Professor J. Pelham

pelham@yorku.ca

Office Location:  S440 Ross

Phone Number:  (416) 736-2100 Ext. 44721

Office Hours:  Wednesday & Thursday 10:00 – 11:00

Logic is the study of arguments, and this course is an introduction to the basics of what makes deductive arguments correct.  Students learn to analyze arguments involving “not,” “and,” “all” and other logical words, and to apply reasoning rules of a symbolic system to reasoning in natural language.

Course Pack using the second edition of The Logic Book, by Merrie Bergman, James Moore, Jack Nelson

Tutorial participation and homework: 12%

Vanier Peer Mentor Program: 3%

First Test:  15%

Second Test: 20%

Final Exam: 50%

This course has a lecture-tutorial format. Prof Pelham teaches and works on sample problems during the Monday lecture.  Students will be asked to do homework, and attend tutorial each Wednesday. In tutorial, the teaching assistant reviews homework questions and discusses logic problems individually or in groups.

In this course students will learn:

1. To distinguish different types of reasoning, in particular to distinguish deductive from inductive reasoning and learn some common errors in reasoning.
2. To assess deductive arguments containing the logical words “and,” “not,” “if-then,” “all,” and “some” as valid (good) or invalid (bad).
3.  To identify the basic elements of English sentences, subject and predicate, modifiers, and connectives. This goes along with understanding English sentences in their logical form.  This is a very useful part of reading comprehension.
4. To understand the logical connectives in terms of their truth possibilities.  To understand the relationship between truth and possible truth.
5. To gain the ability to construct simple and more complex proofs in a logical and English setting.