is executive summary with just the right amount of detail. PSA Each student will have to prepare a Public Service Announcement about thinking critically. The exact content is up to you, though I strongly encourage you to ask others (your TA, instructor, friends and family) for ideas and feedback. During the last 3 days of class, we will watch and enjoy (or not) all the PSA’s that have been created. The basic requirements for the PSA’s are as follows: 1. They must all be videos capable of being uploaded to the class youtube channel. 2. They can be no more than 2 minutes long (but as short as you wish). 3. They need to convey some message about critical thinking to the general public. Please be aware that previous students say these projects always take a lot longer then you think. It’s easy to make a video quickly, but making a good video requires time to: a. Come up with a good idea and figure out how to put it together. If you wait until the last minute to think about this, you will likely be overwhelmed with end of semester stuff and do something lame. b. Film, edit, troubleshoot, etc: Nothing ever goes right on the first take (or even the second or third usually). 4. Your grade will be based on: a. Content: is there an important, non-­‐obvious message here? b. Engagement: No message is effective if it puts your audience to sleep. I warn you now: there is nothing worse than a boring powerpoint where you narrate slides with definitions off Wikipedia. c. Production quality. I don’t expect you to be able to use fancy editing software or produce professional quality audio. On the other hand, I do expect you to do a good job with the basic technology you all have access to. Anyone can make sure there is no annoying background noise, etc. Extra Credit: There will be opportunities to earn extra credit during the semester, particularly in connection with the CU Ethos project which I will explain in class. If you are serious about getting a particular grade in this class, you re strongly advised not to overlook EC. Here’s the deal: I believe that an important part of a university education involves taking advantage of all the intellectual and cultural things that go on at a major university outside of class. Therefore, whenever I hear of some event at Clemson that has intellectual or cultural significance (plays at the Brooks Center, speakers, poetry readings, etc.), I will tell everyone about it and they can attend for extra credit (if you hear about something that I have not announced, please let me know). One thing you can always do for EC is attend a martial arts practice. This semester, the hapkido club meets Tues and Thur 6:00-­‐7:30 and Sun 3:30-­‐5:00 in the Fike multipurpose room (that’s the room with the purple mats nar the racquetball courts on the first floor). Show up in loose clothes and you can earn EC while working out your frustrations by throwing me around. For all EC activities, here’s how I work it: you go to the event and pay attention (you don’t have to take notes or anything like that, just don’t fall asleep). Then, come see me sometime and I will give you a very short (usually one question) quiz about the event or maybe ask you to summarize your reaction, etc. You can also get a point or two for giving me information about some cool event that might be good for extra credit that I didn’t know about. EC POINTS ADJUSTMENT TO FINAL GRADE 0 none 1-­‐6 0.5 points added 7-­‐12 1.0 points added 13-­‐18 1.5 points added 19-­‐24 2.0 points added 25-­‐30 2.5 points added more than 30 3.0 points added Email: I send out a lot of announcements and material via email. Each student is therefore responsible for checking their email at least once every 48 hours. Attendance: Man, I HATED professors who took attendance when I was a student and swore I would never do so myself. Generally speaking, therefore, I will not take attendance. However, there are two important points to keep in mind. First, missing class will usually also mean missing a quiz and there are no makeups for quizzes, so your quiz grade will suffer if you make a habit of not coming to class. Second, if you miss class regularly it is extremely likely that you will not understand the material very well and thus will punt the next test. You are all (theoretically) adults, so if you decide to miss class for whatever reason, I won’t nag you about it. All I ask is that you accept the consequences of your decision to skip class without complaint. Waiting for the Prof: I’m supposed to tell you how long you should wait for me if I’m late. I figure your time is as valuable as mine, so I will try very hard to start and end each class exactly on time. If I’m sick or some such, I will email everyone as well as try to arrange an in-­‐class announcement of class cancellation. So here’s a logical statement about what you can do if I am late: (~C & F & ~O) à T Where: C = Kelly is in class F = The Tillman clock says it is 5 minutes past the time class is supposed to start O = Kelly is in his office T = You can all take off without penalty Late or missed assignments: You are all adults and, as adults, you are responsible for making sure that all assignments arrive at the beginning of class on the assigned day. If you wait until the last minute to do an assignment and are then frustrated by a down printer, hungover roommate, deranged pet, etc. I am not likely to be terribly sympathetic. Late assignments will be penalized one letter grade for each day (not class day) late. If you have a legitimate reason for missing an assignment or turning something in late, you need to talk to me about the circumstances WELL BEFORE the event in question. If you miss an assignment without a legitimate excuse, you will receive a grade of zero. Cheating and plagiarism: The following academic integrity policy is now in effect for Clemson University: “As members of the Clemson University community, we have inherited Thomas Green Clemson’s vision of this institution as a “high seminary of learning.” Fundamental to this vision is a mutual commitment to truthfulness, honor, and responsibility, without which we cannot earn the trust and respect of others. Furthermore, we recognize that academic dishonesty detracts from the value of a Clemson degree. Therefore, we shall not tolerate lying, cheating, or stealing in any I helped write this policy and I have served on the University committee which reviews cases of academic integrity, so it’s fair to say that I take these matters pretty seriously. Bottom line – if you cheat on any assignment or use material that is not your own (without acknowledgment) in a paper, you will (at least) receive a failing grade in this COURSE. I may also file formal charges against you which could result in your expulsion from Clemson. Enough said... The Powers That Be (me): Ok, DO NOT PANIC! This class is not as bad as it may sound. I just want to make sure that all class policies are crystal clear at the outset -­‐ it's only fair that you know what you are getting into. I am your employee (sorta, anyway) and you should not hesitate to come to me with questions, complaints, suggestions, etc. Please do not feel shy about talking to me or calling me at home -­‐ I don’t (usually) bite or anything. Just to give you an idea of what other students thought of past sections of this class, I’ve provided some typical comments from student evaluations: Positive: “A very valuable course!” “Humorous lectures with cool examples.” “Taught me to be more objective, argue and write better.” Negative: “Grading is too harsh (Hey, we’re not philosophy majors!)” “Too much difficult homework.” Mixed: “Prof seems like an AH at first, but is actually a nice guy.” “Not nearly as boring as I thought it would be!” So now you can’t say you didn’t know...