Logic is the study of proper reasoning. For that reason, this course is relevant to every human endeavor. This introduction will develop facility with reasoning, which will greatly enhance the student’s confidence in both intellectual and practical pursuits.

The beginning student will be introduced to the basic concepts of reasoning and will develop techniques for evaluating reasoning as it is encountered in ordinary language and discourse. We will aim to make our use of language more precise, to recognize the formal structures which underlie valid inferences, and to recognize the most commonly committed fallacies and mistakes in reasoning. The course includes deductive inference, analogy and simple causal reasoning, reasoning to support theory with observation in the sciences, and the pragmatics of language. More specifically, the course content is as follows:

• 5% language and the world
• 5% non-deductive logic
• 10% basic logical concepts
• 10% fallacies
• 40% truth-functional logic
• 5% pragmatics
• 20% syllogistic logic
• 5% truth and rationality
  

Prerequisite: PHIL 110 GE: Introduction to Philosophy. Note: this course is followed by PHIL 321: Logic II

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

East Stroudsburg University demands academic integrity from its students. Any form of academic dishonesty, including (but not limited to) plagiarism or cheating at tests or exams, is a sufficient ground for failure in this course and for further academic discipline.