Office Hours: Tu, Th 11:15Am Noon. I Am Not at Irvine M, W, F

Course Syllabus

PH 105: Critical Thinking

CSUF Spring 2015

Teacher: Dr. Gary Jason / Section: TuTh 10:00-11:15am IRVC-217
Office: TBA / Email:
Home office: 949-606-5576 / Home fax: 949-492-4531

Office Hours: Tu, Th 11:15am--noon. I am not at Irvine M, W, F.

Website: www.profgaryjason.com This site has your grades, my policy on cheating, all class handouts, bulletins, class code of conduct, text errata, and links to other sites of use. Log on ASAP to familiarize yourself with it. Especially important is to check out the text errata, and download the notes. *NOTE: I post grades only on my website—I do not use Titanium or whatever.

Texts:

Required:

1. Critical Thinking: Developing an Effective Worldview, Gary Jason, Wadsworth, 2001

2. Student Study Guide for Critical Thinking Gary Jason (photocopy)

**Both texts is available at The Little Professor bookstore, 725 North Placentia Ave, Fullerton 714-996-3133. During the first week, if you order your book online or by phone, I will deliver it the next lecture (email to remind me).

Course Description: The aim of this course is to develop the student’s ability to reason critically, and improve his/her ability to make informed decisions in everyday life.

Grade scale: It is department policy that all courses be graded on a +/- basis. Cutoffs:

A+ / A / A- / B+ / B / B- / C+ / C / C / D+ / D / D-
97% / 93% / 90% / 87% / 83% / 80% / 77% / 73% / 70% / 67% / 63% / 60%

NOTE: CSUF requires a grade of “C” or higher to meet the General Education requirement for this course—a grade of “C-” (or below) will not satisfy the GE requirement.

Assessment Procedures: The student is expected to attend regularly, keep up with the reading, and do all the homework assignments. There will be two midterms and a final exam. Some of the homework will be collected and graded, and a short writing project will be assigned. Participation points will be given for each contribution (question, or attempted answers to problems).

Weighting:

Test #1 (Covers Chaps 2-8) 50 minutes / 25%
Test #2 (Covers Chap 9-13) 50 minutes / 25%
Final exam (Cumulative, but focuses on chaps 14-19) 1 hour / 30%
Homework + project / 10%
participation
Participation points awarded as follows: 1 point for any question; 2 points for attempting to answer any question. / 5%
Attendance
Attendance will be recorded after the first week, and you will be graded on it as follows: miss 0 classes = 100%; miss one class = 95%; miss 2 classes = 85%; miss 3 classes = 75%; miss 4 classes = 65%; miss 5+ classes = (100-10x) where x is the number of classes missed. / 5%

**There are no “extra credit” assignments, and no HW is accepted late. (You can fax HW to me, or drop it off at the Philosophy office (H-214) and have the secretary put a date and time on it. Do NOT email it!)

I give make-up exams (which are graded to higher standards) only when there is a signed doctor’s note or other proof of illness or other emergency.

**GRADES WILL BE POSTED ON MY WEBSITE: www.profgaryjason.com

** Suggestion:

We are working with a text I wrote. I tend to lecture lightly on the text, but work lots of problems. So:

· Work with the study guide. It has chapter reviews, extra problems, and additional answers to exercises

· Don't attempt problems until you watch me work them first.

à read the text lightly before lecture

à listen to the lecture, watch me solve problems

à reread the text carefully

à do the homework

The HW is important because: (a) the material we cover is task- not fact- oriented; (b) the questions on exams are of the same type as HW questions.

POLICY ON CHEATING

My general policy on cheating can be summarized as follows:

Any student who cheats at any time in my class will be given an ”F” for the entire course, and I will turn the incident over to the Chairperson of the Department for whatever further action is required by the College or University. For further amplification, see below.

Class Conduct:

àStudents are expected to:

· Show up for class on time

· Leave early only when prior permission has been granted

· Talk only as part of class discussion

· Refrain from making disrespectful or harassing remarks

· Turn off all cell phones before class.

· No iPods, Ipads, or laptops.

