Logic for an Overcast Tuesday

Preface. Introduction. Unit One: Statements and arguments. Arguments. Statements. Finding the conclusion. Argument vs. exposition. The "therefore" test. Diagramming. Diagramming paragraphs. Deductive vs. inductive arguments. Some uses of language. Creating arguments. Tautologies, contradictions, and contingent statements. Truth and validity. Unit Two: Traditional logic. The syllogism. A date with Barbara. The Aristotelean square of opposition. Guidelines for determining equivalence. All banks are not the same. Three rules. Distribution. Venn diagrams. Tips for testing Venn diagrams. A complete guide to Venn diagrams. Unit Three: Symbolic logic. Symbols. Truth tables. Polish and other systems of symbolic notation. Atom smashing molecular arguments. Semantic trees. Rules of inference. Direct derivations. Direct derivations and conditional proofs. The quantificational calculus. Advanced quantificational logic. Unit Four: Arguments and fallacies. About fallacies. Fallacies of relevance. Inductive fallacies. Fallacies of presumption. Formal fallacies. Propaganda and fallacies, comprehensive exercises for unit IV. Unit Five: Creative thinking. An introduction to creative thinking. Science as a method of induction. Some tips on problem solving. Creating hypotheses. Testing and experimentation. Probability. Arguments and visual images.