Critical Thinking (PHI2103 RVC)

 

Basic Info

 

Title

Critical Thinking

Prefix and Number

PHI 2103

Section

RVC

Semester/Year

Spring 2024

Location

Online

Day/Time

N/A

Instructor

Kenton Harris

Instructor Office

DM343 B MMC

Instructor Telephone Number

(305) 348-3516

Instructor E-mail

Harrisk@fiu.edu

Text(s)

None (Some notes will be provided.)

Quizzes

Ten quizzes (objective- short answer)

Exams

Two

Short Writing Assignments

Ten (varied)

Paper

One (3 parts: original, peer review and redraft)

Final Exam

Yes, during Final Exam Week

 

Lesson Plan and Notes

 

Important Dates:

 

 Graded Assignment

Date Due

Percentage of Final Grade

Quiz 1

1/19

2%

Quiz 2

1/26

2%

Quiz 3

2/2

2%

Quiz 4

2/16

2%

Quiz 5

2/23

2%

Quiz 6

3/8

2%

Quiz 7

3/15

2%

Quiz 8

3/29

2%

Quiz 9

4/5

2%

Quiz 10

4/12

2%

Lowest Three Quizzes Dropped – No Make Up Quizzes Given

Exam 1

2/9

15%

Exam 2

3/22

15%

Short Writing Assignment 1

1/22

2%

Short Writing Assignment 2

1/29

2%

Short Writing Assignment 3

2/5

2%

Short Writing Assignment 4

2/12

2%

Short Writing Assignment 5

2/19

2%

Short Writing Assignment 6

3/4

2%

Short Writing Assignment 7

3/11

2%

Short Writing Assignment 8

3/18

2%

Short Writing Assignment 9

3/25

2%

Short Writing Assignment 10

4/19

2%

Paper 1a

4/1

15%

 

Peer Review 1

4/8

Paper 1b

4/15

Final Exam

During Final Exam Week

20%

End of the Drop/Add Period

 

Last Day to Drop Without incurring financial liability

1/16/24

Last Day to Apply for Fall Graduation

 

1/28/24

Last Date to Drop and Receive a “DR”

3/18/24

 

Course Description:

 

Course description:  Enhancement and development of reasoning and argument analysis skills.  Topics include: claims verses non-claims, the elements of arguments, the concepts of truth, verification, and propositional knowledge; ­inductive and deductive reasoning; formal and informal arguments and common errors in reasoning, basic moral, aesthetic and legal reasoning.

 

Purpose and Objectives:

 

Purpose:

 

While many persons can intuitively identify obviously good or faulty reasoning, many cannot explain the underlying principles of proper reasoning nor explain (much less name) examples of fallacious reasoning.  On an even more elementary level, we sometimes find ourselves in the middle of "disputes" which are not legitimate arguments at all, but rather a clash of subjective attitudes of emotional content for which a logical resolution is neither possible nor needed.  In such instances, despite the fact that all parties agree on all the facts, each continues to regard their opponent as "mistaken," never clearly seeing that there is nothing to this “dispute.”  Still other times we are moved to action or judgement (political, economic, aesthetic, etc.) despite the fact that we've been given no reason to be so moved.  These, among other topics will be explored.  We shall endeavor to develop the skills necessary not only to reason well, but also to distinguish between those times when reason is called for and those times when it is irrelevant.

 

Objectives:

 

The First Focus of this Course:

To understand the various uses to which language can be put.  To identify the difference between claims and non-claims and the need for and structure of rational justification of claims.

The Second Focus of this Course:

The different areas and characteristics of good deductive reasoning (Aristotelian Syllogistics) applying the rules of validity, and elementary propositional logic.

The Third Focus of this Course:

Identifying fallacious forms of reasoning and being able to apply countermeasures to them. 

The Forth Focus of this Course:

An examination of the standards of strong inductive inference, explanatory reasoning and statistical reasoning.

The Fifth Focus of this Course:

Understanding the fundamental reasons for judging behavior moral or immoral and to recognize these reasons when used to build a persuasive ethical argument (as they appear in editorials, public policies, codes of professional ethics, legal judgements, foreign policy statements). This will also require the student to recognize the absence of good moral reasoning when it is lacking and to apply these moral theories to current moral issues.

How does this course advance/fit the College mission?

Because this is a course in philosophy, it necessarily requires that students become acquainted with the history of western ideas and the advance of western culture. Beyond that, students will learn to sharpen their observational skills, analytic as well as synthetic thinking, and writing abilities and communication skills. It is precisely this kind of breadth of knowledge and intellectual maturity which is expected of college graduates.

During this course the student will build these and other skills. Such skills, the organization and evaluation of arguments in the arts, sciences, mathematics, ethics, politics, advertising, etc. are indicative of higher education.  Further, without such, the capacity for critical judgement would be far beneath what is necessary for the political health of a self-governed democracy such as ours.

Course Mechanics:

Video recorded lectures and accompanying notes are provided discussing the topic material designated for that day by the lesson plan.  

Learning Methods:

This course will be primarily lecture in format. There will be several mandatory outside assignments. Students will be tested on comprehension of lecture and text material with exams as well as be required to write a paper involving some research and original thought.

Skills Component:

 

As with any philosophy class, there will be heavy emphasis on clear articulation skills, the ability to reason and justify one's own assertions, and to see the implications and ramifications of theoretical positions. Developing these skills will be a major focus of the course and, indeed, will be necessary for passing this course.

 

COMPETENCIES

 

1.            To understand the different areas in which deductive and inductive reasoning occurs (e.g. science, opinion polls, philosophy, advertising, editorials, etc.) and how requirements shift according to areas.

