Goodbye to Yesterday...

In case you haven't checked yet, your grades are now posted. Enjoy your summer!

Own Your Ignorance

Here's an excerpt from a podcast I listen to called Jordan, Jesse GO! Two guys in their twenties are jovially discussing a favorite topic of mine: owning your ignorance.

Other sincerely awesome stuff from them is available at Maximum Fun.

News You Can Use

Here are some links on advertising and news. The first is about the underlying intellectual dishonesty in even the most honest of ad campaigns. By the way, if you're into advertising, that entire blog is great. I'm a bit biased, though, since I used to work for Bob Garfield.

The second is a radio interview with the director of FactCheck.org, a website devoted to debunking claims in political ads. I also used to work with the guy who interviewed FactCheck's director. Yup, I'm a pretty big deal.

Now for some news stuff. Lots of people worry about conservative or liberal news media bias. But there are several interesting biases that are much less talked about. Here's a discussion of the bias toward anything that's dangerous.

What's so important about news anyway? Here's an interesting argument against caring so much about current events.

Penguin Digestion Experts? You Bet!

So you didn't believe me when I said that there are experts on the subject of penguin digestion? Oh, you did? Fine, well, I'll prove it to you, anyway. Here are some academic articles on the topic:

• Adjustments of gastric pH, motility and temperature during long-term preservation of stomach contents in free-ranging incubating king penguins from a 2004 issue of Journal of Experimental Biology
  
• Feeding Behavior of Free-Ranging King Penguins (Aptenodytes Patagonicus) from a 1994 issue of Ecology

Of course, no list would be complete without the often-cited, groundbreaking 1985 Ornis Scandinavica article:

• Differential Digestion of Fish and Squid in Jackass Penguins Spheniscus demersus

Perhaps my favorite, though, is the following:

• Pressures produced when penguins pooh—calculations on avian defaecation from a 2003 issue of Polar Biology
  

If any of these articles are above your head (I think they're all above mine!), you might like this, uh, simpler video demonstration of penguin digestion.

Attend or Die

Group presentations begin on Friday. I mentioned this in class, but just in case...

Attendance is mandatory for the group presentations on Friday (5/2/07), Monday (5/5/07), and Wednesday (5/7/07). It's the only time I'll be a stickler for it. Basically, I want you to show respect for the other groups presenting.

If you don't attend on either the days your group isn't presenting (and your absence isn't excused), your own personal presentation grade will drop. Each day you don't attend will lower your grade by a full letter grade.

One last thing: be sure to keep the presentations under 15 minutes. A 10-minute presentation is ideal, so we can have time for a short question-and-answer session afterwards.

Pre-Writing, Post-Writing, Writing-Writing

Today's dinosaur comic is a combo of our last two topics: writing and advertising!

(Click on the comic to enlarge)


Oh, so you want some non-web-comic content? Fine.

Here are some tips on writing philosophy papers. The first one's a great basic guideline, and the second one's a little more advanced.

BS

Here's the video of Jon Stewart interviewing Harry Frankfurt about his book On Bullshit.


What do you think? Is not caring about whether you're telling the truth worse than deliberately lying?

I'm The Special-est

First, here's a link to the article we discussed in class about how The Secret is really wishful thinking run amok.

OK, now that we're discussing psychological impediments, we're going to dive into one of my favorite topics: I'M-SPECIAL-ism. Psychological research has repeatedly shown that most Americans overestimate their own abilities. This is one of the biggest hurdles to proper reasoning: the natural tendency to think that we're smarter--or more powerful, or prettier, or whatever--than we really are.

One of my favorite blogs is Overcoming Bias. Their mission statement is sublimely anti-I'M-SPECIAL-ist:

"How can we better believe what is true? While it is of course useful to seek and study relevant information, our minds are full of natural tendencies to bias our beliefs via overconfidence, wishful thinking, and so on. Worse, our minds seem to have a natural tendency to convince us that we are aware of and have adequately corrected for such biases, when we have done no such thing."

This may sound insulting, but one of the goals of this class is getting us to recognize that we're not as smart as we think we are. All of us. You. Me. That guy. You again.

So in the upcoming weeks, at least, I hope you'll join me in my campaign to end I'M-SPECIAL-ism.

Pimply Stress

This mini-article on acne and anxiety raises a combo platter of questions relevant to what we're going over in class.

