Introduction to Formal Logic

(PHIL 230, #13619)

C S U Northridge
Room: Sierra Hall 365
Time: T/R 12:301:45
Term: Fall 2014

Instructor: Dr. John Birmingham

Office: Sierra Tower 532
Office Hours: T/R 10:5012:25
E-mail: jbirmingham@att.net

Catalog Description
Introduction to modern deductive logic; includes propositional logic and theory of quantification.
(Available for General Education, Basic Skills, Critical Thinking.)
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Analytical Reasoning/Expository Writing; Either GE
Mathematics or MATH 210.

Instructor Description
This course satisfies the Critical Thinking component of the Basic Skills section of the
General Education Program, which recognizes critical reasoning as a fundamental competence.
Courses in this part of General Education take reasoning itself as their focus. Their goals are to
provide students with criteria and methods for distinguishing good reasoning from bad and to help
students develop basic reasoning skills that they can apply both within a broad range of academic
disciplines and outside the academic environment. Students are expected to acquire skill in
recognizing the logical structure of statements and arguments, the ability to distinguish rational
from non-rational means of persuasion, skill in applying the principles of sound reasoning in the
construction and evaluation of arguments, and an appreciation of the value of critical reasoning
skills in the pursuit of knowledge.
To accomplish these goals, we will focus our attention on the formal properties of deductive
reasoning, primarily by undertaking a sustained examination of the propositional and predicate
calculi of first-order logic. Our emphasis will be on the analysis of basic concepts, the translation
of statements into symbolic notation, and the construction of formal proofs. To a lesser extent, we
will also reflect on some of the more interesting philosophical aspects of logic.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will:
1. Explain and apply the basic concepts essential to a critical examination and evaluation of
argumentative discourse;
2. Use investigative and analytical thinking skills to examine alternatives, explore complex
questions and solve challenging problems;
3. Synthesize information in order to arrive at reasoned conclusions;
4. Evaluate the logic and validity of arguments, and the relevance of data and information;
5. Recognize and avoid common logical and rhetorical fallacies.

IntroductiontoFormalLogicSyllabus

The Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are achieved through the Course Objectives (COs). Each
SLO is targeted by one or more COs, and each CO targets one or more SLOs. The course
activities are designed to meet specific COs, and the student performance during these activities is
monitored and assessed. The activities include lectures, tests, quizzes, and examinations. Additional activities such as recitations, critiques, and other comparable occurrences may be included.
They are effective means of meeting the COs, hence achieving the SLOs through the COs.

Course Objectives
1. Students will recognize and produce definitions of basic concepts essential to critical
examination and evaluation of argumentative discourse: e.g., argument, premise, conclusion,
deductive validity, deductive soundness, truth-functional validity, quantificational validity.
2. Students will recognize and make competent use of important logical operations, such as
negation, conjunction, disjunction, conditionality, and quantification.
3. Students will translate English sentences into two basic languages used in formal logic, viz.,
the language of propositional (i.e., truth-functional) logic and the language of predicate (i.e.,
quantificational) logic.
4. Students will apply standard techniques of truth table and natural deduction for truthfunctional logic, involving important inference rules (e.g., modus ponens, modus tollens,
disjunctive syllogism, indirect proof [i.e., reductio ad absurdum]) to determine important
truth-functional logical properties and relations: e.g., truth-functional validity, truthfunctional consistency, truth-functional equivalence.
5. Students will apply standard techniques of natural deduction for quantificational logic,
involving important inference rules (e.g., universal instantiation, existential instantiation) to
determine important quantificational logical properties and relations: e.g., quantificational
validity, quantificational consistency, quantificational equivalence.
6. Students will recognize and avoid common logical fallacies: e.g., affirming the consequent,
denying the antecedent, confusing only if with if, and confusing some with some but not
all.
The SLOs are targeted by the corresponding COs as follows:
SLO 1
SLO 2
SLO 3
SLO 4
SLO 5
COs 15
COs 35
COs 2, 45
COs 25
COs 26

Course Materials
Chapters 1, 6, 7, and 8 of A Concise Introduction to Logic, 12th ed., by Patrick J. Hurley. All four
chapters can be downloaded directly from CengageBrain.com at
http://www.cengagebrain.com/shop/isbn/9780840034175.

The first chapter is free and the last three are $8.99 each. Alternatively, you can either purchase or
rent a hard copy of the text at the same site. If you want to save some money, feel free to buy an
earlier edition of the text at Amazon.com, Half.com, etc. Anything from the 8th edition onward is
fine. New copies are also available at the campus bookstore.

IntroductiontoFormalLogicSyllabus

You should also make use of the online tutorial, LogicCoach 12, which is free of charge and can be
found at The Unofficial LogicCoach Page:
http://academic.csuohio.edu/polen/#LC11.

The link is located on the left, under For Hurley Students. Most (but not all) of the exercises in
the text can be found on LogicCoach 12.

Assignments and Grading

Homework (ungraded). I will assign homework daily. Although I will not grade it, I strongly
suggest that you do it. The free online tutorial, LogicCoach 12, is designed to help you with the
homework by providing immediate feedback and solutions to the exercises.
Three Midterm Exams (33% each) to be scheduled around the 5th, 9th, and 12th weeks of the
course. They will be non-cumulative and emphasize reasoning skills in addition to factual
knowledge. The lowest score will be dropped.
Final Exam (34%) on Thursday, December 11, from 12:452:45 p.m. It will cover material
introduced after the third midterm and emphasize reasoning skills in addition to factual
knowledge. It cannot be rescheduled. Thats school policy, not mine. So make your travel
arrangements accordingly.
Make-up Exams will be permitted (or denied) on a case-by-case basis. The expectation is that
you will take the midterm exams when they are scheduled.
3% Deduction from your final grade for each day missed passed 5. So be here! Class discussions are important.