2.            Verification/ justification principles in different areas where induction occurs.

3.            Know and use the different standard and non-standard forms of deductive reasoning.

4.            To identify fallacies of a formal and informal type.

5.            To understand and identify moral reasoning and distinguish morals reasons and non-moral reasons.

6.            To understand and identify aesthetic reasoning and distinguish aesthetic reasons and non-aesthetic reasons.

 

Basic Policies

 

Below are listed various procedural policies.  By remaining a registered student in this course you indicate you acceptance of the policies listed in this syllabus.

 

Make-up policies:

 

·         There will be no make-ups for missed work or tests.

·         A documented emergency will be dealt with on an individual basis.

 

Drops:

 

Students unable or unwilling to continue in the course should notify the instructor.  It is their responsibility to officially withdrawal through PantherSoft and/or the Registrar's Office. If they do not officially withdraw, they will receive an F for the course.

 

Special Learning Needs:

 

Students with documented special learning needs are asked to have Student Services inform the instructor so that accommodations can be made when necessary for testing, note taking or, paper writing.

 

Class Conduct

 

This is a fully online course.

 

Requirements and Grading:

 

Quizzes:

 

There will be a total of ten quizzes.  All are largely objective and multiple choice questions.  No make-up quizzes will be given.

 

Exams:

 

There will be two exams given during the semester.  The material will be drawn from BOTH lecture materials and the assigned text readings.  The exam will have both multiple choice/ short answer questions and essay questions.

 

Writing Component:

 

Short Writing Assignments

 

There will be a series of short writing assignments.  They are largely laddered and targeted at drilling a specific writing or critical thinking skill.  These writing assignments will address a subset of the following: paraphrasing, diagramming sentences, answering essay questions, addressing ambiguity, identifying issues, premises and conclusions, fragmenting and reassembling arguments, distinguishing between necessary and sufficient conditions, extemporaneous writing, and job interview and professional writing.

 

Longer Paper Assignment and Peer Review

 

In this class we are using peer review as part of the writing assignments.  Each student will peer review the work of two fellow students, providing those students with feedback on their first draft of an assignment.  The structure of the Peer Review Program for this course is as follows:

 

Initial Draft

 

Each student will be assigned a topic paper for the first longer writing assignment (Paper 1a).  The student will submit this paper by the date specified in the lesson plan via the course Canvas site.

 

Peer Review

 

Then, each student will receive two peers’ papers to review.  Each student will read, comment on and assess according to a rubric his or her peers’ papers within one week of the original submission date.  Once all the peer reviews are in, each student will then write a second draft of the paper on the same topic, incorporating the comments and feedback gained from his or her writing peers and submit that as Paper 1b.

 

Note about the peer reviews:

 

Because of the way Canvas is configured, you must submit these peer reviews in two different ways.

 

First you must submit the comments to your peers using the comments box provided by Canvas next to your peer’s paper.

However, you must also copy and paste the same comments into a document and upload that document to the assignment in your assignments list entitled “Peer Review.”

 

If you only submit your peer comments via the assignments box, your classmates will not have access to them.  If you only submit your peer review comments into the comments box on your classmates’ papers, I will not receive a copy nor will I know when you have completed this assignment. 

 

Therefore, it is important that you do both. You must submit the peer review comments into the comments box on your peers’ papers, but you must also submit those same comments in a separate document to me using the assignments box. 

 

I understand that this is a little confusing, but it's the best I can do given the way Canvas has configured this assignment.

 

Final Draft

 

Finally, a week after your peer review is due, you are required to upload your final draft, Paper 1b. By the time you're uploading your final draft you will have (1) read two classmates papers, (2) received comments from two of your classmates, and (3) you will have had two more weeks to consider your paper.  All this should combine so that you can submit a better, more thoughtful final draft paper.

 

Papers 1a, the peer review & 1Paper b will receive a single combined grade to be counted in the student’s final average. The grade will be based on

 

1.       the initial quality of the paper submission

2.       the quality of the peer reviews submitted by the student

3.       and the degree to which the second paper is further developed incorporating feedback from and discussions peers.

 

Final Exam:

 

A final examination will be given during the final exam week as scheduled by the University.  (Students can find their final exam schedule on the PantherSoft Student Center Page and selecting it from the Drop-down menu there.)  It will be NOT be cumulative, but will only include material covered after the midterm exam.  It will be structured as the previous exam was.

 

Grades will be based on the

 

Quizzes (15%)

Short Writing Assignments (20%)

Paper (15% total- see “Writing Component” above for more details)

Exams (30% total)

Final Exam (20%)

 

Grading Scale:

 

 

A = (100-94)

A- = (93-92)

B+ = (91-88)

B = (87-84)

B- = (83-81)

C+ = (80-77)

C = (76-70)

D = (69-60)

F =   (59-0)

 

 

ATTENTION STUDENTS: NOTE both the grading scale and the exam and paper dates now.  No exceptions will be made so you must decide NOW whether these terms are acceptable to you or not or whether they interfere will travel plans or per­sonal commit­ments.  It is your decision to remain in this course under the specified conditions and I encourage each of you to thoughtfully consider.

 

Grade Book

 

I do NOT use the gradebook function on Canvas.  The spreadsheet below is constructed to calculate your grade based on the assignments and their proportional worth.  So if you wish to estimate your final grade in this course, input the grades you have earned and estimate the grades for assignment that you have not yet completed.

 

Double click on the spreadsheet below.  When you do, it should open and accept new values.  You should only change the values in the cells filled with yellow.

 

·         You will need to estimate the grades that you do not have yet.

·         Remember to only input grades for seven quiz grades.  If you count ALL your quizzes, you are likely to overestimate your final grade since I will be dropping three quiz grades.