PHIL 124

Logic and Critical Thinking (3 CR)

This course is an inquiry into techniques of persuasion and the standards for interpretation and assessment that are the basis for critical thinking. Argumentative and non-argumentative forms of persuasion are examined, including propaganda, exaggeration, stereotyping, slanted news and common fallacies. In addition, the course offers standards for evidential warrants based on samples, probabilities and causal claims. Relations between categorical propositions and Venn diagrams are examined and, finally, the course suggests strategies for fresh attacks on conceptual problems. 3 hrs./wk.