A critical examination of basic assumptions about reality, knowledge, and values. An examination of formal methods for determining the validity of arguments and inferences. Topics include informal fallacies, as well as methods employing truth tables, truth trees, and natural deduction in both sentence logic and predicate logic. Topics include methods of understanding and evaluating deductive and inductive arguments, ways of detecting fallacious reasoning, and skills helpful in making practical judgments.
Emphasis is on enabling students to think more clearly and reason more precisely.
The course may be repeated for credit if the topic varies. The first half of the course deals with issues of moral truth and objectivity and introduces students to major approaches to moral decision-making including Utilitarianism and Kantian moral theory. The second half focuses on such moral issues as abortion, suicide, capital punishment, economic justice, affirmative action, war, and environmental degradation. The course may be repeated for credit if the topic varies. A critical examination of American thought from the colonial period to the present.