1) Reverse causation: Does acne cause stress, or does stress cause acne?
2) Questionable statistics: Do you trust the stat that students were 23 percent more likely to experience breakouts around the time of a test? Is it a good study? A reliable source? An undemanding stat?
3) Questionable use of statistics: If the above statistic is true, is it reasonable to conclude that anxiety causes acne? Or is there another plausible explanation?

What say you?

That's An Ad Hominem, You Jerk

Here's a cartoon on the ad hominem fallacy and hypocrisy.

(Click on the comic to enlarge)

Get to studying, you ignorant sluts.

Homework #2

Homework #2 is due at the beginning of class on Monday, March 10th. The assignment is to answer Problems 1-15 (except DON'T do #9 or #12) in Exercise 4-1 on pages 86-88 of our textbook.

Also, the due date for paper #1 has been pushed back to Wednesday, March 12th. The midterm will still be on Friday, March 14th. We'll be reviewing for the midterm in class on Wednesday.

(If you read this, write "Why is anything anything?" at the bottom of your homework to receive some extra points on the assignment.)

Fallacies, Fallacies, Everywhere

My best friend the inter-net has some nice examples of the fallacy of equivocation. Here are two good ones:

All jackasses have long ears.

Karl is a jackass.

Therefore, Karl has long ears.

Margarine is better than nothing.

Nothing is better than butter.

Therefore margarine is better than butter.

Also, speaking of non sequiturs, here's a cute cat picture:

Wait, we weren't just speaking of non sequit--Oh. I see what you did there.

Clever.

Begging the Dinosaur

Here is a comic and a video about the fallacy of begging the question. The first is one of Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics on the fallacy. (Click on the comic to enlarge it)

And here's the video for Mims's logically delicious song "This is Why I'm Hot":

Snow Day!

Our class is cancelled today, Friday, February 22nd, because of the snow. In fact, all classes at Camden County College are cancelled today.

Enjoy!

Maybe It'll Taste Good This Year

Here's a video of Lewis Black describing his failure to reason inductively every year around Halloween:

Candy Corn.

Possible Articles for Paper #1

gladwell.com | Bad Stereotyping
race & gender = insufficient info

Singer: How Much Should We Give?
just try to think up a more important topic

The Dark Art of Interrogation
Bowden sez torture is necessary

Can Foreign Aid Work?
didn't expect Kristof to bring up Darfur

NYT Editorial: The White House's Real Agenda
sunday editorials mean Big Picture time

Against Free Speech
but it's free, so it must be good

Is Wal-Mart Good for the Working Class?
Furman: walmart helps poor consumers more than it hurts poor workers. Ehrenreich: I call bs

What pro-lifers miss in the stem-cell debate
love embryos? then hate fertility clinics

Is Worrying About the Ethics of Your Diet Elitist?
since you asked, no

Abstinence campaign hits dead end on HPV

WSJ: White House vs. NYT on bank surveillance
on Keller's "leap of faith" (see below)

Keller's Letter on NYT's Banking Records Report

Is Selling Organs Repugnant?
freakonomicists for a free-market for organs

Should I Become a Professional Philosopher?
hell 2 da naw

Blackburn Defends Philosophy
it beats being employed

Paper #1 Guidelines

The first paper is due at the beginning of class on Monday, March 10th. It's worth 5% of your final grade.

Assignment: Papers must be typed, and must be between 300-600 words long. Provide a word count on the first page of the paper. (Most programs like Microsoft Word & WordPerfect have automatic word counts.) The assignment is to complete the following steps:

1) Pick an article from a newspaper, magazine, or journal in which an author presents an argument for a particular position. I’ll be putting up some links to potential articles at the course blog. You are also free to choose any article on any topic you want, but you must show Sean your article by Friday, October 19th for approval. The main requirement is that the article presents an argument. One place to look for such articles is the Opinion page of a newspaper. Here’s a short list of some other good sources:

• The New Yorker
• Slate
• New York Review of Books
• London Review of Books
• Times Literary Supplement
• Boston Review
• Atlantic Monthly
• The New Republic
• The Weekly Standard
• The Nation
• Reason
• Dissent
• First Things
• Mother Jones
• National Journal
• The New Criterion

(for even more sources, check out the left-hand column of Arts & Letters Daily)

2) In the essay, first explain the article’s argument in your own words. What is the position that the author is arguing for? What are the reasons the author offers as evidence for her or his conclusion? What type of argument does the author provide? In other words, provide a detailed synopsis of the argument.

