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Course Description

Everyone is trying to convince us of something: companies try to convince us to buy their products; politicians try to convince us to support them; or, our friends try to convince us to go out instead of studying. The primary means by which these attempts at persuasion are carried out is through arguments—a series of premises used to convince you to accept a conclusion. This course is designed to improve your ability to spot, assess, and respond to arguments, and to create strong arguments of your own. You will learn the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning, and the unique methods of dealing with them. You will learn how to recognize logical fallacies and will be able to avoid them in your own writing. Finally, you will learn about cognitive biases and how they are used to exploit our reasoning.

Course Texts

1. Hughes, William and Lavery, Jonathan. Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Basic Skills (Concise Edition).  Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2016. (Required)
2. Readings on electronic reserve. (Required)

Course Requirements

Requirement	Description	Weight	Date
Short Project	A short project designed to test your competency with the material from Unit One.	15%	Week 06
Midterm	One cumulative midterm to test your competency with the material from Units One and Two.	20%	Week 10
Long Project	A cumulative project designed to test your competency with the course material, especially Units Two and Three.	25%	Week 14
Seminar Participation	Assessed by your TA on the quality and quantity of participation.	10%
Final Examination	One sit-down cumulative examination.	30%	See Registrar

Tentative Schedule

Week	Topic	Readings
1	“The First Steps”	Mon	Syllabus.
		Weds	CT: 1.1 to 1.4, 1.6.
2	“Statements and Definitions”	Mon	CT: 2.3.
		Weds	CT: 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13.
3	“Clarifying Statements”	Mon	CT: 3.1, 3.2.
		Weds	CT: 3.4, 3.6, 3.7.
4	“Necessary and Sufficient Conditions”	Mon	CT: 3.8, 3.9.
		Weds	CT: 3.8, 3.9.
5	“Standard Form”	Mon	CT: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.
		Weds	CT: 4.8.
6	Winter Break	Mon
		Weds
7	“Good Arguments: Acceptability”	Mon	CT: 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.6.
		Weds	CT: 6.7, 6.8.
8	“Good Arguments: Relevance”	Mon	CT: 7.1 to 7.3.
		Weds	CT: 7.4, 7.5.
9	“Good Arguments: Adequacy”	Mon	CT: 8.1 to 8.3
		Weds	CT: 8.4 to 8.6.
10	“Deductive Reasoning”	Mon	Midterm; no readings.
		Weds	CT: 9.1, 9.2.
11	“Inductive Reasoning”	Mon	CT: 9.3 to 9.5
		Weds	CT: 10.1 to 10.4
12	“Rhetoric and Persuasion”	Mon	CT: 12.1 to 12.6.
		Weds	CT: 12.7 to 12.11.
13	“Cognitive Biases”	Mon	On electronic reserve.
		Weds	On electronic reserve.

Legend
Unit One: Clarifying Ideas	Unit Two: Strengthening Arguments	Unit Three: Reason and Anti-Reason
CT: Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Basic Skills. Italicized numbers indicate a recommended self-test.