Introduction to Logic

Analyze deductive arguments, including validity, form, and soundness, and identify invalidity via counterexamples. Compare inductive arguments by strength, probability, and the distinction between correlation and causation.

Learn to diagram arguments by classifying independent, intermediate, and joint premises, assess validity and strength, and interpret conclusion indicator words through examples of marijuana legality and the automatic weapons argument.

Explore how formal and informal fallacies distort arguments, from distraction and appeal to emotion to straw man, red herring, and ad hominem, including coercive threats.

Examine fallacies of weak induction and illicit presumptions, including argument from ignorance, appeal to inappropriate authority, post hoc, slippery slope, hasty generalization, and false choice.

Identify fallacies of linguistic emphasis in logic, including the accent fallacy, quoting out of context, equivocation, and manipulative framing, with practical examples.

Examine deductive logic via aristotelian term logic and propositional logic, identifying classes and four categorical propositions: universal and particular, affirmative and negative, and applying standard form with the copula be.

Explore the square of opposition, a diagram of the four categorical forms (a, e, i, o) and their contradictory, contrary, subcontrary, and subaltern relationships.

Explore how to manipulate categorical sentences through conversion, obversion, and contraposition, examining when universal and particular propositions can be transformed while preserving truth.

Examine problems with the square of opposition, including existential import and empty classes, and the Boolean solution. Review categorical syllogisms, mood and figure, and Venn diagrams for validity.