PHIL 7: INTRODUCTION TO SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading | Value |
---|---|
Effective Term: | Summer 2025 |
Units: | 5 |
Hours: | 5 lecture per week (60 total per quarter) |
Degree & Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
Foothill GE: | Area 1B: Oral Communication & Critical Thinking |
Transferable: | CSU/UC |
Grade Type: | Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass) |
Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
Student Learning Outcomes
- Determine the validity, soundness, and consistency of deductive arguments using various methods including Natural Deduction and Predicate Logic.
- Identify and apply rules of inference and logical equivalence.
- Identify and distinguish the constituent parts of an argument (premises and conclusion) within a persuasive text or speech.
- Translate natural language statements and arguments into symbolic form.
Description
Course Objectives
The student will be able to:
- Construct, analyze and evaluate arguments.
- Identify formal and informal fallacies.
- Translate real language arguments into symbolic form.
- Evaluate symbolic statements and arguments with direct and indirect truth tables.
- Use rules of replacement and implication to construct symbolic proofs for the evaluation of arguments.
Course Content
- Subject matter of logic
- Components of an argument: premises and conclusions
- Induction versus deduction
- Strength and validity
- Advantages of symbolism in logic
- Formal and informal fallacies
- Categorical propositions
- Quantity, quality and distribution
- Aristotle and the traditional square of opposition
- Boole and the modern square of opposition
- Using Venn diagrams for evaluation of categorical propositions and arguments
- Translation of ordinary language arguments into categorical syllogisms
- Sorities
- Propositional logic
- Symbols and translation
- Truth functions
- Truth tables for arguments and propositions
- Indirect truth tables
- Argument forms and formal fallacies
- Modus ponens
- Modus tollens
- Hypothetical syllogism
- Disjunctive syllogism
- Constructive dilemma
- Destructive dilemma
- Affirming the consequent
- Denying the antecedent
- Natural deduction
- Using rules of implication in proofs
- Using rules of replacement in proofs
- Conditional and indirect proofs
- Predicate logic
- Symbols and translation for predicate logic
- Using the rules of inference in predicate logic
- Change in quantifier rule
- Conditional and indirect proofs for predicate logic
- Proving invalidity
- Relational predicates and overlapping quantifiers
- Identity
Lab Content
Not applicable.
Special Facilities and/or Equipment
Method(s) of Evaluation
Participation in class discussions
Regular homework that provides opportunity to construct, evaluate and analyze arguments using techniques under discussion
Examinations
Method(s) of Instruction
Lecture
Discussion
Representative Text(s) and Other Materials
Hurley, Patrick. A Concise Introduction to Logic, 13th ed.. 2018.
Copi, Irving M., and Carl Cohen. Introduction to Logic, 15th ed.. 2019.
Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments
Daily assignments will take a variety of forms. Examples include argument reconstruction, fallacy identification, evaluation of arguments using Venn diagrams, truth tables and proofs.