3) In the essay, then evaluate the article’s argument. Overall, is this a good or a bad argument? Why or why not? Check each premise: is each premise true? Or is it false? Questionable? (Do research if you have to in order to determine whether the author’s claims are true.) Then check the structure of the argument. Do the premises provide enough rational support for the conclusion? If you are criticizing the article’s argument, be sure to consider potential responses that the author might offer, and explain why these responses don’t work. If you are defending the article’s argument, be sure to consider and respond to possible objections.

4) Attach a copy of the article to your paper when you hand it in.

The Best of the Homework

Here are some of my favorite arguments you came up with on the homework.

From Emily:

(P1) All toasters are items made of gold.
(P2) All items made of gold are time travel devices.
(C) All toasters are time travel devices.

I want some future-toast, spread with alternate-1985 mixed fruit jelly.

From Stefan:

(P1) This pen writes with black ink.
(P2) Black ink from pens sets paper on fire.
(P3) I'm writing on this paper right now.
(C) This paper is on fire.

His homework was tough to grade.

From India:

(P1) Girlfriends is a TV show.
(P2) All TV shows are good.
(C) Girlfriends is a good show.

Slate agrees!

From Chris:

(P1) If Sean wears a Journey t-shirt, he is lame.
(P2) Sean wears a Journey t-shirt.
(C) Sean is lame.

I wish the second premise were false.

Cat Statements

What kind of statements are these?

Let us know in the comments.

Satan's Fingers? The Hospital Bombers?

OK, before we start rocking all night, perhaps we should come up with a name for our logic band. What's a good name for us? Don & the Fugly Emo Kids?

Hmmm... hopefully, you can come up with better names than that. Post some names in the comments to this post.

(Extra love to anyone who knows what the title of this post refers to.)

Homework #1

In case you didn't get a copy of it in class, here's Homework #1. It's due at the beginning of class on Friday, February 8th.


DIRECTIONS: Provide original examples of the following types of arguments (in premise/conclusion form), if possible. If it is not possible, explain why.

1. A valid deductive argument with one false premise.

2. An invalid deductive argument with all true premises.

3. An unsound deductive argument that is valid.

4. A sound deductive argument that is invalid.


MULTIPLE CHOICE: Circle the correct response. Only one answer choice is correct.

5. If a deductive argument is unsound, then:
a) its conclusion must be false.
b) its conclusion must be true.
c) its conclusion could be true or false.

6. If a deductive argument is unsound, then:
a) it must be valid.
b) it must be invalid.
c) it could be valid or invalid.

7. If a deductive argument is unsound, then:
a) at least one premise must be false.
b) all the premises must be false.
c) all the premises must be true.
d) not enough info to determine.

8. If a deductive argument’s conclusion is true:
a) then the argument must be valid.
b) then the argument must be invalid.
c) then the argument could be valid or invalid.

9. If a deductive argument is sound, then:
a) its conclusion must be true.
b) its conclusion must be false.
c) its conclusion could be true or false.

10. If a deductive argument is sound, then:
a) it must be valid.
b) it must be invalid.
c) it could be valid or invalid.

11. If a deductive argument is sound, then:
a) at least one premise must be false.
b) all the premises must be false.
c) all the premises must be true.
d) not enough info to determine.

12. If a deductive argument’s conclusion is false:
a) then the argument must be valid.
b) then the argument must be invalid.
c) then the argument could be valid or invalid.

(More on Sisyphus)

Understanding Args

Here are the answers to the group work handout on understanding arguments.

1. (P1) Fairdale has the best team.
(C) Fairdale will win the championship

2. (P1) The housing market is depressed.
(P2) Interest rates are low.
(C) It's a good time to buy a home.

3. (P1) China is guilty of extreme human rights abuses.
(P2) China refuses to implement democratic reforms.
(C) The U.S. should refuse to deal with the present Chinese government.

4. (P1) The revocation of the 55 mph speed limit has resulted in an increased number of auto fatalities.
(C) we must alleviate this problem with stricter speed limit enforcement.

5. (P1) The results of the Persian Gulf War were good.
(C) The U. S. military is both capable and competent.

6. (P1) Scientific discoveries are continually debunking religious myths.
(P2) Science provides the only hope for solving the many problems faced by humankind.
(C) Science provides a more accurate view of human life than does religion.

7. (P1) Jesse is one year old.
(P2) Most one-year-olds can walk.
(C) It follows that Jesse can walk.

8. (P1) I'm very good at my job.
(C) I deserve a raise.

