FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA MINISTRY OF ...

1 By: Teklay G. (AkU), Adane T. (MU), and Zelalem M. (HMU) Page 1 FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND HIGHER EDUCATION LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING COURSE CODE: PHIL 1011 By: Teklay G. (AkU), Adane T. (MU), and Zelalem M. (HMU) Page 2 LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING MODULE COURSE CODE: PHIL101 COURSE CRDIT HOURS: 3 PREPARED BY: Mr. TEKLAY G/MESKEL (AKSUM UNIVERSITY) Mr. ADANE TEKLAY (MEKELLE UNIVERSITY) Mr. ZELALEM MAMO (HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY) AUGUST 2019 ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA By: Teklay G. (AkU), Adane T. (MU), and Zelalem M. (HMU) Page 3 ORGANIZATION OF THE MODULE: 1. Module Introduction: - Teklay G. (AkU) 2. Chapter One: - Teklay G. (AkU) 3. Chapter Two: - Teklay G. (AkU) 4. Chapter Three: - Adane T. (MU) 5. Chapter Four: - Zelalem M.

2 (HMU) 6. Chapter Five: - Zelalem M. (HMU) 7. Chapter Six: - Adane T. (MU) By: Teklay G. (AkU), Adane T. (MU), and Zelalem M. (HMU) Page 4 Table of Contents COURSE INTRODUCTION .. 8 COURSE OBJECTIVES .. 10 CHAPTER ONE .. 11 INTRODUCING PHILOSOPHY .. 11 Chapter Overview .. 11 Lesson 1: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy .. 11 Lesson 2: Basic Features of Philosophy .. 15 Core Fields of Philosophy .. 19 Lesson 3: Metaphysics and Epistemology .. 19 Metaphysics .. 20 Epistemology .. 22 Lesson 4: Axiology and Logic .. 26 Axiology .. 27 Logic .. 30 Lesson 5: Importance of Learning Philosophy .. 31 Chapter Summary .. 33 Self Check Exercise .. 35 References .. 36 CHAPTER TWO .. 37 BASIC CONCEPTS OF LOGIC .. 37 Chapter Overview .. 37 Lesson 1: Basic Concepts of Logic: Arguments, Premises and Conclusions.

3 39 Lesson 2: Techniques of Recognizing 48 Recognizing Argumentative Passages .. 49 Recognizing Non-argumentative Passages .. 52 Lesson 3: Types of Arguments: Deduction and Induction .. 63 Deductive Arguments .. 64 Inductive Arguments .. 65 Differentiating Deductive and Inductive Arguments .. 66 By: Teklay G. (AkU), Adane T. (MU), and Zelalem M. (HMU) Page 5 Lesson 4: Evaluating Arguments .. 73 Evaluating Deductive Arguments: Validity, Truth, and Soundness .. 74 Evaluating Inductive Arguments: Strength, Truth, and Cogency .. 79 Chapter Summary .. 84 Self Check Exercise .. 86 References .. 87 CHAPTER THREE .. 88 LOGIC AND LANGUAGE .. 88 Chapter Overview .. 88 Lesson 1: Philosophy of Language: An overview .. 89 What is Philosophy of Language? .. 89 A Brief Note on the Debates and History of Philosophy of Language.

4 90 Some Philosophical Approaches to the Nature of Meaning .. 91 Lesson 2: Logic and Meaning .. 93 The Functions of Language: Cognitive and Emotive Meanings .. 93 The Intension and Extension of Terms .. 100 Logic and Definition .. 104 Lesson 3: Meaning, Types, and Purposes of Definitions .. 104 The Meaning of Definition .. 105 The Types and Purposes of Definitions .. 105 Lesson 4: Techniques of Definition .. 111 The Extensional (Denotative) Definitional Techniques .. 111 The Intensional (Connotative) Definitional Techniques .. 114 Lesson 5: Criteria for Lexical Definitions .. 118 Chapter Summary .. 123 Self Check Exercise .. 125 References .. 126 CHAPTER FOUR .. 127 BASIC CONCEPTS OF CRITICAL THINKING .. 127 Lesson 1: Meaning of Critical Thinking .. 128 Lesson 2: Standards of Critical Thinking.

