PY114-4-FY-CO:
Critical Reasoning and Logical Argument
2024/25
Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 27 June 2025
30
06 September 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA VV20 Philosophy with Business Management,
BA VV21 Philosophy with Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA VV22 Philosophy with Business Management (Including Placement Year),
BA VV23 Philosophy with Business Management (Including Year Abroad)
Philosophical work involves dealing in arguments: assembling evidence in support of some conclusion. Such arguments are occasionally simple but often very complex; they are sometimes valid but they are often fallacious.This module functions as a kind of 'boot camp' intended to develop and hone the skills and methods required for university-level work in philosophy and related disciplines.
The primary aim of the module is to assemble and hone a set of tools for (a) the identification of arguments in philosophical prose (b) the representation of arguments in summaries, in argument-schemata and in symbolization (c) the assessment of arguments both for logical soundness and for rhetorical effectiveness (d) the formulation of effective arguments in the writing of essays and examinations. The module also provides opportunities for developing the distinctive skills involved in oral presentation of argument and navigating the ensuing debates.
The aims of this module are:
- To develop and hone the skills required for university-level work in philosophy and related disciplines.
- To introduce techniques of logical analysis.
- To develop the capacity to present and critically analyse arguments.
- To develop the capacity to use critical thinking reflexively.
- To develop the ability to produce university-level writing.
By the end of the autumn term, students will be expected to be able to:
- Identify and articulate arguments as presented in philosophical and other forms of prose.
- Have developed a range of skills for the assessment of arguments.
- Identify informal argumentative fallacies.
- Represent arguments using sentential letters and logical connectives.
- Construct and interpret truth tables.
- Have enhanced and developed their ability to write clear, forceful, argumentative essays in which arguments are presented and critically assessed, and in which a thesis is critically defended.
By the end of the spring term, students will be expected to be able to:
- Have a developed understanding of contemporary and historical approaches to the problem of free will.
- Identify both formal and informal fallacies.
- Have gained familiarity with the basic concepts of formal logic, including the notions of validity, soundness, deduction, induction, logical form, disjunctive proof, conditional proof, reductio ad absurdum, conjunction, disjunction, quantification, bivalence, dilemma.
- Be capable of constructing and assessing natural deduction proofs.
- Have a basic understanding of the universal and existential quantifiers, and their role in logical argument.
- Have enhanced and developed their capacity for philosophical analysis and argument through the study of what constitutes a valid argument.
Each year the module supervisor selects one or two philosophical topics to be used as target areas for argumentative analysis. These topics vary from year to year but will be selected so as to avoid overlap with other materials covered elsewhere in the first-year curriculum. Possible topics include: Can there be free will in a deterministic universe? What constitutes personal identity over time? What does it mean to follow a rule? How is self-knowledge possible? Students read a sampling of classic texts pertaining to the chosen topic to use as a basis for the primary skill-focused work of the module. In 2024-25, the topic will be Animal Ethics, and if you want to start exploring the subject, you can have a look at philosopher Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation.
This module will be delivered via:
- One 2-hour lecture per week.
- One 50-minute tutorial per week.
- Two revision sessions in the summer term.
There will be a Reading Week in each term; there will be no teaching events and no weekly assignments due in the two Reading Weeks.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Coursework |
Wk 3 - Formative Assignment 1 |
14/10/2024 |
0% |
Coursework |
Wk 4 - Formative Assignment 2 |
21/10/2024 |
0% |
Coursework |
Wk 5 - Formative Assignment 3 |
28/10/2024 |
0% |
Coursework |
Week 6 summative assignment (1) |
04/11/2024 |
16.66% |
Coursework |
Wk 7 - Formative Assignment 4 |
11/11/2024 |
0% |
Coursework |
Wk 8 - Formative Assignment 5 |
18/11/2024 |
0% |
Coursework |
Week 10 summative assignment (2) |
02/12/2024 |
16.67% |
Coursework |
Week 11 summative assignment (3) |
09/12/2024 |
16.67% |
Coursework |
Wk 17 - Formative Assignment 6 |
20/01/2025 |
0% |
Coursework |
Week 18 summative assignment (4) |
27/01/2025 |
16.66% |
Coursework |
Week 19 - Formative Assignment 7 |
03/02/2025 |
0% |
Coursework |
Week 20 - Formative Assignment 8 |
10/02/2025 |
0% |
Coursework |
Week 22 summative assignment (5) |
24/02/2025 |
16.67% |
Coursework |
Wk 23 - Formative Assignment 9 |
03/03/2025 |
0% |
Coursework |
Wk 24 - Formative Assignment 10 |
10/03/2025 |
0% |
Coursework |
Week 25 summative assignment (6) |
17/03/2025 |
16.67% |
Exam |
Main exam: Remote, Open Book, 24hr during Summer (Main Period)
|
Exam |
Reassessment Main exam: Remote, Open Book, 24hr during September (Reassessment Period)
|
Additional coursework information
The coursework will consist of weekly assignments in the Autumn and Spring terms, with the first assignment due in Week 3. There will be a total of 16 weekly assignments over the course of Autumn and Spring terms. However only six of these assignments are “summative.” That is, only six weekly assignments will be used in the calculation of the coursework mark for the module. The other ten weekly assignments are “formative.” They form an essential part of the skill development for the module, but they will not be assigned a numerical mark that will be used in calculation of the coursework mark for the module.
The Autumn Term summative coursework assignments will be due in Weeks 6, 9 and 11. The Spring Term summative course work assignments will be due in Weeks 18, 22 and 25. Each of the six summative coursework assignments will be worth 16.67% of the overall coursework mark for the module.
Coursework assignments will take two different forms: three will be short writing assignments; three will be logic exercise sets.
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Yes
Yes
No
Dr Josiah Saunders
Durham University
Associate Professor
Available via Moodle
Of 142 hours, 136 (95.8%) hours available to students:
6 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
Disclaimer: The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its Module Directory is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can
be necessary to make changes, for example to programmes, modules, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include a change of law or regulatory requirements,
industrial action, lack of demand, departure of key personnel, change in government policy, or withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to modules may for example consist
of variations to the content and method of delivery or assessment of modules and other services, to discontinue modules and other services and to merge or combine modules.
The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications and module directory.
The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.