Philosophy 12A

Logic is about reasoning. People reason well or reason poorly; people’s arguments are good or bad. Logic is concerned with telling the difference; specifically, we will look at formal systems for characterizing and evaluating the structure of arguments. A good, or valid, deductive argument is one in which the conclusion follows from the premises—one in which true premises would guarantee a true conclusion. Our study of formal systems will yield methods for figuring out when arguments are valid.

This class is in many ways like a math class: the work will primarily involve doing logic problems. It should, however, give you a greater appreciation for the structure of arguments in ordinary English.