Logic is a study of reasoning--trying to distinguish good reasoning from bad. But that is only half of it. This course, like any other, is a social activity in which the students will work together both with their teacher and with their fellow classmates.
Studies show that after a mere ten years, students will have forgotten not only most of what they were taught in their various college courses, but even which courses they took. What they do remember (and remember well) is their teachers. From this perspective, the students do not take Introduction to Philosophy, Logic, Ethics..., but rather Teacher 101, Teacher 211, and so on. (In some ways, this can be rather scary.)
What should the members of this class remember ten years after it is over? (When they get together for their reunion?) Perhaps not much with regard to the specific content of the course. But because of the practice that they will have had in the course, they will become better thinkers, capable of making good, critical, and independent judgments. Moreover, they will remember having had good personal interactions.
UW Colleges Catalog Course Description for PHI 211: Elementary Logic - 3 credits. Principles, standards and methods of distinguishing good reasoning from bad, as applied to deductive and inductive inferences. The course largely consists of substituting symbols for statements in arguments and understanding and assessing the logical structure of these arguments. May include a discussion of the nature and detection of fallacies and linguistic pitfalls affecting reasoning. This course fulfills the UWC requirement for Mathematical Sciences (MS).
The first half of the class will cover deductive logic. The second half will concentrate upon inductive reasoning (such as probabilty and statistical reasoning).
Successful completion of this course will enhance students' ability to
The most current edition of MS Office (containing MS Word, PowerPoint and other valuable programs) is available to University of Wisconsin students at discounted prices through the Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog.
Some course readings are delivered as Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) files. To access the PDF files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. It is free and freely distributed software that lets you view and print Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, please download it by visiting http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
Troy Kozma
