Online Study Guide for Philosophy 17
(Logic and Critical Reasoning)

Sandra LaFave

This is the online study guide for Philosophy 17. If you want to see the Syllabus for Philosophy 17, click here. The Syllabus contains dates, assignments, grading policies, and other useful information.

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Online Resources

• Glossary for Philosophy 17

• General philosophy and religion resources online

• Video overview of epistemology
• Excellent, comprehensive site on writing

• Index of Skeptical Inquirer articles online
  Very useful for term papers in Critical Thinking!

• Dr. Simanek's home page
  A truly wonderful, comprehensive collection of links to sites on history of science, paranormal, creationism, flat earth, etc. Thank you, Dr. Simanek!

• History of Science
  From PBS. Many links.

• The Skeptic's Dictionary
  Good clear and complete definitions of terms used in pseudo-science and critical analysis of pseudo-science (confirmation bias, Forer effect, etc.)

• UVA World Religions and Sprituality Project
  This site has very good information about obscure/odd religious groups. Click on "Profiles of Religious and Spiritual Groups". Use the alphabetic selector to find the group you are looking for.

• Essay error codes

• Sample graded gapers for this class, using essay error codes

Online Notes

The following are required reading for online sections of Philosophy 17.

Who wrote this online study guide? Unless otherwise indicated, West Valley College instructor Sandra LaFave wrote everything listed here. She also compiled the Glossary for Philosophy 17. So if you are in a WVC class, it would be really dumb to plagiarize any of this stuff, right? If you are not in a WVC class and you are thinking about plagiarizing from these notes, think again: your philosophy teacher can find these pages as easily as you did.

Please note that these readings are IN ADDITION TO the assigned readings listed in the Syllabus.

Readings for First Mid-Term (Part 1 - Part 4)

• Objectives and Readings for Part 1
• What Is Philosophy?
• Metaphysics and Epistemology
• Thinking Critically About the "Subjective"/"Objective" Distinction
• Objectives for Part 2
• Self Test on Definitions
• Objectives for Part 3
• Steps in Argument Analysis -- A Critical Thinking Checklist
• What is Bad Logic?
• Refutation by Logical Analogy
• Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
• Amphibolies
• Open and Closed Concepts and the Continuum Fallacy
• Self Test on Logic Concepts
• Objectives for Part 4
• Review English Grammar, Usage, and Spelling
• Self Tests on English
• How to Write Good
• Examples of Bad Writing
• Guidelines for Non-Sexist Use of Language
• Sample Midterm 1 Objective Portion
• Midterm 1 Essay Questions
• Sample Graded Midterm 1 Essay Answers

Readings for Second Mid-Term

• Objectives for Part 5
• What Are the Odds? Elementary Probability
• Resources for informal fallacies

  • The Fallacies of Composition and Division

  • More info on inconsistency

  • On special pleading (Special pleading is a kind of inconsistency. People who commit the fallacy of special pleading claim that a rule of thumb that applies to everyone does not, however, apply to them, because of their special circumstances. But if the rule really applies to everyone, it does apply to them.)

  • On poisoning the well

    Another account of poisoning the well

  • On compatibility with all states of affairs

  • On quibbling

  • On objectionable vagueness

  • Straw man vs poisoning the well vs missing the point

  • Excellent general site on fallacies ("The Fallacy Files")

  • On fallacies of relevance (irrelevant emotional appeals, ad hominem, appeal to questionable authority, appeal to ignorance, etc.)

  • On fallacies of presumption (accident, false cause, begging the question, complex question, etc.)

  • On fallacies of ambiguity (equivocation, amphiboly, composition, division, accent)

• Self Test on Fallacies
• Sample Midterm 2

Readings for Third Mid-Term

• Objectives for Part 6
• Neuromarketing: Interview with Clotaire Rapaille
• Readings on Media and Consumer Culture
• "Sex, Lies, and Advertising" by Gloria Steinem
• Marxism and Culture
• Affluenza
• Midterm 3
• Sample Graded Midterm 3

Readings Covered in Final Exam Only

• Objectives for Part 7
• C. S. Peirce's essay "The Fixation of Belief"
• Relativism
• Absolutism, Absolute Relativism, and Relative Relativism Compared

• Basic Ideas in Critical Theory (aka "Literary Criticism," "Criticism," "Post-Modernism," "Deconstruction")

• Summary of Basic Theories of Truth
• Summary of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
• Objectives for Part 8
• Scientific Method as "Informed Messing Around"

• Richard Feynman on Science
• Outline of SV Chapters 1 and 2
• Outline of SV Chapter 3

• Outline of SV Chapter 4: "Relativism, Truth, and Reality"

• Outline of SV Chapter 5

• Outline of SV Chapter 6

• Outline of SV Chapter 7

• Psychological Egoism and Ethical Egoism
• The Will to Believe (William James' essay)

• Sample Philosophy 17 Final Exam

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