This first-year course develops practical habits of critical reasoning for college work and public life.

Students learn to reconstruct arguments in standard form and as maps; diagnose and repair language problems (ambiguity, vagueness, loaded terms); and choose and apply the right evaluation method for an argument (deductive validity and inductive force), with particular emphasis on the notion of rational persuasiveness.

We also identify common formal and informal fallacies, rhetorical devices and faulty argument techniques. We will also study in detail forms of reasoning of particular interest such as inference to the best explanation, analogical reasoning and causal reasoning. We will also introduce the notion of the expected value of an action.

Work is supported by frequent short in-class quizzes, homework, and a course project. Open-access materials are used throughout; no prior study of logic or philosophy is required.