Courses, teaching philosophy, and educational resources
Logic is the study of human reasoning. Some believe that studying logic makes us more rational and better at critical thinking. Others think that logic makes us explicitly aware of the rules of good reasoning that all of us in a sense already know. Yet others believe that logic is a tool – like mathematics – that makes communication clearer and more efficient. Logic is indispensible for both philosophy and the sciences. But logic is also very helpful for those whose jobs have to do with argumentation and convincing others, like lawyers, journalists, and politicians. And finally, logic is good for life. In this course, we will study a variety of topics in logic, focusing on deductive logic for the most part.
📚 I wrote my own logic textbook for this course. Check it out here!
The course will provide students with elementary logic skills and an understanding of scientific arguments to apply in all aspects of their academic as well as daily lives. Our society and the world around us are increasingly influenced by scientific findings. From medicine to technology to government policy, scientific reasoning plays a prominent role both in understanding the problems faced by human beings and in finding solutions to them. Scientific reasoning is often crucial to understanding what causes the issue and what interventions are effective.
Western philosophy and western science are both justifiably traced back to ancient Greece. However, what is often overlooked is that the question that gave birth to philosophy is the very question that gave birth to science: what are change and motion, and how are they possible? This seemingly obscure question captivated the minds of many philosophers and led to interrelated questions regarding the nature of space, time, matter, and void.
This course is an introduction to the oldest and most enduring intellectual enterprise in human history. On one view, philosophy is the discipline which has given birth to most of the disciplines we recognize as independent sciences today. On another view, philosophy is the study of the deepest and most fundamental questions, such as “what is knowledge?”, “how do we know the world?”, “what is there in the world?”, and “what is the relation of human beings to the world and society?”.
