Admission requirements
Required course(s):
None.
Description
This course provides students with an overview of certain tools of logic and epistemology that will equip them to generate more persuasive arguments, understand certain historical-scientific developments of logic and epistemology, and navigate the world generally in a more critical way.
We will first explore principles of good arguments and the most common informal logical fallacies that threaten them. Students will learn to identify and articulate fallacies while picking up tools that guard against them (such as using the notion of a family resemblance concept to better spot fallacies of equivocation).
Students will then be introduced to formal expressions of logic in the form of basic sentential logic. Students will learn to use the connectives, basic rules of inference, and the construction of truth tables.
Students will approach epistemology by being introduced to the classical scheme of justified true beliefs and its modern critics (e.g., Gettier and Wittgenstein). Finally, students will be exposed to the variety of genres of epistemology, such as virtue epistemology, feminist epistemology, and indigenous epistemology.
Course Objectives
Inculcate an introductory understanding of certain kinds of basic formal and informal logic.
Support everyday critical thinking skills (such as in the critical consumption of media and assessment of public debates).
Learn to appreciate the complexity and diversity of epistemological issues involved in any human knowledge endeavor.
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2022-2023 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
In-person lectures, groupwork, and readings.
Assessment Method
Informal Logic Paper (1000-1500 words): 20%
Quizzes (4): 20%
Logic exam: 20%
Epistemology exam: 20%
Reading/class responses (10): 20%
Reading list
ISE Critical Thinking, 13th Edition, by Brook Moore & Richard Parker
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr. Ryan van Nood, r.r.h.van.nood@phil.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
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