Blinn College Bryan Campus Course Syllabus Introduction to Logic PHILOSOPHY 2303-304 (M 7:05-9:45 p.m.) G-241 (Revised Spring 2012) Ms. Ann Voelkel Office: A246 (Bryan Campus) Office Phone #: 979-209-7357 E-mail: avoelkel@blinn.edu Website: http://www.blinn.edu/brazos/humanities/avoelkel OFFICE HOURS LOGIC LAB HOURS M: 5:30-6:50 M: 3:30-5:30 (Voelkel) A246 T: 11:40-2:40 T: 11:00-1:00 (Reilly) A243 T: 3:00-4:00 (Pry) A245 W: 12:00-1:00 W: 10:00-12:00 (Thomas) A249 TH: 12:00-2:40 TH: 3:00-4:00 (Pry) A245 Course Description This course develops critical thinking skills, especially the ability to distinguish correct from incorrect reasoning, by an exploration of the major areas of modern symbolic logic. Among the topics covered are translating statements from natural to symbolic language, truth tables and natural deduction for propositional logic, models and natural deduction for predicate logic. Three class hours per week. Credit: Three semester hours. Course Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes At the completion of the course, the student will: Identify types and components of arguments. Translate ordinary language statements into propositional logic form. Determine validity/invalidity of propositional logic arguments using direct and indirect truth tables. Prove the validity of propositional logic arguments by use of natural deduction. Translate ordinary language statements into predicate logic form. Determine validity/invalidity of predicate logic arguments using the finite universe method. Required Texts 1. Hurley, Patrick J. Introduction to Logic, Custom Edition for Blinn College. 11 th ed. (Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2012). 2. Course Packet: Available at the Copy Center (1 st floor of G Building on campus), and on reserve at the Library Schedule (tentative: If changes have to be made to this calendar, they will be announced in class; students are responsible for knowing about such changes even if they are absent when changes are announced). 1/23: Introduction, Course Inventory Ch. 1.1 (Arguments, Premises, and Conclusions) Ch 1.3 (Deduction and Induction)
Ch 1.4 (Validity, Truth and Soundness) Ch 6.1 (Symbols and Translation Propositional Logic) 1/30: Ch. 6.2 (up to p. 304 Truth Functions) Ch. 6.3 (up to p. 315 Truth Tables for Propositions) Ch 6.4 (Truth Tables for Arguments) 2/6 Ch. 6.5 (Indirect Truth Tables) 2/13: EXAM 1 (see your course packet for example of practice exam) Ch. 7.1 (Rules of Implication 1) 2/20: Ch. 7.2 (Rules of Implication 2) 2/27: Ch. 7.3 (Rules of Replacement 1) 3/5: Ch. 7.4 (Rules of Replacement 2) 3/19: EXAM 2 3/26: Ch 7.5 (Conditional Proof) Ch. 7.6 (Indirect Proof) 4/2: Ch 8.1, 8.5 (Symbols and Translation Predicate Logic) 4/9: EXAM 3 4/16: Ch. 8.2 (Using the Rules of Inference with Quantifiers) 4/23: Ch. 8.3 (Change of Quantifier Rule) 4/30: Ch. 8.4 (Conditional & Indirect Proof) 5/4: Final Exam (EX 4) 7:45-9:45 p.m. (Friday night) Please plan to take the final at this time as no early or makeup exams will be given. You must bring an AccuScan form to take the Final Exam. Breakdown of Final Exam: 25% from 25 question multiple-choice test 75% from Ch. 8 proofs Last day to drop with a Q : 4/13 (Fri) Spring Break: Mar. 12th 16 th COURSE REQUIREMENTS I. DAILY Grades (Quizzes, Classwork, and Homework --equivalent to 15% of your final grade) Quizzes: Quizzes are always given at the beginning of class and will go on for a certain length of time (usually no more than 5-15 minutes). These quizzes will be done individually and will count for half of the total daily grade. The quiz will consist of working out a problem similar to those assigned in class. You should expect a quiz the class day after I have introduced new material (unless you have an exam scheduled that day). Students who miss a quiz due to absence or tardiness will receive a zero. Students who come to class sometime during the quiz may attempt to take the quiz in the time remaining. They will not be given extra time. Quizzes are worth half (50%) of your total daily grade (which in turn is worth 15% of your final grade). Class-work: You have the option of working alone, or in pairs (no more than 2 people). Every day (except most exam days) you will be doing work from both the textbook and Coursepacket. Class-work is worth a 4 th (25%) of your Daily Grade (which in turn is worth 15% of your final grade). Each of you will be doing the exercises on your own paper regardless of whether you are working alone or in pairs. Sometimes I may collect the work, and other times I may check it as you are doing it in class. After the 1 st exam, I will usually check the problems as you do them in class. I expect everyone to be working on these problems. If a student is present but not working, that student shall not receive credit for the work. To receive credit for Class-work, you must be there working for the entire class period (or have finished all the problems in class). This means that you must physically do all the problems there in class. You are not allowed to turn in the
