Department of Philosophy
Philosophy 103
DDA: 96227
MWF: 11:15-12:10
3 Credits
L-301
Instructor: Dr. Wayne Alt
CCBC Essex
Office: L-222
410-780-6451
Office Hours: After Class or by Appointment
Course Description: “Critical
Thinking” presents a logical approach to everyday arguments and controversial
issues. It identifies principles of
sound and cogent reasoning and shows how to put them into practice. It also identifies sources of fallacious
thinking and mistaken judgment such as misleading language or cultural and
psychological bias, and suggests methods for counter-acting them. This course
provides thinking skills necessary for a citizen in a free and open
society.
Course Objectives: Successful completion of this course enables
students to:
1. be reflective thinkers rather than just gut
responders.
2. distinguish rational belief from unwarranted opinion.
3. distinguish inductive from deductive reasoning.
4. distinguish enumerative, analogical and hypothetical
forms of induction
5. evaluate the cogency of inductive arguments.
6. distinguish among types of deductive arguments:
categorical, hypothetical and disjunctive syllogisms, modus ponens,
modus tollens, as well as other valid and invalid argument forms.
7. solve problems that require one to distinguish
validity from soundness.
8. solve problems using fundamental principles of
scientific method.
9. identify common formal and informal mistakes in
reasoning: logical fallacies.
10. identify psychological and cultural sources of bias
and distortion and apply methods for neutralizing them.
Course Prerequisites: Exemption from or successful completion of (ENGL
052 or LVE 2) and or (ESOL054 or LV2)
or (MATH 081 or LVM 1)
Course Text: How to Think about Weird Things, 4th
edition, by Theodore Schick, Jr., and Lewis Vaughn.
Grade Scale:
90-100: A
80- 89: B
70-
79: C
60-
69: D
0- 59: F
1. All students will have a
WEB-CT Account (see below):
2. Best 5 out of 6 homework
assignments: 5 pts each.
Instructions:
All homework assignments are to be submitted to me as “Word” file attachments
by Private Mail on WebCT according to the following timetable:
Homework 1: By 5 pm 9/15
Homework 3: By 5 pm 10/18
Homework 4: By 5 pm 11/3
Homework 5: By 5 pm 11/19
Homework 6: By 5 pm 12/6
3. Post 4 corrected homework
assignments in the appropriate forum on the public bulletin board. 1pt each.
Instructions:
Post the assignment as a Word attachment in the “Corrected Homework” Forum on
the WebCT Bulletin Board according to the following timetable:
First Post: By 10/10
Third Post: By 11/30
Forth Post: By 12/10
4. Best 2 out of 3 Quizzes:
12 pts each. No make quizzes will be
given!
Quiz
2: Will be given during the last 25 minutes of class on 10/29.
Quiz
3: Will be given during the last 25 minutes of class on 12/3.
5. Midterm Exam: 20 points will be given at the
beginning of class on 10/23. If you miss the exam, contact me as soon as
possible to arrange a make-up. The
make-up must
be taken by 11/5 in the testing center in the E-building.
6. Final Exam: 27
points. 12/13 10:30-12:30. No make up is given for the final unless a
legitimate legal or medical excuse is provided.
Extra Credit:
Depending on the quality of your posts you can earn as many as 3 extra points
for Bulletin Board Contributions to the course electronic bulletin
board.
CLASSROOM CONVENTIONS:
1) Tardiness. Class begins at 11:15. If you cannot avoid being late please enter
the classroom in an unobtrusive manner.
In addition to being rude, habitual lateness is not an effective
learning strategy.
2) The
call of nature. Please take care of
these matters before class or after class. Please do not leave and return to
the classroom for trivial reasons: to take a cell phone call, get a drink,
snuggle with you honey.
3) Be
here now. Do not prepare for other
classes, read, gab, write love poems, or sleep during class. I am grateful for your attention.
WebCT: WebCT is our on-line learning tool. It enables you to:
1) Read
and download assignments, Supplemental Readings, or Lecture Notes.
2) Private
mail a classmate or me.
3) Submit
your homework on line.
4) Check
your point progress in the Grade Book.
5) Discuss
problems on the course Bulletin Board.
6) And
much more.
HERE’S HOW TO
ACCESS WebCT:
1)
Go to: http://www.ccbcmd.edu.
2)
Click on CCBC
Essex.
3)
Click on Faculty
Pages.
4)
Click on Wayne
Alt, and you will arrive at my homepage.
5)
Look down the Philosophy 103 column for WebCT.
6)
Click on Current.
7)
Click “Log In.”
Enter your User Name. Enter the
last FOUR digits of your social security number as your password.
8)
Click GRADEBOOK, BULLETIN BOARD, PRIVATE
MAIL, icons, etc.
USING THE BULLETIN BOARD: I will open
different discussion forums on the Bulletin Board at appropriate times.
You can visit the free speech forum anytime you want, and post any
message you want there, but I me not consider it to be worthy of extra credit.
The “Corrected Homework” Forum is where you post your corrected homework
assignments. We will have many different forums on different subjects and
techniques of critical analysis. The PURPOSE OF BULLETIN BOARD
discussion should be to clarify points made in the readings, homework
assignments, lectures, classroom discussions, etc. As operator of the BB I
reserve the right to delete messages and reorganize the board.