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SCHOOL OF DIVINITY, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY ACADEMIC SESSION 2020-2021 PH1518: LOGIC AND ARGUMENT 15 Credits, 12 Weeks PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY: The full set of school regulations and procedures is contained in the Undergraduate Student Handbook which is available online at your MyAberdeen Organisation page. Students are expected to familiarise themselves not only with the contents of this leaflet but also with the contents of the Handbook. Therefore, ignorance of the contents of the Handbook will not excuse the breach of any School regulation or procedure. You must familiarise yourself with this important information at the earliest opportunity. COURSE LECTURERS Stephan Torre (Course Coordinator) Email: [email protected] Office hours: See MyAberdeen Federico Luzzi Email: [email protected] Office hours: See MyAberdeen

Course Document - | 2020-2021

Discipline Administration: [email protected]

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Students are asked to make themselves familiar with the information on key institutional policies which has been made available on MyAberdeen here. These policies are relevant to all students and will be useful to you throughout your studies. They contain important information and address issues such as what to do if you are absent, how to raise an appeal or a complaint and how the University handles your feedback. These institutional policies should be read in conjunction with this course guide, in which School specific policies are detailed. Further information can be found on the University’s Infohub webpage. IMPORTANT INFORMATION Small group teaching is compulsory. If you fail to fulfil any of the course requirements (including attendance, engagement or submission of all course assessments by the stated deadline or agreed extension period) you will be contacted and may not be able to continue with the course.

TIMETABLE There will be several pre-recorded, online lectures each week, roughly amounting to 100 minutes per week. There will also be one 55-minute tutorial each week, either online or on-campus. Students can view their university timetable on Infohub webpage. COURSE DESCRIPTION What makes an argument a good argument? What are the correct rules for reasoning? How do the meanings of sentences relate to each other? How can the tools of logic be used in philosophy? This course provides an introduction to logic and tools for successfully evaluating arguments. Some of the topics covered include validity, soundness, consistency, entailment, provability, quantification, and identity. Two formal languages are introduced, the language of sentential logic and the language of quantified logic. The course develops the ability to symbolise English sentences into formal languages and to complete proofs in Natural Deduction. Logical concepts are applied to issues in philosophy of language, metaphysics, as well as philosophical puzzles and paradoxes. INTENDED AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES Students taking PH1518: Logic and Argument will: • Develop critical thinking skills that will allow them to understand how language and reasoning work. This will give them the skills to better evaluate real world arguments in situations ranging from politics to medicine. • Enhance their ability to clearly articulate flaws in arguments and reasoning practices. This provides students with the ability to not only get to the truth, but also the ability to help others get there.

Course Document - | 2020-2021

• Learn how to apply abstract logical approaches to a variety of applications in diverse areas of research. This will provide students with the foundation to apply the skills they develop into new areas and the ability to use these skills in their lives more generally.

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LECTURE/SEMINAR PROGRAMME The Lecture Programme will be made available on MyAberdeen in due course. READING LIST The main text for the course will be ForAll฀฀: Adelaide by Antony Eagle. It is an open-source logic text available here: forallx-adl/forallx-adl.pdf at master · antonyeagle/forallx-adl · GitHub

ASSESSMENT The assessment for the course will be two take-home exams (40% each), and two problem sets (10% each). Resit Take-home Exam: 100% To view the CGS Descriptors please go to MyAberdeen- Organisations-Divinity, History, & Philosophy Student Information for Undergraduates. The link to the CGS Descriptors is on the left-hand menu. To view the CGS Descriptors please go to MyAberdeen- Organisations-Divinity, History, & Philosophy Student Information for Undergraduates. The link to the CGS Descriptors is on the left-hand menu. PLEASE NOTE: In order to pass a course on the first attempt, a student must attain a Common Grading Scale (CGS) mark of at least E3 on each element of course assessment. Failure to do so will result in a grade of no greater than CGS E1 for the course as a whole. If you submit your work on time, you can expect that feedback will normally be provided within three working weeks (excluding vacation periods) of the submission deadline. ASSESSMENT DEADLINES Problem Set 1 will be released on Tuesday, 9th of February. Problem Set 1 will be due on Tuesday, 16th of February by 3pm. Take-home Exam 1 will be released on Friday, 26th of February. Take-home Exam 1 will be due on Tuesday, 9th of March by 3pm. Problem Set 2 will be released on Tuesday, 16th of March. Problem Set 2 will be due on Tuesday, 23rd of March by 3pm. Take-home Exam 2 will be released on Friday, 2nd of April.

Course Document - | 2020-2021

Take-home Exam 2 will be due on Tuesday, 27th of April by 3pm.

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SUBMISSION ARRANGEMENTS When uploading assignments, please do the following: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Submit a .doc or .docx and include the word count. Submit by 3pm on the due date, no hard copy will be required unless directly requested by the Course Coordinator through My Aberdeen. In advance of uploading, please save the assignment with your student ID number listed in the filename, i.e. 59999999 PH1518 Problem Set 1. When asked to enter a title for the assignment, please enter a title identical to the name of your saved assignment, i.e. 59999999 PH1518 Problem Set 1.

Please note: Failure to submit by the due date (unless a prior arrangement has been made) will result in a deduction of marks. Where no submission is received, this will result in a mark of zero. Please note: SafeAssign text-matching software will be used. However, the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy reserves the right also to submit material to TurnitinUK when deemed necessary.

Course Document - | 2020-2021

If you experience any issue concerning assignment upload, please contact [email protected]

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