Critical Thinking in the Classroom

Logic and reasoning may seem like abstract activities but, in reality, we make arguments everyday. For example, you may have made an argument to your boss that you need a raise or you may have had to justify your view that you should study biology or art or even philosophy in college. In daily life, arguments form the backbone of justifications and explanations for actions, world events, and decisions. Similarly, the purpose of logic is to identify key concepts that form the structure of these arguments. During this class, students will learn the logical structure of arguments, how to identify good and bad reasoning, and how to critique and craft your own arguments. In addition, after taking this course, students should be able to critically analyze complex material in order to evaluate evidence, construct reasoned arguments, and communicate inferences and conclusions.

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Presenting an argument is a linguistic activity that is best understood against a background u understanding of how language functions. Hence, in the first part of the course we begin by investigating the use of language in arguments. We will pay special attention to some of the rhetorical devices commonly used to make moves in the course of presenting an argument such as assuring, guarding, and discounting. Students will learn how to spot typical moves made in the course of arguing, and learn how to evaluate them. Then, after discussing the different uses of arguments, we develop a method for reconstructing arguments so that they may be evaluated in a fair and systematic fashion. The second part of the course consists of learning how to analyze and evaluate both inductive and deductive arguments. ​

Towards this end, we survey several types of inductive arguments (e.g., argument from analogy and inference to the best explanation) and learn not only how to distinguish between them, but also how to evaluate them. In the third and final part of the course we examine different types of reasoning used in everyday life, including moral reasoning, scientific reasoning, and legal reasoning. This final section will help students to understand the importance of reasoning in several fields.