University of Lethbridge Craig W.

Fox PhD
Spring 2024 craig.fox@uleth.ca
University Hall A812G

Logic 1000 Critical Thinking

Course Outline

Description:
Since the time of the ancients, philosophers have been concerned with pressing
questions such as: What is true? What is right? And what is beauty? Perhaps the
most important question of all: How to live well? Given that one of the essential
features that makes us human is our ability to reason, the question that naturally
arises is how to reason well? And an important aspect of reasoning is the drawing of
conclusions that extend beyond what we already know or to otherwise convince
ourselves and others to change our minds. Logic is a powerful tool developed by
philosophers over millennia to address just this question.

In the first part of the course we’ll look at examples of reasoning gone wrong in order
to get a better sense of why it is that argumentation often fails. Indeed, we’ll see that
our very special and impressive linguistic ability is so flexible that it can lead us
astray. We’ll then look at patterns of informal reasoning that have been harnessed to
purposely mislead.

During this preliminary investigation we will learn the foundational principles of logic
that we will then use to begin constructing a formal language that serves to
illuminate and answer the question, “does the conclusion certainly follow if the
premises be true?” (Augustus DeMorgan)

Required Text:
Russell, Marcus. Introduction to formal logic with philosophical applications. Oxford
University Press, 2018.

Additional course readings will be made available through the library on Moodle.

Lectures:
M/W 9:00 - 10:15am in University Hall Room E690
University of Lethbridge Craig W. Fox PhD
Spring 2024 craig.fox@uleth.ca
Logic 1000 Course Outline University Hall A812G

Requirements / Assessments:
Midterm 1 20% (Feb. 14 in class)
Midterm 2 20% (Mar. 20 in class)
Final Exam 30% (April 17, 9am)
Homework 25% (There will be 4 assignments, but you are only responsible for
handing in 3. See below for due dates.)
Participation 5% (This will involve informal responses on Moodle to questions posed
in class.)

Homework Assignment Schedule:

HW #1 Wed 2/7
HW #2 Wed 3/6
HW #3 Wed 3/20
HW #4 Mon 4/8 (last day of class)

Assignments will be made available on Moodle approximately 10 days prior to the

due date.
Assignments will be collected in class, however I will accept them as on-time via
dropbox outside my office until 4:00pm on the date due.

Late homework assignments will be penalized 3% per work day and 5% for the
weekend. However, once solutions to an assignment have been posted, that
assignment can no longer be handed in late. Typically this will be the Monday
following the week they are due.

Office Hours:
M/W 10:15a - 11:30a Office: University Hall, A812B
You may also email me to schedule an appointment. Although I much prefer
in-person discussions, I am also available for Zoom appointments.

Accommodations:
I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate any special needs. Please see
me to discuss.
University of Lethbridge Craig W. Fox PhD
Spring 2024 craig.fox@uleth.ca
Logic 1000 Course Outline University Hall A812G

In the event that you experience emotional or mental distress during the term,
please feel free to reach out to me and I will help direct you to the resources and
supports available to you.

Reading Schedule and Lecture Topics:

(This schedule is tentative and subject to revision as the course progresses.
Updates/revisions will announced in class)
Textbook readings are listed below. For the the additional readings, please see
announcements for each week on Moodle

Wed 1/10: Welcome & Overview of course content

Mon 1/15: Introduction to logical puzzles

Wed 1/17: Non-traditional types of argumentation
Reading: See Moodle

Mon 1/22: Introduction to Necessary and Sufficient Conditions

Wed 1/24: Connecting Necessary and Sufficient Conditions to the logic of
conditionals
Reading: See Moodle

Mon 1/29: Gricean Maxims, Whataboutism and other fallacies

Wed 1/31: Logical languages, Regimentation of arguments, Validity and
Soundness
Reading: Intro to formal logicIntroduction to Formal Logic (IFL) Ch. 1

Mon 2/5: Introduction to Predicate Logic

Reading: IFL Ch. 2.1-2.3
Wed 2/7: Truth Tables & Validity revisited
Reading: IFL Ch. 2.4-2.6
HW #1 Due

Mon 2/12: Translating arguments into and out of the language of propositional
logic
University of Lethbridge Craig W. Fox PhD
Spring 2024 craig.fox@uleth.ca
Logic 1000 Course Outline University Hall A812G

Reading: IFL Ch. 2.7-2.8

Wed 2/14: Midterm #1

Mon 2/19: Spring Break

Wed 2/21: Spring Break

Mon 2/26: The rules of inference in propositional logic

Reading: IFL Ch. 3.1-3.2
Wed 2/28: The rules of equivalence in propositional logic
Reading: IFL Ch. 3.3-3.4

Mon 3/4: Intro to proofs and derivations

Reading: IFL Ch. 3.5-3.6
Wed 3/6: If and Only If & Conditional Proof
Reading: IFL Ch. 3.7-3.8
HW #2 Due

Mon 3/11: Logical Truth and Intro to Indirect Proof

Reading: IFL Ch. 3.9-3.10, Appendix B
Wed 3/13: Intro to Predicate Logic
Reading: IFL Ch. 4.1, 4.3

Mon 3/18: The syntax of predicate logic & Translations

Reading: IFL Ch. 4.2, 4.4
Wed 3/20: Midterm #2
HW # 3 Due

Mon 3/25: Natural Deduction in predicate logic

Reading: IFL Ch. 4.4-4.5
Wed 3/27: Quantifiers and Intro to conditional proof in predicate logic
Reading: IFL Ch. 4.5-4.6

Mon 4/1: Easter Holiday

Wed 4/3: The semantics of predicate logic
Reading: IFL Ch. 4.6-4.8
University of Lethbridge Craig W. Fox PhD
Spring 2024 craig.fox@uleth.ca
Logic 1000 Course Outline University Hall A812G

Mon 4/8: Translations in predicate logic & Course Wrap-up

Reading: IFL Ch. 4.9
HW #4 Due

Optional Review Session Date: TBD

Wed. 4/17: Final Exam (9am - noon)