100

Introduction to the central ideas of prominent Western philosophers, earliest times to present. Lecture class.

The course concerns the study and practice of critical thinking. Through analysis of dramatic examples of the critical thinking skills necessary for effective deliberation, it hones analytic skills and encourages careful thought. The primary feature of the course is the consideration of an abundance of exercises, examples, and applications from everyday life, ranging from the courtroom to political debate and from advertising to current social issues.

Discussion of some central problems in philosophy such as the existence of God, the ultimate nature of reality, the conditions for knowledge, the question of free will versus determinism, and the foundations of morality. How should one live? Why would God allow evil? How much can we know about the world around us? Do we have free will? Can we survive death? Such questions are universal and fundamental to all humanity.

The development of formal systems of propositional and predicate logic for the evaluation of reasoning. Truth table techniques to distinguish valid from fallacious inferences, symbolizing English in logical notation, proofs in propositional logic, predicate logic with quantifiers.