Week 1: Discussion

Welcome to Informal logic; I am happy to have you in class! This week’s guidance covers the following topics:

1. What is logic, and why is it important?

2. What is an Argument?

3. Identifying Arguments

4. Evaluating Arguments

5. To-Do List for the Week

Simply put, logic (from the Greek logos), is the study of reasoning. We use logic to evaluate what types of reasoning are good and bad. Reasoning can be thought of as the effort to find out what is true by careful thought. Since logic studies reasoning and since reason’s goal is to discover truth, logic itself is ultimately aimed at the discovery of truth. It is the study of how the mind can effectively come to know, by study and thought, what is true and what is false. The same process also helps us to know what decisions are best to make. Theoretically, there can hardly be a more important study.

Though learning to reason well may be difficult at first, the effort to improve is well worth it. It is through the power of reason that humanity has learned about how the universe works and how to use that knowledge to develop technology. It is through the power of reason that we have been able to get to the moon and create the computer upon which you are now reading this. It is through the use of reason that you can effectively manage your money and live in a healthy manner. Given these and other extremely important uses, it is hard to doubt the value of learning to reason well.

One could even say that reason is what made us emerge to become who we are as a species:

(Note: the videos in this guidance are for entertainment purposes and are optional. The required instructional videos for this course are contained in the "Lectures" tab in the ecollege)

In order to study reasoning, it is useful to break it down into its smallest elements. The smallest element of reasoning is called an argument. You may associate the word “argument” with some kind of quarrel:

In logic, however, an argument is a piece of reasoning. Here is an example of an argument:

Premise 1: Mike is taller than Lucy

Premise 2: Lucy is taller than Joe

Conclusion: Therefore, Mike is taller than Joe

(This style of expressing arguments, with the premises listed above the conclusion, is called standard form. Putting them in this form clarifies the reasoning and makes it much easier to evaluate it.)

Notice that in this argument the first two statements lead to the truth of the third one. These first two statements are called premises. The premises in the above argument are “Mike is taller than Lucy” and “Lucy is taller than Joe.” From these premises, an argument infers the truth of another statement which is called the conclusion. In this argument, the conclusion is “Mike is taller than Joe.”

Arguments, as we find them in real life, aren’t usually spelled out so clearly. We might find an argument in real life expressed something like this: “I can’t go to the party. I have a test in the morning, and I have a ton of studying to do. Plus I think that Mike will be there, and I am mad at him.”

What is the conclusion of this argument? What are the premises? Because arguments in real life are often expressed in such a confusing manner, putting them into standard form is often quite tricky; however, it can be very valuable for clarifying the reasoning. Here is how we might clarify this one:

Premise 1: I have a test in the morning

Premise 2: I have a ton of studying to do

Premise 3: Mike will be there

Premise 4: I am mad at Mike

Conclusion: Therefore, I can’t go to the party

There are some things that we can learn about arguments from this example: First, arguments do not have to have two premises. In fact, there are arguments with any number of premises. Second, arguments do not always have the word “therefore” before their conclusions. Sometimes they use other words that mean the same as “therefore” include “so,” “thus,” “hence,” “it follows that,” “from which we can infer,” etc. Because these words indicate conclusions, they are called conclusion markers. Some arguments instead use words that identify the premises, called premise markers. Premise markers include “because” and “since.”

Some arguments don’t have premise marker or conclusion markers. The argument about not going to the party has neither; we are simply supposed to tell what the conclusion is from the context. None of the other sentences within the argument make nearly as much sense as the conclusion. Sometimes the process of identifying the exact premises and conclusion of an argument can be quite tricky. For more guidance about arguments and standard form, watch the required videos in the lectures section of this course.

Since logic is the study of arguments, the next question to ask, after we have identified the argument, is whether it is any good. What kinds of things are needed for an argument to be a good one? If the goal of reasoning is to discover truth, good arguments are ones that are likely to lead us to true conclusions. For an argument to establish the truth of its conclusion, two things need to be the case:

1. The premises should be true. If it turns out that one or more of the premises is false, then we have no guarantee of the truth of the conclusion.

2. The truth of the conclusion should be supported by the premises.

This second criterion comes in all degrees of strength. In the extreme case, we have arguments that whose premises are intended to establish the truth with absolute certainty. These arguments are called deductive. Then we have arguments whose premises are intended only to confer an added likelihood to the truth of the conclusion; these are called inductive. We will cover these two types of arguments in the next two weeks of the course.

For now, let’s close this week with a humorous take on the nature of arguments (Notice that this video, despite its silliness, attempts to give an actual description of good arguments from 0:35 to 1:14):

1. Read the required materials for the week, including this guidance and chapters 1 & 2 from the textbook

2. Watch the weekly intro video and all of the videos under the “Lectures” tab for this week of the course and view all other required materials.

3. Post a timely (by day 3) and thorough response to the “Post Your Introduction” forum as well as substantive replies to peers. Make sure to follow all instructions listed.

4. Respond to the week’s discussion (initial post by day 3). This discussion asks you to present your own argument on one of the paper topics. It is good practice for your paper assignments as well as a place to get feedback on your initial argument from your instructor and/or fellow classmates. Make sure to follow carefully all elements of the discussion prompt.

5. Take the Quiz for the week (by day 7). It covers the central concepts of the course as covered in the textbook, this guidance, and the lecture videos for this week.

6. Post your first paper assignment, the Initial Argument Paper (by day 7). This paper allows you to refine the argument that you presented in the discussion and to support the truth of its premises and the strength of its reasoning in a short essay. Please pay careful attention to the assignment instructions before posting. There are several links and even a sample paper (known as a worked example) to help you to write your paper.

If you have any questions, make sure to let your instructor know, either via email or in the Ask Your Instructor forum.

Fernando Phillipi (2010). 2001 dawn of man (best cut) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2iiPpcwfCA

Logic. (n.d.). In Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=logic&searchmode=none

Rai Castle (2012). The cutest argument (subtitles) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-cUTV56Yh0

Traceur in training (2009). Monty Python - argument clinic [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnTmBjk-M0c