Homework #3

Homework #3 is due at the beginning of class on Monday, May 10th. Your assignment is to choose an ad (on TV or from a magazine or wherever) and evaluate it from a logic & reasoning perspective.

• First, very briefly explain the argument that the ad offers to sell its product.
• Then, list and explain the mistakes in reasoning that the ad commits.
• Then, list and explain the psychological ploys the ad uses (what psychological impediments does the ad try to exploit?).
• Attach (if it's from a newspaper or magazine) or briefly explain the ad.
  

Quiz #2

Quiz #2 will be held at the beginning of class on Wednesday, April 21st. It will last 25 minutes, and is worth 7.5% of your overall grade. The quiz is on everything we've discussed since the midterm:

• Fallacies (starting with appeal to ignorance to the end of chapter 5)
• Psychological Impediments (chapter 4)

The quiz will contain a mix of short answer questions and arguments that contain fallacies.

Homework #2

Just a reminder that homework #2 is due at the beginning of class on Monday, November 2nd. The assignment is to determine the fallacy (if there is one) in each of the arguments from #1 (a through t) of exercise 5-3 on pages 150-151 of our textbook.

Extra Credit: Guest Speaker

The Owning Our Ignorance club is sponsoring a guest speaker to talk about god and suffering! Here are the details:

• Bryan Frances, Fordham University Philosophy Professor
• “An Adequate Theistic Response to the Problem of Gratuitous Evil?”
• Wednesday, April 7th
  
• 2:00 p.m.
• Madison 210
• Join the Facebook Event!

I'm offering an extra credit assignment: you can attend and write up a short paper on your reaction to the talk. The assignment is worth up to 20 points added to your final grade (out of 1,000).

Possible Paper Articles

Here are some links to a variety of articles you could use for your paper on explaining and evaluating an article's argument. I strongly recommend using one of these articles, since most contain bad arguments:

1. Down With Facebook!: it's so stupid
2. Do Fish Feel Pain?: "it's a tricky issue, so I'll go with my gut"
   
3. In the Basement of the Ivory Tower: are some people just not meant for college?
4. Study Says Social Conservatives Are Dumb: but that doesn't mean they're wrong
5. You Don't Deserve Your Salary: no one does
   
   
6. The Financial Crisis Killed Libertarianism: if it wasn't dead to begin with
7. How'd Economists Get It So Wrong?: Krugman says the least wrong was Keynes
8. An Open Letter to Krugman: get to know your field
9. Consider the Lobster: David Foster Wallace ponders animal ethics
10. The Dark Art of Interrogation: Bowden says torture is necessary
11. The Idle Life is Worth Living: in praise of laziness
12. Should I Become a Professional Philosopher?: maybe not
    
13. Blackburn Defends Philosophy: it beats being employed

Paper Guideline

Due Date: the beginning of class on Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Worth: 5% of final grade

Length/Format: Papers must be typed, and must be between 300-600 words long. Provide a word count on the first page of the paper. (Most programs like Microsoft Word & WordPerfect have automatic word counts.)

Assignment:
1) Pick an article from a newspaper, magazine, or journal in which an author presents an argument for a particular position. There are some links to potential articles here. I recommend choosing from those articles, though you are also free to choose an article on any topic you want.

TIP: It’s easier to write this paper on an article with a BAD argument. Try finding a poorly-reasoned article!

You must show Sean your article by Monday, April 19th for approval. The main requirement is that the article present an argument. One place to look for such articles is the Opinion page of a newspaper. Here’s a short list of some other good sources:

• The New Yorker
• Slate
• New York Review of Books
• London Review of Books
• Times Literary Supplement
• Boston Review
• Atlantic Monthly
• The New Republic
• The Weekly Standard
• The Nation
• Reason
• Dissent
• First Things
• Mother Jones
• National Journal
• The New Criterion
• Wilson Quarterly
• The Philosophers' Magazine
  

(for even more sources, check out the left-hand column of Arts & Letters Daily)

2) In the essay, first briefly explain the article’s argument in your own words. What is the position that the author is arguing for? What are the reasons the author offers as evidence for her or his conclusion? What type of argument does the author provide? In other words, provide a brief summary of the argument.
NOTE: This part of your paper shouldn’t be very long. I recommend making this about one paragraph of your paper.

