Symbolic Logic
Brian Beakley
bbeakley@eiu.edu
581-3964
Office Hours: T/Th 5-6, 7:15-8:15

This course will present an introduction to the philosophy and techniques of formal logic. It will greatly extend the material covered in PHI 1900C/1990C, ("Logical and Critical Reasoning") and proceed at a faster pace, combining both proof procedures and semantic methods in our study of arguments and validity. While the primary aim of the course is to provide methods of formally evaluating English-language arguments, the tools used are of interest in their own right, and should yield both practical power and aesthetic pleasure.  We will work through both  the syntactic (proof) and semantic (truth-value) methods of classical sentence logic  and monadic predicate logic.  Our “text” will consist of a series of handouts I have written on the subject.  

Since this material (like that in a music or mathematics course) consists almost entirely of skills and techniques, it is essential that you get as much practice as possible.  To this end, there will be regular homework assignments and quizzes, as well as midterm and final exams.  Here is the point breakdown for the course:

	Quizzes:	 6 pts. x  8  =  48 pts.
	Homeworks: 	 2 pts. x  8  =  16 pts.
	Exams:		36 pts. x  2  =  72 pts.
	---------------------------------------
	Total:	    			 136 pts.  

Note that not every homework assignment will be collected, and you will not know in advance which ones will be; the quizzes will likewise be unannounced.  

You will have one free makeup for a homework, and one for a quiz; making up a  missed homework or quiz will otherwise require formal documentation that the absence was excusable. (Excusable absences include serious illness, university functions, etc. -- inquire if a particular case is unclear.)  You need schedule the makeup promptly – no more than one week after the day of the missed assignment; if you wait longer than that, you lose your chance to use the makeup on that missed assignment (though you still have the makeup, to use on some later assignment).  A makeup is not a retake – if you do a quiz or homework, and don’t get a good score, you can’t retake that assignment; the makeup is only for a missed assignment.