· You may bring coffee or other beverages, but please no food

àTeacher is expected to:

· Start lecture on time

· Stop class on time

· Spare the student irrelevancies, such as his political opinions or details of his personal life

· Encourage questions and class participation

· Keep regular office hours and be otherwise accessible

· Keep students informed on grading

Project: To fulfill the University writing requirement, and to get further practice in identifying fallacies in real-life contexts, you will find TEN fallacies and write an essay (no more than 5 pages) explaining why they are fallacies. Good sources: political debates, speeches, interviews, ads, contracts, letters to the editor, and mailers. You must attach the original source or a copy of it to your essay. Enough of the original must be present so that I can verify that a real fallacy occurred.

Approximate Lecture Schedule:

àJanuary:

Day/Date / Topic / Reading (MT = main text; SSG = Student Study Guide)
Tuesday, Jan 20 / The nature of critical thinking / MT chap 1 all
Thursday, Jan 22 / Basic logical concepts: statements, questions / MT chap 2 sections 1-3, Chapter 3 all + SSG
Tuesday, Jan 27 / Basic logical concepts: questions, arguments / MT chapter 4 + SSG
Thursday, Jan 29 / Arguments / (above)

àFebruary:

Day/Date / Topic / Reading
Tuesday, Feb 3 / Finish identifying arguments / (above)
Thursday, Feb 5 / inductive vs. inductive / chapter 5
Tuesday, Feb 10 / Clarity / MT chap 6 all + SSG
Thursday, Feb 12 / Finish clarity / (above)
Tuesday, Feb 17 / Relevance / MT chapter 8 all + SSG
Thursday, Feb 19 / Finish relevance / (above)
Tuesday, Feb 24 / Review
Thursday, Feb 26 / Test #1 (when we finish chap 8; may not be on this exact date) / n/a

àMarch:

Day/Date / Topic / Reading
Tuesday, March 3 / Consistency, Observation / SSG replacement chap 9; MT Chapter 11 sections 1,2
Thursday, March 5 / Memory, testimony / MT Chapter 11 remainder + SSG
Tuesday, March 10
Thursday, March 12 / Finish Testimony / (above)
Tuesday, March 17 / Generalization / MT Chapter 12 sections 1-3 + SSG
Thursday, March 19 / Instantiation / MT Chapter 12 sections 4-6 + SSG
Tuesday, March 24 / Analogy / MT chap 13 sections 1-3 + SSG
Thursday, March 26 / Finish analogy, review / above
Tuesday, March 31 / Spring Break / No classes

àApril:

Day/Date

/ Topic / Reading

Thursday, April 2

/ Spring Break / No classes
Tuesday, April 7 / Review
Thursday, April 9 / Test #2 (when finish chap 13—may not be this exact date)
Tuesday, April 14 / Causal inference / MT Chap 14 sections 1-3
Thursday, April 16 / Causal inference / MT chap 14 section 4 + SSG
Tuesday, April 21 / Rational choice / MT Chap 16 all +SSG
Thursday, April 23 / Finish rational choice / (above)
Tuesday, April 28 / Sales trickery / MT Chapter 17 all + SSG
Thursday, April 30 / Sales trickery / (above)

àMay:

Day/Date / Topic / Reading
Tuesday, May 5 / Political trickery / Chapter 18 all + SSG
Thursday, May 7 / Finish political trickery / (above)
Tuesday, May 12 / Final Exam 9:30-10:30 / n/a

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POLICY ON CHEATING

My general policy on cheating can be summarized as follows:

Some amplifying remarks are in order. By “cheating“ I mean copying work from other students, either homework or exams, or allowing other students to copy from your homework or tests. This of course applies to the work of my past students. If you want to do homework together in study groups, let me know ahead of time, and each member should turn in the assignment separately, but note the group affiliation.

By “cheating” I also mean plagiarizing, that is, copying work from articles, essays or books you are consulting for a class essay without attributing in a footnote the source. Your footnotes should include the name of the author whose work you are quoting, the title of the work, the pages being quoted, and where it was published (journals: journal name, date, number, volume, and page numbers; books: date, publishing company and city). THIS APPLIES EQUALLY WELL TO ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM THE INTERNET OR COMPUTER ENCYCLOPEDIAS.