Course Outline and Readings

0. Introduction
0.1 The Scope of Logic
0.2 The Importance of Logic
0.3 The Relevance of Logic

1. Argument Analysis
1.1 Arguments, Premises, and Conclusions, 18.
1.2 Recognizing Arguments, 1416 only.
1.3 Deduction, 3234 only.
1.4 Validity, Truth, Soundness, 4245 only.
1.5 Argument Forms: Proving Invalidity, 5460.
2.1 Varieties of Meaning, 7478.
2.2 The Intension and Extension of Terms, 8487.
2.3 Definitions and Their Purposes, 8894; Summary, 111112 (first four s)
*** 1ST MIDTERM EXAM ***

2. Propositional Logic
6.1 Symbols and Translation, 290298.
6.2 Truth Functions, 302311.

IntroductiontoFormalLogicSyllabus

6.3 Truth Tables for Propositions, 313319.

6.4 Truth Tables for Arguments, 321324.
6.5 Indirect Truth Tables, 325331; Summary, 34849 (first four s).
*** 2ND MIDTERM EXAM ***

3. Natural Deduction in Propositional Logic

7.1 Rules of Implication I, 350356.
7.2 Rules of Implication II, 361366.
7.3 Rules of Replacement I, 370376.
7.4 Rules of Replacement II, 381385.
7.5 Conditional Proof, 391395.
7.6 Indirect Proof, 397400.
7.7 Proving Logical Truths, 402404; Summary, 404405 (first four s).
*** 3RD MIDTERM EXAM ***

4. Predicate Logic
8.1 Symbols and Translation, 406413.
8.2 Using the Rules of Inference, 415424.
8.3 Change of Quantifier Rules, 425428.
8.4 Conditional and Indirect Proof, 430434.
8.5 Proving Invalidity, 435440.
8.6 Relational Predicates and Overlapping Quantifiers, 441450.
8.7 Identity, 453462; Summary, p. 467.

5. Conclusion
C.1 Final thoughts.
C.2 Review.

*** FINAL EXAM ***

Student Services
CSUN provides a wide variety of support services for all eligible students. Students with physical,
psychological, learning, or other needs can find the services they require at the resource centers
listed below
Learning Resource Center: http://www.csun.edu/lrc/, 818-677-2033, Bayramian Hall 408. The
mission of the LRC is to enable students to improve their academic performance through a
variety of learning programs including workshops, one-on-one and group tutoring,
Supplemental Instruction classes and interactive subject area computer programs and videos.
Students who use LRC learning programs will develop and strengthen their critical thinking
skills, study strategies, writing skills and performance in subject matter courses.

IntroductiontoFormalLogicSyllabus

Academic Advisement: http://www.csun.edu/ugs/advisement.html. The college-based academic

advisement centers are available to assist students in selecting courses and programs of study
and in choosing or declaring a major or minor. Visit the website to locate the advising center for
your major, or for undeclared majors.
University Counseling Services: http://www.csun.edu/counseling/, 818-677-2366, Bayramian
Hall 520. UCS provides resources and information to assist students in dealing with a variety of
large and small psychological obstacles that may interfere with academic progress and/or
relationship satisfaction. Services include individual, group and crisis counseling.
Center on Disabilities: http://www.csun.edu/cod/studentservices.htm, 818-677-2684, Bayramian
Hall 110. The Center on Disabilities serves students with a wide range of visible and hidden
disabilities, in a confidential environment. Students are encouraged to meet with the professional
staff and explore the services available to support their academic, career and personal goals.
Discover accommodations and strategies for help with disabilities in an academic setting.
The Career Center: http://www.csun.edu/career/students/, 818-677-2878, University Hall 105.
Need some help in deciding on a career? Or do you know your career and need to meet
employers? Perhaps your resume needs some sprucing up? The Career Center offers a variety of
services for students, from those new to the University to those about to graduate into the
world of work.

Internet Resources
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (ed. by James Fieser and Bradley Dowdin) has several
entries relevant to our course in the Science, Logic, and Mathematics section. It can be found
at http://www.iep.utm.edu/.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (ed. by Edward N. Zalta) has several entries relevant
to our course (e.g., Logical Form). Some of the articles get rather technical, so be prepared to
read selectively. It can be found at http://plato.stanford.edu/.
In addition, I can be reached by e-mail at jbirmingham@att.net any time of the day or night. Of
course, that doesnt mean that Ill respond any time of the day or night. But I will do my best to
be prompt.

Regulations
Consult the Student Handbook. In particular, you should be aware of the Universitys
policies on cheating, plagiarism, and classroom behavior.
I will not hesitate to dismiss a student from class (or, possibly, from the entire course) for
unacceptable classroom behavior.
Nor will I hesitate to fail a student on an assignment (or, possibly, for the entire course) for
cheating and/or plagiarism.
Students must arrive on time for class and remain until they are dismissed. In particular, I
will not allow students to leave class before the end of the period, unless arrangements were
made with me ahead of time.
Also, I will not allow the use of any electronic gadgetry during class: no phone calls, no textmessaging, no twittering, no tweeting, no twiddling, no listening to iPods, no surfing the web,

IntroductiontoFormalLogicSyllabus

no movie-watching, no electronic note-taking. If you break this rule, be prepared to

have
your electronic device confiscated.
Those who abide by the course regulations shall reap the benefits of their good behavior and
honesty.

ImportantDates
FirstDayofClass:

Tuesday,August26.

Thanksgiving:

Thursday,November27.

LastDayofClass:

Tuesday,December9.

FinalExam:

Thursday,December11.

Amendments
I reserve the right to change this syllabus, with fair warning, at any time.