work if you completed it outside of class. If you did do the work outside of class, you will have to redo the problems in class (which is actually very good practice). If you leave early, it will be counted as a zero (also see Attendance Policy below). If you are using an electronic device (such as phone, ipod etc.) any time during class (whether it be texting or surfing the net while I am lecturing or when you are supposed to be working), you will lose 50% of your whole daily grade for that day (see Electronics policy below). If you do work in pairs, I expect both of you to work all the problems together; i.e. no splitting up the work. Usually there will be more work in class than you are able to complete. However, if you are not doing enough of the work, you will not receive the full grade. If this is the case, I will warn you that you are not completing enough of the problems/exercises. (Keep in mind that on exams you will be tested not only on whether you can do the problems, but also on whether you can do them in the time given.) If you were absent for a class you should not wait until the next class to try to catch up. You are required to learn the information on your own, with help from me during office hours, or with help from a tutor. You should NOT rely on other classmates to tutor you on past material during class when they are supposed to be working on present material. It is expected that you familiarize yourself with the readings in both the text and Course Packet ahead of time and come prepared. Bring your Textbook and Course Packet to class every day. Everyone should keep all work that is done in class until the end of the semester for your own records. Homework: At the end of the class, I will give out your homework assignment for the following week. Homework will consist of problem(s) similar to but more difficult and longer than the problems you just did in class (and ones from the Course Packet you may not have gotten to in class). Homework is NOT Classwork and should be completed on your own. You should NOT copy someone else s HW and turn it in as your own. This is considered academic dishonesty and will be treated as such. If you turn in a HW that is done correctly, but do badly on the quiz that evening (which will be a problem similar to but not as lengthy or as difficult as the HW), I may take that as a sign that the HW you turned in was not your own and have you come to my office to re-do it in front of me (for any credit). Homework will be collected only at the beginning of class. Late homework is NEVER accepted. If you know you are going to be late or absent from class on the day it is due, you may turn it in ahead of time. I will allow this once or twice depending on your reasons. If you are not in class when the HW assignment is given out, it would be in your best interest to either get it from a classmate, or e-mail me for the assignment. Homework is worth a 4th (25%) of your total Daily Grade. Many of the problems given as Homework are meant to be challenging, so it would be best to not wait until the last minute to attempt it. If you are having a hard time completing your HW you may come see me during my office hours/logic lab hours for some help. If I help you complete your HW in my office, I will collect it then. At the end of the semester I will drop the lowest 2 classwork grades, lowest 1 quiz grade, and lowest 1 Homework grade. This usually covers one class worth of work. The remaining grades will be averaged (see grading criteria below); the result counting as 15% of your final grade. II. Exams (worth 85% of your final grade) There are a total of 4 exams (including the final exam). They are weighted differently according to the box below: EX1 covering Ch s 1.1, 1.3, 1.4 and Ch s 6.1-6.5 will be 15% of your final grade. EX2 covering 7.1-7.4 will be 20% of your final grade. EX3 covering 7.5, 7.6 and 8.1 will be 25% of your final grade. EX4 (Cumulative Final) covering 8.2-8.5, and the Course Inv. will be 25% of your final grade.
