PHI-1013-700: Logic

Course Information

Studies effective thinking using language-oriented logic. Provides tools and develops skills for creative and critical thinking. Emphasizes the development of decision-making and problem-solving. This is a statewide Guaranteed Transfer course in the GT-AH3 category.

For details on Parts of Term, please visit: Parts of Term.

Instructor Information

Course flow:

Logic is more mathematical than anything else in philosophy, and it’s more philosophical than anything else in mathematics. This course is designed to hone your critical thinking skills and it requires earnest effort to do so. We go from propositional, to quantified, to probability theory. Each provides an additional, more fine-grained way to analyze the relationship between evidence and conclusions.

Required Text/Course Materials/Technology

• All materials are available (for free) in D2L.

Course Calendar

The professor has the right to adjust the content and structure of the course.

Course Specific Policies and Information

Attendance

Regular participation in all course activities is critical for academic success. Please review the College Non-Attendance Policy.

Students establish attendance in online and real-time remote courses by completing an academic activity based on course content. As defined by the Federal Department of Education, merely logging into the course site or introducing oneself to the class does not count as attendance. Some examples of successfully attending class include participation in a content-related discussion in the D2L discussion board or in WebEx/Zoom, taking a quiz, submitting an assignment, or contacting your instructor with a content related question. Students who have not participated by 11:59 PM on the deadline date will be dropped. Similarly, the last date of academic attendance must be reported to Financial Aid for students who do not earn a D or better; students who have not been in regular attendance may experience financial aid ramifications.

To establish attendance in this class, you must complete the human proof assignment described below.

Course Assignments

Your grade is made up of the following categories:

Human Proof - The first assignment is an unfortunate necessity today, but gives us a chance to have some fun. Given the rise of fraudulent (LLM backed) students, it’s important that we can weed out anyone here that doesn’t have a beating heart. For any of us to get something out of this class, we need to be able to trust we’re actually having legitimate conversations and we’re not merely wasting our time with bots. For that reason, the first assignment requires that you prove you are a human. To be clear, this assignment is ridiculously easy, if you are in fact a human. Details are in D2L. This assignment is not graded, but it is required: it must be completed before any other assignment, and it is how you establish attendance in this course.

Quizzes - There are quizzes for every topic we cover, all of which are on D2L. Each week’s quiz is due at the end of that week. This is meant to keep you engaged with the material as we move through the course. Because each topic builds on the one before it, staying current matters more here than in most courses. If you wait till the deadline and some issue arises, you will very likely not get a mass extension on all of the quizzes.

You have multiple attempts on each quiz specifically so that you can come ask questions when you need help finding an answer. If you do have trouble, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Final Exam - The final exam is held in D2L. It covers all of the topics from the semester.

Late work policies

I grant at most one extension for an assignment, and generally speaking I do not grant mass extensions. That means if you miss submitting several weekly quizzes, then I will likely only grant an extension on one.

Each extension is contingent on being professional. As college students, you should recognize yourselves as professional students. (Anything less, and you’re not fully appreciating the level of investment you’re making.) That means I expect you to communicate timely, clearly, and respectfully. In addition, it means you have realistic standards for yourself and your instructors. I will work with you on extensions so long as you are professional in your requests and expectations. Here’s an example of a bad email:

“hey I missed Thursday three weeks ago”

Can you spot all of the errors? The recipient isn’t addressed. There is no signature. It is not clear which class or section the student is in. The first letter isn’t capitalized, and there’s no punctuation. These are all issues that might seem small but show a lack of attention to detail and likewise a lack of respect for the recipient. Worst of all, there is no actual question. It is just a statement, meaning it is asking the recipient (i.e. the instructor) to figure out what you need and what you’re looking for. Finally, this email is way too late. If you (expect to) miss a deadline, you need to handle it as soon as possible. Here is a better approach:

“Dear Dr. Conte, I hope this finds you well. I am in your PHI-1013-700 class. You may have noticed I was unable to submit the Proofs Pt. 2 quiz by the deadline at the end of the week of October 26. If possible, I would sincerely appreciate an extension to submit the quiz for full or partial credit until the following Wednesday (Nov 4). I understand that it is my responsibility to complete assignments by the due date and there is no guarantee that I get an extension. Thank you for your consideration and have a great day! Billy Pilgrim S0123456789”

Plagiarism and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Plagiarism. If you are having difficulty with a paper or MLA citations, please communicate with me. I’ll be glad to work with you. Plagiarism, in my view, is something students resort to when they feel desperate. If you are behind, not sure you understand the assignment, are struggling with the assignment, don’t understand how the MLA citation system works, or a similar situation, please get in touch with me. We will work one-on-one to get you back on track. This is a much better solution than turning in work which is not yours. Many students don’t always realize that in academic communities, plagiarism is a serious offense, and is grounds for failing an assignment or course and/or disciplinary action. Plagiarism means copying passages directly from the text of any source, without quotation marks and citations, or not citing summarized or paraphrased information. The written work you submit must be original: written entirely by you alone and not previously submitted in another class. All quotations, summaries and paraphrases (restatements of others’ ideas) need to be cited within your paper. No credit will be given for plagiarized papers and/or assignments. Students who plagiarize will be referred to the Provost.

Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Imagine asking someone, “Hey, I’m hungry. Could you go eat lunch for me?”. You’re not asking if they’ll bring you lunch. You’re asking that they will eat lunch and in doing so satisfy your hunger. Absurd, right? Someone else eating doesn’t do anything for your empty stomach.

Now imagine doing the same for learning. “Hey, I’d like to learn how to swim. Could you learn how for me?” If the only thing that happens is your friend learns how to swim, you should still steer clear of the deep end.

There are some things that cannot be done for you. Learning is one of these things. Your use of external resources -whatever they are- should always be done in service of your learning, helping you master the material and skills better.

Completing assignments with regurgitated LLM responses will not lead to you learning (nor passing).

Other Policies

The professor reserves the right to change this syllabus (and course) at any time.

Grade Scale

Point Distribution

This course is weighted by category rather than by a fixed point total. Your overall grade is the weighted average of the categories listed under Course Assignments above: Quizzes (85%) and the Final Exam (15%). The Human Proof assignment is required but ungraded. Individual assignment point values are shown in D2L, and the D2L gradebook is configured to match these weights.

Institutional Outcomes

Graduates of the Community College of Denver are prepared to be successful on a personal, professional, and global level. For a full description of these institutional outcomes please see Institutional Policies module on this courses D2L shell.

In this class we will focus on:

Effective Communication: Students will communicate a central guiding idea to a defined audience, for a concrete purpose, employing effective conventions in the service of meaning.

Critical Thinking: Students will analyze information and ideas from multiple perspectives and articulate an argument or opinion or a conclusion based on that analysis

Intercultural Literacy: Students will apply a set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills to effectively interact in a variety of cultural contexts.

Standard Competencies/Outcomes

1. Identify deductive and inductive arguments.
2. Analyze deductive and inductive arguments.
3. Evaluate deductive and inductive arguments.
4. Identify categorical logic.
5. Analyze categorical logic.
6. Evaluate categorical logic.
7. Identify propositional logic.
8. Analyze propositional logic.
9. Evaluate propositional logic.
10. Identify formal and informal fallacies.
11. Examine formal and informal fallacies.
12. Apply principles of logic to practical problem solving and decision-making.

Topical Outline

1. Basic logical concepts
   1. Arguments
   2. Recognizing arguments
   3. Deduction
   4. Induction
   5. Evaluating arguments
2. Deduction
   1. Categorical statements
   2. Categorical arguments
   3. Symbols and translation
   4. Propositional arguments
3. Induction
   1. Analogy and moral reasoning
4. Fallacies
   1. Formal fallacies
   2. Informal fallacies