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!