By “cheating” I further include “farming out,” that is, paying someone or some service to write your essays or other work for you, or to do your research for you, either someone you directly hire, or so-called “research sites” on the internet such as Gradesaver or The Evil House of Cheat.

You can learn more about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it by visiting the two websites listed below:
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
www.fullerton.edu/deanofstudents/Judicial/Plagiarism.htm

Issues of cheating are handled by JUDICIAL AFFAIRS:

Titan Student Union 235

657-278-4436

Students are expected to conduct themselves as mature and responsible members of the campus community. The Judicial Affairs officer conducts educational workshops that promote and educate students about campus expectations for academic integrity, civility, and appropriate standards of conduct. This office is responsible for coordination of the established judicial procedures if there is an allegation that university standards have been violated.

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LEARNING GOALS

PH 105 satisfies the following requirements from UPS411.201:

A. Core Competencies (9 units minimum) The Core Competencies include Oral Communication (3 units minimum), Written Communication (3 units minimum), and Critical Thinking (3 units minimum). Overall Goals Students taking courses in Area A shall

· Organize one’s thoughts and communicate them clearly and effectively, using language that demonstrates sensitivity to gender and cultural differences.

· Find, evaluate, select, synthesize, organize, cite and present information and arguments clearly and effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences.

· Recognize and evaluate the features, functions, and contexts of language that express and influence meaning.

· Compare and contrast with care and accuracy the relative merits of alternative or opposing arguments, interpretations, assumptions, and cultural values.

· Reflect in an open-minded manner on one’s own thinking in relation to the ideas of others.

A.3. Critical Thinking (3 units minimum) Students taking courses in subarea A3 shall

a. Understand the role of logic and its relation to language.

b. Understand elementary inductive and deductive processes, including formal and informal fallacies.

c. Develop the skills to distinguish propositions and statements of fact from issues of judgment or opinion.

d. Develop skills to advocate for ideas.

e. Develop skills to reach well-supported factual and judgmental conclusions and the skills to successfully advocate for these conclusions.

f. Evaluate, critique, and analyze the quality and sufficiency of evidence and other forms of support for a position, include recognition of underlying lines of argument.

These General Education goals will be met by the material covered in class. Specifically:

àGE Core Competency Learning Goal (A)s: PH105 is a course intended to help the student achieve the core competencies of General Education Core Competencies A. By meeting the course objectives, the student will be able:

· To use the knowledge learned about the pitfalls of language to clarify the facts and concepts that are involved in answering questions and solving problems

· To use the knowledge learned about fallacies of relevance to determine what evidence and experience bears on a given problem or decision

· To use the knowledge learned about the basic forms of statements and arguments to recognize basic features of communication

· To use the knowledge learned about correct argumentation to evaluate evidence offered for any point of view and revise beliefs accordingly

àCritical Thinking Learning Goals (A.3): The course material falls into three categories: basic skills; the criteria for critical thinking; and applications.

1. BASIC SKILLS: the student will learn

· To understand the basic forms of statements

· To understand the basic types of questions, and what counts as responsive answers to them

· To identify arguments in ordinary contexts

· To distinguish inductive and deductive arguments

2. CRITERIA FOR CRITICAL THINKING: the bulk of the course will focus on assessing critical thinking according to the goals of clarity, relevance, consistency, justification, and explanatory power. The student will learn:

· To avoid pitfalls of language, such as vagueness and ambiguity

· To define terms and classify objects

· To spot irrelevant appeals in argumentation

· To identify consistency and validity

· To assess testimony

· To assess generalizations and instantiations

· To assess analogies

· To assess causal inferences

3. APPLICATIONS: The student will learn to apply the criteria of critical thinking to evaluate:

· Sales pitches commonly encountered in everyday life

· Political rhetoric

· Science vs. pseudoscience

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POLICY ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT

UPS 240.100 prohibits “conduct that has the purpose or effect of interfering with a student’s academic performance, creating an intimidating, hostile, offensive or otherwise adverse learning environment, or adversely affecting any student’s access to campus programs, services and benefits.” This policy applies to both faculty and students. Here is the relevant section: