PHL1030 - Thinking: Analysing arguments

Leader(s): Sam Butchart

Offered

Clayton First semester 2009 (Day)

Synopsis

Thinking is a set of skills. In this course we will focus on one family of this set: the skills involved in argument analysis. We will address the essential features of good arguments and how they can be articulated and represented. We will also examine the many ways in which reasoning can go wrong and how to avoid them. While we will focus on some of the theory of successful thinking, our main focus will be the practical techniques necessary for you to reason more effectively. Students taking this subject at 2-level will be assessed on their ability to identify arguments in more complex texts and will be expected to be able to evaluate a wider variety of argument types.

Objectives

Students successfully completing this subject should:

1. have a theoretical understanding of what an argument is;
2. have developed the skills to extract the arguments from a variety of texts;
3. be able to identify and represent the structure of an argument;
4. understand the criteria of argument success and have the skills to apply those criteria to evaluate a variety of arguments;
5. have developed the skills to evaluate some common types of argument.

Assessment

Written work: 75%
Test: 25%

Contact hours

3 hours (one 1-hour lecture and one 2-hour laboratory) per week

Prohibitions

PHL2030

Additional information on this unit is available from the faculty at:

http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/philosophy/ugrad/firstyear/phl1030.php