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On successful completion of the module, students should be able to:
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Analyse the main components of an argument (e.g. premisses and conclusion) and become aware of the importance of drawing valid inferences from premisses to conclusions.
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Discriminate between valid and invalid, ‘sound’ and ‘unsound’ forms of logical reasoning as well as the general limits of logical discourse.
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Identity and recognise the way informal fallacies lead one’s method of argumentation astray, towards either irrelevant premisses or conclusions of arguments.
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Distinguish four main types of propositions (categorical, hypothetical, disjunctive, and conjunctive) and put into standard logical form sentences phrased in ordinary language.
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Recognize the status of the truth (or otherwise) of statements in immediate logical inferences among categorical propositions (in the traditional square of opposition, conversion, obversion and contraposition).
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Translate everyday arguments into standard, classical syllogistic form (where possible), and test the validity of such arguments, using the rules of the syllogism.
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Translate everyday arguments into standard modern logical notation of the propositional calculus, and test the validity of such arguments, using the truth-table method.
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Develop an overall appreciation of the importance of thinking critically and logically, cognisant of the main features of informal logical fallacies (of ambiguity and of relevance).
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