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course outline edited- logic

The course 'Logic and Critical Thinking' at Debre Birhan University focuses on philosophical inquiry into argumentation and reasoning, aiming to develop students' abilities to construct and evaluate arguments. It covers fundamental concepts of logic, critical thinking, informal fallacies, and the philosophy of language, structured across multiple chapters. The course includes various modes of evaluation, such as assignments and exams, and references key texts in the field.

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15 views3 pages

course outline edited- logic

The course 'Logic and Critical Thinking' at Debre Birhan University focuses on philosophical inquiry into argumentation and reasoning, aiming to develop students' abilities to construct and evaluate arguments. It covers fundamental concepts of logic, critical thinking, informal fallacies, and the philosophy of language, structured across multiple chapters. The course includes various modes of evaluation, such as assignments and exams, and references key texts in the field.

Uploaded by

abel0918273645
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Debre Birhan University

College of Social Sciences and Humanities


Department of Civics and Ethical Education
Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking Course Outline

Name of the Instructor:

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course, Logic and Critical Thinking, is a high-level thought course in the discipline of
philosophy. It is a philosophical inquiry that takes argumentation and reasoning as its basic
objects of investigation into the reality of entities or things. It attempts to introduce the
fundamental concepts of logic and methods of logical argumentation, reasoning and critical
thinking; thereby including evaluation of the methods by which we form beliefs, weigh evidence,
assess hypotheses and arguments, and analyze reasoning.

Logic is concerned with the study of arguments, and it seeks to establish the conditions under
which an argument may be considered as acceptable or good. It includes the development of
standard methods and principles of arguments. Critical thinking, on the other hand, is an exercise
and a manner of perception and reasoning that has principles of logic as its fulcrum, and
dynamically involves various reasoning skills that ought to be human approach to issues and
events of life. To think critically is to examine ideas, evaluate them against what you already
know and make decisions about their merit. Therefore, this course is designed to help students to
develop the ability to construct reliable and logically defendable arguments of their own and
rationally evaluate the arguments of others, and the abilities and skills of critical thinking as well.
The course is generally designed to generate a logically and critically thinking generation that
would foster the excellence of human species by combating superstitious beliefs and opinions.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCING PHILOSOPHY
 Meaning and Nature of Philosophy
 Basic Features of Philosophy
 Core Fields of Philosophy
 Metaphysics and Epistemology
 Metaphysics
 Epistemology

1
 Axiology and Logic
 Axiology
 Logic
 Importance of Learning Philosophy
CHAPTER TWO
BASIC CONCEPTS OF LOGIC
 Basic Concepts of Logic: Arguments, Premises and Conclusions
 Techniques of Recognizing Arguments
 Recognizing Argumentative Passages
 Recognizing Non-argumentative Passages
 Types of Arguments: Deduction and Induction
 Deductive Arguments
 Inductive Arguments
 Differentiating Deductive and Inductive Arguments
 Evaluating Arguments
 Evaluating Deductive Arguments: Validity, Truth, and Soundness
 Evaluating Inductive Arguments: Strength, Truth, and Cogency
CHAPTER THREE
LOGIC and LANGUAGE
 Philosophy of Language
 The Debates and History of Philosophy of Language
 Some Philosophical Approaches to the Nature of Meaning
 Logic and Meaning
 The Functions of Language: Cognitive and Emotive Meanings
 The Intension and Extension of Terms
 Logic and Definition
 Meaning, Types, and Purposes of Definitions
 The Meaning of Definition
 The Types and Purposes of Definitions
 Techniques of Definition
 The Extensional (Denotative) Definitional Techniques
 Intensional (Connotative) Definitional Techniques
 Criteria for Lexical Definitions
CHAPTER FOUR
INFORMAL FALLACIES
 Fallacy in General
 The Meaning of Fallacy
 Types of Fallacies
 Fallacies of Relevance
 Fallacies of Weak Induction

2
 Fallacies of Presumption
 Fallacies of Ambiguity and Grammatical Analogy
 Fallacies of Ambiguity
 Fallacies of Grammatical Analogy
CHAPTER FIVE
BASIC CONCEPTS OF CRITICAL THINKING
 Meaning of Critical Thinking
 Standards of Critical Thinking
 Codes of Intellectual Conduct for Effective Discussion
 Principles of Good Argument
 Principles of Critical Thinking
 Characteristics of Critical Thinking
 Traits of Critical Thinkers
 Basic Traits of Uncritical Thinkers
 Barriers to Critical Thinking
 Benefits of Critical Thinking

MODE OF COURSE DELIVERY


 Lecture and questioning and answering techniques

MODE OF EVALUATION

 Group Assignment and Presentation…...................................................10%


 Individual Assignment…........................................................................10%
 Mid-Exam….............................................................................................30%
 Final Examination….................................................................................50%
Total 100%
Reference Books
Copi, Irving M.and Carl Cohen, (1990) Introduction to Logic, New York: Macmillan Publishing
Company.
Damer, Edward. (2005). Attacking faulty reasoning. A practical guide to fallacy free argument.
Wadsworth Cengage learning, USA.
Fogelin, Robert, J, (1987) Understanding Arguments: An Introduction to Informal Logic, New
York: Harcourt Brace Jvanovich Publisher.
Guttenplan, Samuel: (1991) The Language of Logic. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers
Simico, N.D and G.G James. (1983) Elementary Logic, Belmont, Ca: Wadsworth Publishing
Company.
Stephen, C. (200) The Power of Logic. London and Toronto: Mayfield Publishing
Company. Walelign, Emuru, (2009) Freshman Logic, Addis Ababa.

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