CCOG for PHL 221 archive revision 202104
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- Effective Term:
- Fall 2021 through Summer 2024
- Course Number:
- PHL 221
- Course Title:
- Symbolic Logic
- Credit Hours:
- 4
- Lecture Hours:
- 40
- Lecture/Lab Hours:
- 0
- Lab Hours:
- 0
Course Description
Addendum to Course Description
The course may include a summary of traditional categorical (syllogistic) logic as an historical and/or methodological introduction to modern symbolic logic.
Intended Outcomes for the course
Upon completion of the course students should be able to:
- Articulate key philosophical arguments in the field of symbolic logic.
- Identify the influence of culturally based perspectives, values and beliefs to examine how diverse philosophical perspectives affect human experience.
- Construct arguments on issues dealing with symbolic logic using critical reasoning to identify and investigate philosophical theses and evaluate information and its sources.
- Respond to arguments on issues dealing with symbolic logic using critical reasoning to identify and investigate philosophical theses and evaluate information and its sources.
Integrative Learning
Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to reflect on one’s work or competencies to make connections between course content and lived experience.
General education philosophy statement
Philosophy courses ask students to use critical thinking and reasoning skills in multiple ways: to identify the content, structure, and influence of beliefs, to examine how diverse philosophical perspectives affect human experience, and to construct and respond to arguments on a variety of philosophical issues. They encourage students to both create and understand their and others’ frameworks of meaning, and to use this new understanding in their own lived experience.
Aspirational Goals
- Reinforce the commitment to rational discourse and the development of strong critical thinking skills.
- Contribute to, and perpetuate the intellectual, artistic, and spiritual inheritance of our society.
- Continue studies that require advanced verbal and logical skills, as well as more specialized studies in Philosophy or any other field that requires mature critical thinking skills.
Course Activities and Design
The course will be conducted in both the standard classroom and distance learning settings. It will involve lectures, discussions, and other assignments such as exams and papers.
Outcome Assessment Strategies
The primary methods of this course are diligent study and reflection, frequent practice with logic exercises, and rational discourse. Assessment strategies will include some of the following:
- Logic exercises / problems
- Short-answer quizzes
- Worksheet projects
- Group discussions
- Short essays
- Assignment completion
- Attendance / Engagement level
Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)
Major Topics
- Arguments, Premises, and Conclusions
- Recognizing Arguments
- Deduction and Induction
- Validity, Truth, Soundness, Strength, Cogency
- Argument Forms: Proving Invalidity
- Definitions and Their Purposes
- Definitional Techniques
- The Components of Categorical Propositions
- Venn Diagrams and the Modern Square of Opposition
- Translating Ordinary Statements into Categorical Form
- Propositional Logic: Symbols and Translation
- Truth Functions
- Truth Tables for Propositions and Arguments
- Argument Forms and Formal Fallacies
- Argument Proofs Using Natural Deduction or Truth Tree Methods
- Conditional and Indirect Proofs in Propositional Logic
- Predicate Logic: Symbols and Translation
- Using the Rules of Inference in Predicate Logic
- Change of Quantifier Rule
-
Conditional and Indirect Proofs in Predicate Logic
Key Skills
- Translating ordinary language into symbolic statements
- Using truth tables for various logical tests
- Using inference rules (natural deduction), or truth trees for evaluating the validity of complex deductive arguments