Introduction to Philosophical Argument

Introduction to Philosophical Argument

Florian Steinberger

The aim of this module is to introduce M.A. students with little or no academic background in philosophy—‘conversion’ students—to some of the basic concepts and issues involved in the study of logic. The course introduces students to the basic methods of formal logic. Students will learn how to translate sentences and arguments from ordinary English into a formal language and how to read formal expressions they may come across in philosophical papers. Upon successful completion of the module students will have a grounding in the essentials of logic that will be useful both in itself and as a basis for further philosophical study.

Reading:

• Logic (manuscript posted on Moodle)

Lectures: Exercise Classes for this module will be held in WKC 315on Mondays from 6-7 during Spring Term by Florian Steinberger ().

Exercise class:Lectures for this module will be held in WKC 315 on Mondays from 7-8 during Spring Term by Florian Steinbeger ().

Reading and exercise classes: The textbook for these classes is a manuscript authored mainly by Professors Alexander Hieke (Salzburg) and Hannes Leitgeb (LMU Munich) and to a much lesser extent byme. Most lectures come with assigned reading, which will help you understand the lecture. Also, and crucially, you will be asked to doweekly exercises relating to the material covered in the reading and in the lectures. You are strongly encouraged to work through the exercises the best you can and to take full advantage of the weekly exercise classes in which you will go over the exercises and during which you will have the opportunity to ask questions.

Assessment: This module is assessed by a two-hour examination, held in the Summer Term. Past papers may be consulted at

Moodle: Electronic copies of course materials are available through Moodle at moodle.bbk.ac.uk. You will need your ITS login name and password to enter.

Winter Term

Week 1. Introduction

Reading: No reading – introductory session

Exercise class: No exercises –introductory session.

I. Propositional logic (PL)

Week 2. Logical grammar, types and tokens, use and mention

Reading: Ch. 1

Exercise class: No exercises

Week 3.Logical operators

Reading: Ch. 2

Exercise class: Ex. 1

Week 4.Translating to PL

Reading: Ch. 3

Exercise class: Ex. 2.

Week 5.The language of PL

Reading: Ch. 4

Exercise class: Ex. 3

Reading Week

Week 6. Semantics of PL I

Reading: Ch. 5

Exercise class: Ex. 4

Week 7. Semantics of PL II

Reading: Ch. 5

Exercise class: Ex. 4

II. Quantificational logic (QL)

Week 8.Translating to QL

Reading: Ch. 8

Exercise class: Ex. 6

Spring Term

Week 9.The language of QL

Reading: Ch. 9

Exercise class: Ex. 8

Week 10.Semantics of QL

Reading: Ch. 10

Exercise class: Ex. 9