CUMULATIVE Final exam: The first part of the final exam will be a cumulative section of 25 multiple-choice questions. This section will be worth 25% of your Final Exam grade. This section will be completed first WITHOUT the use of the Rule Sheet. You MUST bring an AccuScan Form for the multiple-choice section. If you do not use the correct form, you will not receive credit for that portion of the exam. After you turn in this section, you will be given a rule sheet to use for the remainder of the exam. The rest of the exam will cover proofs from Ch. 8.4. (the other 75% of your Final Exam grade.) The Final Exam CANNOT be made up. If you miss the final exam due to an unforeseen medical emergency, you will have to take an incomplete for the class (see requirements for incompletes below). Grading Criteria Your Final Grade will be determined as follows: Exams (85%) The 4 exams will be worth a total of 85% of your final grade (see percentages for each exam above). Ex1: Take your grade and multiple by.15 Ex2: Take your grade and multiply by.20 Ex3: Take your grade and multiply by.25 Ex4: Take your grade and multiply by.25 Example: When Nami receives the following grades on her exams, this is what she would do: Ex1 90 (90 x.15 = 13.5), Ex2 70 (70 x.20 = 14), Ex3 86 (86 x.25 = 21.5), Ex4 88 (88 x.25 = 22) Now add up those 4 numbers: 13.5+14+21.5+22= 71 (this number will then be added to the daily grade for the final grade percentage). Daily Grade (15% of your final grade) This is how I figure out your daily grade: I first average the quiz grades and multiply that number by 2. Then I will add that number to the average of the Class-work grades, and to the average of your homework grades. Then I will divide that by four to get your average daily grade. Finally, to get the 15% of the final grade, I will take that average and multiply it to.15. This then is the number that is added to your Exam # for your final grade. EX.) Nami has an averaged quiz grade of 78, an averaged class-work grade of 98, and an averaged homework grade of 82. 78x2= 156 (quiz avg. x 2) 156+98+82 = 336 (quiz avg. x 2 added to CW and HW averages) 336/4 = 84 (average of daily grade) 84 x.15 = 12.6 (daily grade average x.15 to get the 15%) This daily grade of 12.6 will then be added to the exam grade of 71 to get a grand total of 83.6 which is a B for the class (see percentage scale below). Grading System A 90-100% Excellent B 80-89% Good C 70-79% Average D 60-69% Poor F Below 60% Failure I Incomplete Q Dropped QF Dropped Failing W Dropped Due to Good Cause or Withdrew from College
Adding / Dropping Courses Adding: No courses may be added later than the first two weeks of a regular semester. A student adding the course must make up the work missed within two weeks after a course is added. Dropping: Students may drop, or withdraw from, courses by notifying Admissions and Records in person or in writing. The official drop date for a regular semester is the Friday of the 12 th week of that semester. A student who drops on or before the official drop date may receive a grade of W or Q. A student who drops after the official drop date will receive a grade of QF. If the student s work was passing at the time of withdrawal, he or she may petition the instructor to file a grade change from QF to Q. Students may not drop or be dropped from classes once the final examination period begins. Official drop date for Spring 2012 is Friday, April 13. Blinn College Policies Attendance Policy The College District believes that class attendance is essential for student success; therefore, students are required to promptly and regularly attend all their classes. Blinn College excuses, with appropriate documentation ahead of time, absences for religious holy days and Blinn- sponsored events. Each class meeting builds the foundation for subsequent class meetings. Without full participation and regular class attendance, students place themselves at a severe disadvantage for achieving success in college. Class participation shall constitute at least ten percent of the final course grade. It is the responsibility of each faculty member, in consultation with the division chair, to determine how participation is achieved in his or her class. Faculty will require students to regularly attend class and will keep a record of attendance from the first day of class and/or the first day the student s name appears on the roster, through final examinations. If a student has one week s worth of unexcused absences during the semester, he/she will be sent an e-mail (every student now has a Blinn College email address to which these notices will be sent) by the College requiring the student to contact his/her instructor and schedule a conference immediately to discuss his/her attendance issues. If the student accumulates a total of two weeks worth of unexcused absences, he/she will be administratively withdrawn from class. In summer classes, the student may be withdrawn after three unexcused absences. Blinn college policy excuses absences (with timely documentation) for two causes: official attendance at a Blinn College event and observance of a religious holy day. Disability Accommodations: Blinn College is dedicated to providing the least restrictive learning environment for all students. Support services for students with documented disabilities are provided on an individual basis, upon request. Requests for services should be made directly to the Office of Disability Services serving the campus of your choice. For the Bryan campus, the Office of Disability Services (Administration Building) can be reached at (979)209-7251. The Brenham, Sealy and Schulenburg campuses are served by the Office of Disability Services on the Brenham campus (New Administration Building Room 104) and can be reached at (979)830-4157. Additional information can be found at www.blinn.edu/disability. Accommodations are not retroactive. Scholastic Integrity Policy: Blinn instructors are responsible for maintaining scholastic integrity by refusing to tolerate any form of scholastic dishonesty. As academic honesty is stressed in all classes, there is no distinction between intentional and unintentional plagiarism. According to the Blinn College Student Handbook, violations of the Scholastic Integrity Policy shall include, but not be limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion. This handbook defines plagiarism as the appropriating, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means another s work and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of it in one s own written work. Blinn College stipulates that collusion is the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written work for fulfillment of course requirements. Violations of the Scholastic Integrity Policy may result in a penalty ranging from a grade of zero on the assignment/examination up to and including the imposition of an F for the entire course.