9. (P1) Freedom of speech and expressions are essential to a democratic form of government.
(P2) As soon as we allow some censorship, it won't be long before censorship will be used to silence the opinions critical of the government.
(P3) Once we allow some censorship, we will have no more freedom than the Germans did under Hitler.
(C) We must resist all effort to allow the government to censor entertainment.

10. (P1) Maebe didn't show up for work today.
(P2) Maebe never missed work unless she was sick.
(C) Maebe is probably sick today.

11. (P1) The United States, as the most powerful nation in the world, has a moral obligation to give assistance to people who are subjected to inhumane treatment.
(P2) The ethnic Albanians were being persecuted in Kosovo.
(C) It was proper for the U.S. to become involved in the air campaign against Kosovo.

12. (P1) The last person we hired from Bayview Tech turned out to be a bad employee.
(C) I'm not willing to hire anybody else from that school again.

----------------
Hat tip: I took examples 1-8 (with some revisions) from Beth Rosdatter's website, and examples 9-13 (with some revisions) from Jon Young's website.

Email Subscriptions

So why does this course have a blog? Well, why is anything anything?

A blog (short for “web log”) is a website that works like a journal – users write posts that are sorted by date based on when they were written. You can find important course information (like assignments, due dates, reading schedules, etc.) on the blog. I’ll also be updating the blog throughout the semester, posting interesting items related to the stuff we’re currently discussing in class. I used a blog for this course last semester, and it seemed helpful. Hopefully it can benefit our course, too.

Since I’ll be updating the blog a lot throughout the semester, you should check it frequently. There are, however, some convenient ways to do this without simply going to the blog each day. The best way to do this is by getting an email subscription, so any new blog post I write automatically gets emailed to you. (You can also subscribe to the rss feed, if you know what that means.) To get an email subscription:

1. Go to http://ccclogic08.blogspot.com.

2. At the main page, enter your email address at the top of the right column (under “EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION: Enter your Email”) and click the "Subscribe me!" button.

3. This will take you to a new page. Follow the directions under #2, where it says “To help stop spam, please type the text here that you see in the image below. Visually impaired or blind users should contact support by email.” Once you type the text, click the "Subscribe me!" button again.

4. You'll then get an email regarding the blog subscription. (Check your spam folder if you haven’t received an email after a day.) You have to confirm your registration. Do so by clicking on the "Click here to activate your account" link in the email you receive.

5. This will bring you to a page that says "Your subscription is confirmed!" Now you're subscribed.

If you are unsure whether you've subscribed, ask me (609-980-8367; slandis@camdencc.edu). I can check who's subscribed and who hasn't.

Course Schedule

January 23 – 25
Wednesday: Intro to Class (no reading)
Friday: Doing Philosophy (no reading)

January 28 – February 1
Monday: Reasoning (1.1-1.6)
Wednesday: Reasoning (1.6-1.11)
Friday: Reasoning (finish Chapter 1) (group work)

February 4 – 8
Monday: Reasoning/Arguments (2.1-2.2)
Wednesday: Deductive Args (2.3-2.5)
Friday: Inductive Args (2.6-2.8); Homework #1 due

February 11 – 15
Monday: Abductive Args (no reading) (group work)
Wednesday: Fallacies (3.1-3.3)
Friday: Quiz #1; Fallacies (no reading) (group work)

February 18 – 22
Monday: Fallacies (3.4-3.6)
Wednesday: Fallacies (finish chapter 3); Group Project #1 (in class)
Friday: Fallacies (4.1-4.3)

February 25 – 29
Monday: Fallacies (4.4- 4.6)
Wednesday: Fallacies (4.7) (group work)
Friday: Fallacies (finish chapter 4) Homework #2 due

March 3 – 7
Monday: Fallacies (5.1-5.3)
Wednesday: Fallacies (5.4-5.7)
Friday: Fallacies (5.7-5.9) (group work)

March 10 – 14
Monday: Fallacies (finish chapter 5); Paper #1 due
Wednesday: Review for Midterm (no reading)
Friday: MIDTERM

March 17 – 21: Spring Break
SPRING BREAK! (no class) (woo?)


