Sharyn Clough: OSU Course Outlines

Philosophy 101, Critical Thinking

Instructor: Dr. S. Clough
Office ph: 541-737-9801
Office: 102 B Hovland Hall
http://oregonstate.edu/~cloughs
Email: sharyn.clough@oregonstate.edu

Course Description and Goals:

If you don’t yet find yourself employing critical thinking tools with any regularity, then this course will ruin your life. Never again will you be able to sit passively watching your favourite tv shows and movies. Arguments are everywhere, in physics textbooks, of course, but also in politicians’ speeches, and even on The Simpsons (especially on The Simpsons). By the time you finish this course you will be able to recognize arguments, no matter how well the premises and conclusions are hidden, and evaluate them. Even if you don’t always know whether the evidence brought to support a particular conclusion is true, you can evaluate whether the premises that support the conclusion seem relevant and consistent.

Required Texts:

Trudy Govier, 2001,  A Practical Study of Argument (5th edition).
Students will also have on-line access to the course syllabus and lecture schedule, some of the lecture notes and power point slides, as well as student grades, by logging in at http://my.oregonstate.edu,  and selecting “Phl 101 Critical Thinking.”

Course Requirements:

*4 Quizzes, 15% ea. Total points: 60
*4 Homework assignments, 5% ea. all or nothing. Total points: 20
*4 In-class projects, 5% ea. all or nothing. Total points: 20

Other Important Stuff:

*Do not fall behind and do not let something you don’t understand go by. Ask questions, do all homework, attend regularly.  Always be kind to animals.
*If you miss a quiz or homework then you will need a very good excuse, i.e., your absence must have been beyond your control (examples of good excuses include acts of god and children’s dental emergencies. Conflicts with employment do not count as good excuses).  If your absence was within your control, I will not take it personally, I promise, but you’ll get a zero on that quiz or assignment.
*If you have a disability that makes some part of your experience in this class unnecessarily difficult for you, please document it with student services and contact me within the first two weeks of class. We’ll see what accommodations we can work out.

Reading and Discussion Schedule:

The schedule is subject to change, so please stay in touch.  You are responsible for knowing about any changes announced on days you were absent.  Email me if you have a question.  All quizzes are cumulative.

Week One:
Outline of readings and assignments, begin discussing Ch. 1 (What is an argument?); No homework due.
Continue discussing Ch. 1; No homework due.

Week Two:
Discuss Ch. 2 (Argument structure); No homework due.
Discuss Ch. 3 (When is an argument a good one?); Homework due.

Week Three:
Continue discussing Ch. 3; Review for quiz #1; No homework due.
Quiz #1 (on Chs. 1, 2, and 3)

Week Four:
Discuss Ch. 5 (Premises: What to accept and why); No homework due.
Continue discussing Ch. 5; Homework due.

Week Five:
Discuss Ch. 6 (Working on relevance); Review for quiz #2; No homework.
Quiz #2 (on Ch. 5 and parts of Ch. 6); No homework due.

Week Six:
Continue discussing Ch. 6; No homework due.
Discuss Ch. 9 (An Intro to Inductive Arguments); Homework due.

Week Seven:
Discuss Ch. 10 (Analogies: Reasoning from case to case).
No class ? Check Blackboard version of the course schedule for exact cancellation dates.

Week Eight:
Review for quiz #3; No homework due.
Quiz #3 (on parts of Ch. 6, as well as Chs. 9 and 10); No homework.

Week Nine:
Discuss Ch. 7 (Deductions: Categorical logic); No homework due.
Continue Ch. 7, & discuss Ch. 8 (Deductively valid arguments); Homework due.

Week Ten:
Continue discussing Ch. 8; Review for quiz #4; No homework due.
Quiz #4 (on Ch. 7 and parts of Ch. 8).  There will be no final exam.