PHIL 125

PHIL 125: Practical Logic
Instructor: Chris Lepock

Course Description

PHIL 125 is an introduction to analyzing and evaluating arguments – what is variously called “practical logic” or “informal logic” or just “critical thinking”. The aim is for the student to be able to identify arguments, to recognize the conclusions being drawn and the reasons being offered, and to assess how strongly those reasons support the conclusions. Less formally, the aim is to help you think critically, to recognize confused thinking and cheap tricks. Then when someone tries to convince you of something, you can make a good judgment about whether to believe them.

So in this course you will learn to:

• disentangle what people actually say from what they imply or connote;
• identify the structure of an argument – what reasons are offered for the conclusion and how they work together to support it;
• evaluate the two main types of arguments, deductive and inductive;
• identify fallacies, or persuasive-looking errors in reasoning;
• identify signs of trustworthy and untrustworthy sources of information.

The Winter 2022 class will be in person and attendance is expected, but there will be measures in place so that students who are required to self-isolate can still keep up with the class.