March 24 – 28
Monday: Psychological Impediments (6.1-6.3)
Wednesday: Psychological Impediments (6.4-6.6)
Friday: Psychological Impediments (6.6-6.9)

March 31 – April 4
Monday: Psychological Impediments (finish Chapter 6) (group work)
Wednesday: Advanced Psychological Impediments (handout)
Friday: Advanced Psychological Impediments (handout); Group Project #2 (in class)

April 7 – 11
Monday: Intellectual Honesty (3.3, 3.7, 4.5)
Wednesday: Intellectual Honesty & the Principle of Charity (no reading)
Friday: Intellectual Honesty (no reading) (group work)

April 14 – 18
Monday: Quiz #2; Intro to Writing Essays (9.1-9.2)
Wednesday: Writing Essays (9.3-9.4)
Monday: Writing Essays (finish chapter 9); Homework #3 due

April 21 – 25
Monday: Evaluating Ads (10.1-10.3)
Wednesday: Ads (10.4-10.5)
Friday: Evaluating the News (11.1-11.4)

April 28 – May 2
Monday: News (11.5-11.8); Group Project #3 (in class)
Wednesday: Reliability of Experts (handout)
Friday: Prepare for group presentations (no reading) (group work)

May 5 – 9
Monday: group presentations (no reading)
Wednesday: group presentations (no reading)
Friday: Review for Final Exam (no reading)

May 12
Monday: FINAL EXAM

Course Details

Logic & Reasoning
Camden County College, Blackwood Campus
Philosophy 121, Section 02
Spring 2008
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
noon – 12:50 p.m. in Madison 311

Instructor: Sean Landis
Email: slandis@camdencc.edu
Phone: 609-980-8367
Course Website: http://ccclogic08.blogspot.com

Required Text
Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric, 10th edition (Howard Kahane & Nancy Cavender)

About the Course
We are presented with arguments for all sorts of conclusions all the time, on topics as serious as abortion or the death penalty and as trivial as the best player on the Phillies or the funniest late night host. How can we tell good arguments from bad ones?

This course focuses on understanding and evaluating arguments. We’ll first learn how to identify the components and structures of arguments. We’ll then learn how to pick apart bad reasoning found by going over logical fallacies—all the ways arguments can go wrong. We’ll also discuss psychological impediments—the ways most of us unreflectively reason poorly.

Armed with these evaluative tools, we’ll then explore our arguments for what we believe, and revise or strengthen them based on proper reasoning. The course’s main goal is to develop the ability to create original arguments that avoid the pitfalls of bad reasoning.

Grades
90-100% = A
80-89% = B
70-79% = C
60-69% = D
below 60% = F.

Midterm: 15%
Final: 25%
Quizzes (2): 7.5% each (15% total)
Oral Report: 15%
Short Papers (2): 5% each (10% total)
Group Projects (3): 3% each (9% total)
Other Homework (3): 2% each (6% total)
Attendance/Participation: 5%

Exams: The midterm tests everything covered during the first half of the course, and will last the full period (50 minutes) on the scheduled day. The final exam is cumulative—that is, it tests everything covered throughout the whole course, not just the second half. The final will last 50 minutes, and will take place on the last day of class.

Quizzes: Quiz #1 will test you on everything covered during the first 4 weeks of class, and quiz #2 will test you on everything covered after exam #1 (weeks 7 through 9). Quizzes will last 20 minutes, and be held at the beginning of the period on the scheduled day.

Oral Report: This will be a group project presented in front of the class at the end of the semester. Each group of 3-4 students will present a 10-15 minute oral presentation.

Short Papers: There will be two short papers (250-500 words each), the first on understanding and evaluating an argument, and the second on presenting an original argument of your own on a topic of your choosing.

In-Class Group Projects: There will be a lot of group work for this class. In addition to the group oral presentation, there will be three in-class group projects due at various times throughout the semester.

Other Homework: There will be three total homework assignments in addition to the two short papers. Each one is due at the beginning of class the day they are due.

Classroom Policies
Academic Integrity: Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students found guilty of either will definitely fail the test, quiz, or assignment – and possibly the entire class.
NOTE: Working with fellow students on group projects or homework assignments is not cheating. Copying a fellow student’s completed homework assignment is cheating. (Come to me if you are unsure what constitutes cheating or plagiarism.)

Excused Absenses: Make-up exams, quizzes, in-class projects, or oral reports will only be scheduled for any excused absences (excused absences include religious observance, official university business, and illness or injury – with a doctor’s note). An unexcused absence on the day of the exam or quiz will result in a zero on that exam or quiz.

Important Dates
January 18: Last day to drop a course & receive a 100% refund.
February 4: Last day to drop a course & receive a 50% refund.
February 11: Last day to sign up to audit a course.
April 28: Last day to withdrawal from Fall Classes.