Sacramento City College

Logic and Critical Reasoning - Student Information Sheet
Satisfies General Ed AA/AS Areas C, D2;
CSU General Ed Area A3
Transferable CSU and UC

Spring 2007

The goal of the course is to improve your capability as a logical and critical thinker. You will learn what logic and critical thinking are, and how to apply critical thinking skills to your college studies and to your everyday life. Special emphasis is placed upon recognizing and overcoming hindrances to critical thinking and upon recognizing misleading, fallacious or irrational appeals that attempt to manipulate our beliefs and actions.

Becoming a Critical Thinker - A Guide for the New Millennium, second edition (Pearson 2005) by Robert T. Carroll is the required text. The Student Success Guide by Robert T. Carroll is recommended, but not required, for those who want to improve their study & writing skills. For supplemental reading, The Skeptic’s Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll is also available from most bookstores.

Corrections of errors in the text may be found at: classes.skepdic.com/bactaddenda.html

4. Identifying Arguments

• exercises 4-1, 4-2
• exercises 4-3, 4-4
• exercises 4-5, 4-6
• exercises 4-7
• exercises 4-8

5. Evaluating Arguments

• Examples of correctly and incorrectly identified fallacies

6. Evaluating Extended Arguments

7. Sampling and analogical reasoning

8. Causal Reasoning

Course requirements and grading

There will be eight exams [one on each chapter except ch. 6, "Evaluating Extended Arguments"] worth 50 points each. All exams will be true/false, multiple choice exams, for which you will need a Scantron 882 answer sheet and a #2 pencil with eraser (available at the College Store). The chapter 9 exam on pseudoscience will be given during the final exam period. Make up exams will be given only for good reasons such as illness or deaths in the family; they will be given during the final exam period after the chapter 9 exam. The following do not constitute good reasons for missing an exam: I haven't had time to study; I'm not prepared; I've scheduled this vacation months ago; my car was broken into last night. It may be possible to take an exam early, or with another section. Discuss any scheduling problems with me prior to the exam.

There will be frequent homework assignments, each worth 5 or 10 points. Although 150 points worth of homework will be assigned, a maximum of 100 homework points may be applied to the course grade. Homework must be turned in when due; no late homework will be accepted. Please label all homework (e.g., exercise 3-1).

The course grade is based on exam scores and homework, with exam scores counting about 80% of the grade. A: 450-500; B: 400-449; C: 350-399; D: 300-349; F: 0-299. Borderline grades will be decided by attendance and participation in the course. A borderline grade is defined as being within one percent of the next higher grade.

Final Exam

The final exam will be a test on chapter nine. After the final exam, make-up exams will be taken.

Attendance Policy

Attendance at all classes is expected. You are considered absent if you are late for class or if you leave class early. Repeated tardiness will not be tolerated. If you cannot be on time, do not come to class. Attendance does not just mean physical presence. Attendance means you are present and attending to the business at hand, viz., listening, writing or discussing logic. Obviously, you are not in attendance if you are absent from class. But you are also not in attendance if you are present but sleeping, daydreaming, studying for some other class, reading a newspaper, a novel, a psychology text, etc. You are also not in attendance if you engage in private discussions while class is going on.