Professor Brian Huss
huss@yorku.ca
Office Location:  S414 Ross Building
Phone Number:  (416) 736-2100 Ext. 33634
Office Hours:  By Appointment

Logic is the study of argument and proof, and it is basic to philosophy as well as many (all)  other disciplines.  This course attempts to teach you to recognize three important concepts that you will use in philosophy and in a lot of other work:  validity, equivalence consistency.

Here is an example of a deductively valid argument:

Either the Liberals will win, or the Communist Party of Canada will win.

The Liberals will not win.

Therefore, the Communist Part of Canada will win.

This argument is valid because of its structure, not because of the truth status of its premises or its conclusion.  The course will teach you to distinguish validity of an argument from the truth of its conclusion.  In this and other ways its goal to make you a better reader and a better debater.

Technical requirements for taking the course: The lectures for the course are only available on the eCourse website. In addition lecture notes are made available on the website as well.  There is a course kit that is the text for the course. There will be quizzes taken via eCourse.  Students must have a functioning computer with a good internet connection that enables them to watch videos and input text.  Microphone and camera are not required. However, tutorial meetings, tests and exams will be held in person on the Keele campus. Prof. Pelham is available for office hours and via email to help students with administrative or logic questions.

Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:

Student Guide to Moodle

Zoom@YorkU Best Practices 

Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide

Computing for Students Website

Student Guide to eLearning at York University

To determine Internet connection and speed, there are online tests, such as Speedtest, that can be run.]

Times and locations: Recorded lectures for this course are only available online. It is required that you listen to the lectures weekly.  There will also be quizzes you are required to take online. The Monday lecture time slot may be used for question and answer sessions. The tutorials will be held in person on Wednesdays and in-person attendance at tutorial is compulsory.  The tests will be held in person during the Monday lecture slot.

A course pack containing parts of The Logic Book (Second Edition) by Bergmann, Moor and Nelson will be made available through the York University bookstore.

This course attempts to teach you skills that center around the understanding and the use of logical concepts.  And while this does require some things be memorized, the course is attempting to teach you skills. You can only do well in this course by keeping up with the reading, lectures, and the problem solving. The skills you will be leaning are cumulative, that means learning one earlier skill will enable you to move on and acquire more complex skills.  For this reason in the study of logic, you are strongly urged to follow the roadmap schedule as the course goes on, and to regularly work to prepare the course problems and complete the assigned quizzes.

Tutorial Homework (completed): 10%

Weekly Quizzes: 20%

SL Test:  25%

SD Test: 20%

Final Exam : 25%

This course teaches skills which require regular practice and review.  To this end the tutorials are mandatory, and you will be asked to hand in homework, in tutorial, each week.  The lectures are pre-recorded and available on line for each week.  There will be in-person tests.

1. To recognize the logical structure of sentences in English. To make this very clear we translate the logical words of English into symbols, and practice doing such translations
2. To recognize the logical structure of deductive arguments in English, and to be able to recognize the validity of an argument as well as be able to construct a counter example to prove that it is logically invalid.  We also discuss when two sentences are logically equivalent, and  when two sentences are inconsistent.
3. To be able to construct proofs that demonstrate the logical validity of English arguments.

Course policies

Prof. Huss's Policy on make-up tests, missed homework

Tests

Tests are an inevitable part of the assessment of your logical ability.  And it is important for fairness that all students write the tests or exams at approximately the same time. But, people do become sick, and other unavoidable problems do arise.  Do not attempt to write a test or exam if you ill.  You will not perform well, and you may contribute to spreading illness. You may write a make-up if I approve your excuse. If a student misses a logic test, they should notify me (pelham at yorku) by email as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after the test.  If a student can provide documentation of their difficulty (doctor's note, for example), I will frequently allow them to write a make-up test. I try to schedule the make-up about 1 week after the original test, and to make it of similar difficulty to the original.  I only do one make-up test for all the students who were ill, not several different ones.

Final Exam

Similar considerations apply to the final exam, except that I do not invigilate the make-up exam myself. This means that if you provide me with the documentation showing you are/were not able to write on the exam date, you may write the make-up via the registrar's office with my permission. If you are ill or absent for the entire exam period you must petition for deferred standing via the Faculty of LAPS.

Homework/Attendance at Tutorial

If your tutorial leader assigns you homework, or you miss a tutorial, these may not be made up despite illness or any other reason for absence. Any homework assignments are structured so that each student is allowed to miss one or two tutorials in the course of the term. Attending the tutorials is an important part of the course, and if you do not attend, you forfeit the attendance part of the grade. For other questions consult your teaching assistant.

Grading

Your teaching assistant is also the person who grades your work, and they work as a team, with me, to ensure fair and reasonable grading for all the students.  If you have a question about why a certain question is awarded a certain grade, those questions are to be directed to your teaching assistant.  Tests and assignments are normally returned within about two weeks of a test, and you are encouraged to discuss your grade with your teaching assistant. I discuss the assignment of grades to individual students if and only if you have discussed the matter with your TA and you are unhappy with the result.  I do not promise to raise your grade, I may indeed lower it.