Civility in the Classroom: Members of the Blinn College community, which includes faculty, staff and students, are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all aspects of campus life. Blinn College holds all members accountable for their actions and words. Therefore, all members should commit themselves to behave in a manner that recognizes personal respect and demonstrates concern for the personal dignity, rights, and freedoms of every member of the College community, including respect for College property and the physical and intellectual property of others. If a student is asked to leave the classroom because of uncivil behavior, the student may not return to that class until he or she arranges a conference with the instructor. It is the student s responsibility to arrange for this conference. Personal Electronic Devices: All the functions of all personal electronic devices designed for communication and/or entertainment (cell phones, pagers, beepers, ipods, and similar devices) must be turned off and kept out of sight in all Blinn College classrooms and associated laboratories. Any noncompliance with this policy will be addressed in accordance with the Blinn College civility policy (Administrative Policy). Additionally, any communication understood by the instructor to be in the nature of cheating will have consequences in accordance with the Blinn College policy section regarding academic dishonesty. Students exempted from this policy include active members of firefighting organizations, emergency medical services organizations, commissioned police officers, on-call employees of any political subdivision of the state of Texas, or agencies of the federal government. Exempted students are expected to set the emergency-use devices on silent or vibrate mode only. Any student violating this policy shall be subject to discipline, including suspension, in accordance with the Student Handbook. Incomplete Policy: A grade of "I" may be given only in emergencies, such as the serious illness of the student or a close family member. The grade is not for students who fall behind in their work. To receive a grade of incomplete, the student must have satisfactorily completed all but one or two of the final requirements of the course. The instructor and student must agree before this grade can be assigned; then a course completion contract must be signed by the student, the instructor, and the division chair. All work must be made up within 90 days of the course completion contract or zeroes will be assigned for the incomplete work. No Food or Drinks in Blinn College classrooms. Student e-mail accounts: Every Blinn College student is assigned an email account to facilitate official College correspondence. Students must activate their accounts initially through the Student E-mail Accounts link at the Blinn home page. Students need to check their Blinn accounts regularly for important communications, including excessive absence reports and emergency announcements. Textbooks: The assigned textbooks are essential for your learning, especially in classes focusing on the study of the written word. You must provide yourself with the books from the very beginning of the semester. You are required to bring the textbook (and Course Packet) with you every day unless otherwise notified. You may not share the textbook during class or use photocopied pages instead of the book. Although not required by Blinn College, the Humanities Division does require that all Instructors inform students, in writing, of their standing at mid-term each semester.
Instructor/Course Policies Attendance A student who misses a Class-work, quiz, or homework will receive zero points for it. These daily grades CANNOT be made up even if the student has a category 1 excuse (see below). However, I will drop 2 of the lowest class-work grades, 1 quiz grade, and 1 homework grade at the end of the semester. This is to cover that one time the student may be ill, need to be elsewhere, or for other personal reasons. IF you do have what you think is an excused absence, then you MUST let me know no later than the calendar day after the class missed. I.e. If you miss class on Monday and it is an excused absence, you or someone else MUST let me know the reason no later than the next day (Tues). If you have proper documentation for such absences, I MAY let you make up some of the missed book work (once you have already missed 2 book CW s). Proper documentation for your absence must be brought to class the SAME day you come back, otherwise your absence will be considered unexcused. The course packet work cannot be made up. It is your responsibility to let me know ahead of time (if possible) if you have an excused absence. You can e-mail me, or leave a voicemail. Remember that if you wait longer than the next day to inform me, your absence will be reported as unexcused. I will record your absence no later than 2 calendar days after the class you missed unless you contact me and inform me that you have a good excuse. If it is your second unexcused absence I highly recommend you do not delay in contacting me. Once you are dropped from this class, it will be unlikely that you are reinstated, even if you did have a good excuse. On the other hand, if you plan on dropping the class you should do so yourself and not rely on me to record your absences. If you thought you would be dropped, but received an F instead, that is your responsibility, not mine. In this class, a total of 2 unexcused absences will result in your being administratively dropped. Excuses: I divide excuses into three categories: Good, Not-so-good, and None/Unacceptable. 1. Good Excuses (not reported as unexcused absence): These include such things as holy days, Blinn sanctioned trips, serious illnesses and funerals. The primary characteristic of a Good Excuse is that it can be documented: i.e. the student can show me their doctor's bill (with date, time of appointment, name of the doctor, and phone # of the doctor s office---see note below on doctor s excuses), the funeral notice, etc. The student must inform me of the reason for the absence no later than the day after the absence. Documentation must be presented the first day the student returns to class. 