5 132 By: Teklay G. (AkU), Adane T. (MU), and Zelalem M. (HMU) Page 6 Lesson 3: Codes of Intellectual Conduct for Effective Discussion .. 137 Principles of Good Argument .. 138 Principles of Critical Thinking .. 143 Lesson 4: Characteristics of Critical Thinking .. 148 Basic Traits of Critical Thinkers .. 148 Basic Traits of Uncritical Thinkers .. 149 Lesson 5: Barriers to Critical Thinking .. 151 Lesson 6: Benefits of Critical Thinking .. 158 Chapter Summary .. 162 Self Check Exercise .. 163 References .. 163 CHAPTER FIVE .. 164 informal FALLACIES .. 164 Chapter Overview .. 164 Lesson 1: Fallacy in General .. 165 The Meaning of Fallacy .. 166 Types of Fallacies .. 167 informal fallacies .. 169 Lesson 2: Fallacies of Relevance .. 170 Lesson 3: Fallacies of Weak Induction .. 188 Lesson 4: Fallacies of Presumption.

6 203 Lesson 5: Fallacies of Ambiguity and Grammatical Analogy .. 211 Fallacies of Ambiguity .. 212 Fallacies of Grammatical Analogy .. 215 Chapter Summary .. 219 References .. 220 CHAPTER SIX .. 221 CATEGORICAL PROPOSITIONS .. 221 Chapter Overview: .. 221 Lesson 1: General Introduction .. 221 Standard-Forms of Categorical Proposition .. 223 By: Teklay G. (AkU), Adane T. (MU), and Zelalem M. (HMU) Page 7 The Components of Categorical Propositions .. 225 Lesson 2: Attributes of Categorical Propositions: Quality, Quantity, and Distribution .. 227 Lesson 3: Venn Diagrams and the Modern Square of Opposition .. 231 Representing Categorical Propositions in Diagrams .. 231 Squares of Opposition: Traditional and Modern Squares of Opposition .. 233 The Traditional Square of Opposition.

7 234 Lesson 4: Evaluating Immediate Inferences: Using Venn Diagrams and Square of Oppositions .. 237 Logical Operations: Conversion, Obversion, and Contraposition .. 242 Chapter Summary .. 252 Self-Check Exercises .. 252 References .. 253 By: Teklay G. (AkU), Adane T. (MU), and Zelalem M. (HMU) Page 8 COURSE INTRODUCTION Dear learners, The course, Logic and Critical Thinking, is a high-level thought course in the discipline of philosophy. It is a philosophical inquiry that takes argumentation and reasoning as its basic objects of investigation and attempts to introduce the fundamental concepts of logic and methods of logical argumentation and reasoning and critical thinking. It includes evaluation of the methods by which we form beliefs, weigh evidence, assess hypotheses and arguments, and analyze reasoning.

8 Logic is concerned with the study of arguments, and it seeks to establish the conditions under which an argument may be considered as acceptable or good. It includes the development of standard methods and principles of arguments. Critical thinking is an exercise, a habit, a manner of perception and reasoning that has principles of logic as its fulcrum, and dynamically involves various reasoning skills that ought to be human approach to issues and events of life. Critical thinking means correct thinking in the pursuit of relevant and reliable knowledge about the world. In another way, critical thinking is the reasonable, reflective, responsible, and skillful thinking that focuses on deciding what to believe or do. To think critically is to examine ideas, evaluate them against what you already know and make decisions about their merit.

9 A person who thinks critically can ask appropriate questions, gather relevant information, efficiently and creatively sort through this information, reason logically from this information, and come to reliable and trustworthy conclusions about the world that enable one to live and act successfully in it. When you think critically, you weigh up all sides of an argument and evaluate its validity, strengths and weaknesses. Thus, critical thinking skills entail actively seeking all sides of an argument: evaluating the soundness of the claims asserted and the evidence used to support the claims. Therefore, this course is designed to help students to develop not only the ability to construct reliable and logically defendable arguments of their own and rationally evaluate the arguments of others, but also the abilities and skills of critical thinking.

10 All education consists of transmitting two different things to students: (1) the subject matter or discipline content of the course ("what to think"), and (2) the correct way to understand and evaluate this subject matter ("how to think"). We may do an excellent job of transmitting the content of our respective academic disciplines, but we often fail to teach students how to think effectively about this subject matter, By: Teklay G. (AkU), Adane T. (MU), and Zelalem M. (HMU) Page 9 that is, how to properly understand and evaluate it. That means, we often fail to teach how to think critically. Hence, the primary aim of this course is to teach students essential skills of analyzing, evaluating, and constructing arguments, and to sharpen their ability to execute the skills in thinking and writing, and thus better prepare them to succeed in the world.