Instructor: Dr. David Beisecker

Office: FDH 526

Phone: 895-4038 (office)

Office Hrs: MWF 1:30 – 2:30 (and by appt.)

E-Mail: beiseckd@unlv.nevada.edu

Website: www.scsv.nevada.edu/~beiseckd

Course Objective: We are bombarded every day with requests, arguments, and exhortations to believe all kinds of things. Determining whether you have sufficient reasons for accepting a belief is often difficult. In this course, you should learn a number of methods, techniques, and precautions that ought to help you draw the most reasonable conclusions that you can.

The course has three parts. The first covers the components of arguments (concepts, definitions, propositions, premises, conclusions) and how they work together. The second and third parts are devoted to acquiring the reasoning skills required to recognize, evaluate and construct deductive and inductive arguments respectively.

Required Texts: Kelley, The Art of Reasoning, 3^rd ed. (AR)

The text should be available at the University Bookstore. Acquire it ASAP!

Course Requirements: There will be 2 (in class) exams, each comprising 20% of your final grade, and a final worth 40%. You must take all the exams to pass the course! The remaining 20% will be split between homework, attendance, and general deportment (10%, 5%, and 5% respectively). You will be graded on the standard numerical scale (90-100%=A, 80-90%=B, etc.), which means that you should not expect a curve. As with any course, borderline cases will be decided at the whim of the instructor.

Learning and Enhancement Services (LES) houses Disability Services, Tutoring Services, and Learning Strategies. If you have a documented disability that requires assistance, you will need to contact LES for coordination in your academic accommodations. LES is located in the Reynolds Services Complex, suite 137. The DRC phone number is 895-0866 or TDD 895-0652. You may also visit their website at http://www.unlv.edu/studentlife/les.

Homework: You can't learn to think critically by sitting passively in a classroom or simply by reading a book. You have to apply yourself to problems (practice, practice, practice!). There are many exercises at the end of each chapter, and you should do as many of these as you can. That's why I'll be barraging you with homework assignments each week, due on (and only on!) the following Monday. Since these are meant not as tests, but as learning experiences, they won't be given letter grades. Seriously undertaking all of the exercises (and I will be the judge of that!) will guarantee you full credit for each assignment. A tentative schedule of homework assignments is on the following page.

Management (that's me) also reserves the right to throw "pop" quizzes on days for which exams are not scheduled covering material from that class session or the one before. They're meant mostly to see whether you're grasping the current lecture material, and in any event, won't count for more than 10% of your total grade.

Extra-Credit: On occasion, I might hand out more involved assignments and logical puzzles for extra-credit. You do not have to solve any of these problems, but if you do, it will increase your final numerical grade by up to 1% each.

Caution!!: As many past students will attest, this is a challenging course. It demands that you develop certain reasoning skills rather than retain a storehouse of information. This means that it is tremendously difficult to catch up once you’ve fallen behind. You cannot put off preparing for exams until the last minute and expect to pass this course! Many have tried, … and many have failed.

1 (Jan 21, 23): "Food For Thought"

AR, chapter 1

2 (Jan 26 – Jan 30): p. 157; A(2,5,8,11,14,17,20),

AR, chapter 6 C(2,5,8,11,14,17,20)

3 (Feb 2 – Feb 6): p. 116; A(2,5,8,11), B(2,5,8,11), C(2,5,8) AR, chapter 5 D(2,5)

4 (Feb 9 – Feb 13): p. 186; A(2,5,8), B(1,4), C(1,4)

5 (Feb 18, 20): "Tortoise in Trouble"

7 (Mar 1 – Mar 5): p. 295; A(2,5,8,11), B(2,5,8,11,15)

AR, chapter 10 D(2,5,8,11)

8 (Mar 8 – Mar 12): p. 227; A(2,5,8, 10), B(2,5,8), E(3-8)

AR, chapter 8 G(2,5,8), H(2,3)

9 (Mar 15 - Mar 19): p. 272; A(2,5,8,11), B(2,5,8,11)

AR, chapter 9 F(2,5,8, 11, 14)

10 (Mar 22 – Mar 26): p. 323; A(2,5,8), C(3,6,9,12,15)

AR, chapter 11 D(2,5), F(2,5)

11 (Mar 31, Apr 2) p. 478; A(1,4,7), B(2,5)

AR, chapter 15 D(1,4,7,9,12,15,19)

12 (Apr 12 – Apr 16): p. 499; A(2,5), B(2,5,8,11,14)

AR, chapter 16

13 (Apr 19 – Apr 23): p. 538; A(2,5,8), B(2,5), C(2,5,8,11)

AR, chapter 17 D(2,5,8)

14 (Apr 26 – Apr 30): p. 574; A(2,5,8), B(2,3), C(2,3), D(2,5)

AR, chapter 18

15 (May 3 - May 7): FREE PASS!

Review