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)