3) In the essay, then evaluate the article’s argument. Overall, is this a good or bad argument? Why or why not? Systematically evaluate the argument: Check each premise: is each premise true? Or is it false? Questionable? (Do research if you have to in order to determine whether the author’s claims are true.) Then check the structure of the argument. Do the premises provide enough rational support for the conclusion? Does the argument contain any fallacies? If you are criticizing the article’s argument, be sure to consider potential responses that the author might offer, and explain why these responses don’t work. If you are defending the article’s argument, be sure to consider and respond to objections..
NOTE: This should be the main part of your paper. Focus most of your paper on evaluating the argument.

4) Attach a copy of the article to your paper when you hand it in. (Save trees! Print it on few pages!)

By Request

It wasn't here when you wrote it, but it is now:

Group Presentations

UPDATE: Here are the new dates for each presentation. Two groups will be going on some days.

Here are the assigned groups for the group presentations on fallacies, along with your topics and the tentative date of each presentation (those dates will probably be pushed back):

1. Accent & Division (already went): Bryan H., Hunter
   
2. Ad Hominem & Appeal to Force (already went): Andrew, Courtney, Kelly
   
3. Appeal to Pity & Popular Appeal (Monday, 3/22): Bob, Nick
   
4. Appeal to Ignorance & Hasty Generalization (Monday, 3/22): Fred, Justin, Lillie
   
5. Straw Man & Red Herring (Wednesday, 3/24): Jason, Jay
   
6. Begging the Question & Loaded Question (Friday, 3/26): Brent, Miranda
   
7. Appeal to Authority & False Dilemma (Friday, 3/26): Chris, Kyle, Tracey
   
8. Slippery Slope & The Naturalistic Fallacy (Monday, 3/29): Brian L., Dane
   

Midterm

Just a reminder: The midterm will be held at the beginning of class on Friday, March 12th. It's worth 15% of your overall grade, and will cover everything we've done in class so far:

• definitions of 'logic,' 'reasoning,' and 'argument'
  
• evaluating arguments
• types of arguments:
  -deductive (aim for certainty, are valid/invalid and sound/unsound)
  -inductive (generalizing from examples, depend on large, representative samples)
  -args about cause/effect (correlation vs. causation)
  -abductive (inferences to the best explanation)
  
• the 4 to 6 fallacies covered in class so far
  

Get to studying!

Quiz You Once, Shame on Me

The first quiz will be held at the beginning of class on Wednesday, February 17th (we're pushing it back one more class because of the snow day). You will have about 25 minutes to take it.

There will be a multiple choice section, a section on evaluating deductive arguments, a section on evaluating arguments, and a section where you provide examples of specific kinds of arguments. Basically, it will look like a mix of the homework and group work we've done in class so far.

The quiz is on what we have discussed in class from chapters 6, 8, and part of 7 of the textbook. Specifically, here's what will be covered on the quiz:

• definitions of: logic, reasoning, argument, structure, sound, valid, deductive, inductive
• understanding arguments
• evaluating arguments
  
• deductive args (valid & sound)
• inductive args (if we get to them in class on Friday or Monday)
  

The quiz is worth 7.5% of your overall grade. Feel free to insult me in the comments for putting you through the terrible ordeal of taking a quiz.

Snow Day!

Our class is canceled Wednesday, February 10th, because of the snow. In fact, all day and evening classes at Camden County College are canceled until Thursday Friday.

(This means our homework is now due Friday.)

Enjoy!

Homework #1

As I mentioned in class, our first homework assignment is to evaluate the arguments from #1 (a) through (h) on pages 187-188 of the textbook. The homework is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, February 10th, and is worth 40 points (4% of your overall grade).

On an unrelated note, I found the reason the internet exists: hipster puppies.

sounder isn’t exactly sure what dubstep is, but is still complaining about the lack of it at pitchfork fest this year