Reason

=Reason=

[Remember, you need to write at least 3 important take-aways under each of the topics below, in your own words.]

1. Intro to reason: "The Argument Clinic". What role can reason play, in relation to sense perception? In relation to conflicts among knowledge claims? Why should we care about whether reason can fulfill its promise?

2. The many-sided nature of reason. Formal (logical and mathematical) and informal (everyday structuring of ideas) uses of reason.

3. Deductive and inductive reasoning; intro to symbolic logic. What is an argument?

4. Symbolic logic, continued. Validity and truth of arguments; relation between them. How logic is applied in everyday life and science.

5. Intro to fallacies: "Love is a fallacy". Practical uses of logic: domination and liberation. Common fallacies.

6. Formal fallacies (a problem with the logical structure) and informal fallacies (a problem with the kind of support offered in the argument).

7. Informal logic/fallacies: cognitive biases: groupthink, bandwagon effect, confirmation bias, etc.