CCOG for PHL 221 archive revision 202404
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- Effective Term:
- Fall 2024
- Course Number:
- PHL 221
- Course Title:
- Symbolic Logic
- Credit Hours:
- 4
- Lecture Hours:
- 40
- Lecture/Lab Hours:
- 0
- Lab Hours:
- 0
Course Description
Addendum to Course Description
The course may include a summary of traditional categorical (syllogistic) logic as an historical and/or methodological introduction to modern symbolic logic.
Intended Outcomes for the course
Upon successful completion of the course students should be able to:
- Identify key philosophical assumptions in the field of symbolic logic.
- Use techniques from logic to clearly articulate individual positions.
- Employ logical concepts and processes to respectfully consider the approaches and solutions of others to contribute to conversations on issues of importance.
- Demonstrate critical self-awareness of one’s thinking process in order to self-monitor understanding and performance.
Integrative Learning
Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to reflect on one’s work or competencies to make connections between course content and lived experience.
General education philosophy statement
Philosophy courses ask students to use critical thinking and reasoning skills in multiple ways: to identify the content, structure, and influence of beliefs, to examine how diverse philosophical perspectives affect human experience, and to construct and respond to arguments on a variety of philosophical issues. They encourage students to both create and understand their and others’ frameworks of meaning, and to use this new understanding in their own lived experience.
Aspirational Goals
- Reinforce the commitment to rational discourse and the development of strong critical thinking skills.
- Contribute to, and perpetuate the intellectual, artistic, and spiritual inheritance of our society.
- Continue studies that require advanced verbal and logical skills, as well as more specialized studies in Philosophy or any other field that requires mature critical thinking skills.
Course Activities and Design
The course will be conducted in both the standard classroom, remote, hybrid and fully online settings. It will involve lectures, discussions, exercises for learning techniques in logic, and other assignments such as exams and papers.
Outcome Assessment Strategies
The primary methods of this course are diligent study and reflection, frequent practice with logic exercises, and rational discourse. Assessment strategies will include some of the following:
- Logic exercises / problems
- Short-answer quizzes
- Worksheet projects
- Group discussions
- Short essays
- Assignment completion
- Attendance / Engagement level
Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)
Major Topics
- Distinguish statements from other kinds of ordinary language expressions.
- Convert an argument from its original context into standard argument form.
- Translate ordinary English language statements and arguments into symbolic form.
- Use formal methods of propositional logic for analyzing the logical structures of ordinary language statements, and for determining the validity of deductive arguments.
- Construct valid arguments of their own and accurately evaluate the arguments of others.
- Use basic logic concepts and techniques for disclosing ill-conceived ideas and irrational arguments.
- Explain how symbolic logic can assist in eliminating the ambiguity, vagueness, and redundancy of ordinary language statements.
- Reflect on and discuss the advantages and limits of symbolic logic in the development of strong reasoning skills.