2. Not-so-good Excuses (may or may not be reported as unexcused absence): These include such things as mild illness, car trouble, work conflicts, roommate problems, etc. The primary consideration in this case is that a student MUST contact me by phone (leaving a message with return phone number if I'm unavailable) or e-mail NO LATER than the day of absence to inform me of the problem. Otherwise the excuse will fall into the third category. If the student has no documentation, but still has (what I think is) a fairly good reason for why they were not in class, then I may accept their absence as excused THIS ONE TIME. 3. No excuse/unacceptable Excuse (reported as unexcused absence): This includes situations in which: a.) the student is unable to document his or her excuse at all. b.) the student does not contact me by the calendar day after the absence. c.) the student does not bring documentation the first class day he or she returns (even if the documentation is good). It is not expected that all excuses will fall neatly into one of these three categories; I reserve the right to decide which case any unusual excuse falls under. Also, I have the right to not accept the documentation presented as good enough reason for excusing the absence. A note on Doctor s excuses: You must inform your doctor s office or clinic that your instructor might call to verify a medical excuse. If the appointment cannot be verified, the excuse will not be accepted. Falsifying such
documents is prohibited under the Blinn College Discipline Code. Penalties for violating this code can include measures such as suspension or permanent expulsion from the College. For those who may not have health insurance and cannot afford to see a doctor, don t forget that we have a nurse on campus (in S163) who can evaluate your medical problem and supply you with a note. The nurse also keeps a record of who has visited and received notes. Missed Exams: A student who misses one of the first three exams will always be allowed to do a make-up exam. Regardless of the excuse, any make-up exam must be taken NO LATER than 1 week after the student returns. Regardless of the excuse, make-up exams will also be more difficult than the regular exam UNLESS the student can make up that exam BEFORE the next time the class meets. I.e. If the student misses the exam on Monday, the student may take that same exam as a make-up if it is taken before class meets on the following Monday. If it is taken after class that following Monday, it will be a different and more difficult exam. Whatever the nature of the excuse, the student must first contact me no later than the day after they miss the exam to request a make-up, and will need to make an appointment with me to take the make-up exam. All make-up exams must be taken in my office during my office hours. If you cannot take the exam during any of those times, you will have to receive a zero for that exam. The fourth (Final Exam), if missed, cannot be made up. Please make every effort to take the exam at the regular time in class!! Missed Quizzes: Remember that I will drop one quiz grade at the end of the semester. After missing 1 quiz, students may take a make-up quiz if their absence is excused. The make-up quiz must be taken in my office within a week after the student returns, and it will be more difficult than the original quiz. Thus, if you miss a quiz and come to class on the following Monday (with proper documentation), you must make up the quiz no later than that next Monday (between 3:30 and 6:50). If there is also a quiz on that Monday you return, you are responsible for taking that quiz in class that same day and may NOT make it up. If the student misses a quiz due to tardiness, that quiz cannot be made-up. I reserve the right to not let any student make up any exam, quiz, or class work no matter what their excuse is. At the instructor s discretion, makeup exams and other assignments, if allowed, may be different from the original assignments. It is NOT a good idea to miss a lot of class. The daily grades which average as an exam grade are pretty important. Doing well on the daily work can be helpful in pulling up a final grade. However, students who miss a lot of class find that their daily work grade can pull down their final grade. There will usually be two Class-work grades per day on most days (textbook and Course Packet). Also, on most days there will be a HW due, a quiz AND two Class-work grades. You could very easily miss 3-4 grades for missing just one class. A student who has missed 20% of the semester is not entitled to make up the material regardless of any excused absences that student has. Students who miss 20% or more of this course miss out on too much of the material/skills taught to successfully make up missed work. Even though students may keep up on the assigned reading, there is no way to make up missed lectures, class discussions, group work, etc., all very important and necessary methods of learning the skills required for this course. Reading material: The assigned textbooks are essential for your learning, especially in classes focusing on the study of the written word. You must provide yourself with the books from the very beginning of the semester. You are required to bring the textbook (and Course Packet) with you every day unless otherwise notified. In addition to the textbook, I expect the students to read the material in the Course Packet. It contains explanations, tips, and practice problems helpful to the understanding of difficult material. You
need to be able to do the sorts of problems that are in the Course Packet to be able to do the ones on the exams. Out of class work: Other than the Homework, I fully expect everyone to work on problems from the book and course packet on their own outside of class. Unless you happen to be a natural at doing logic proofs, you will not do well in this class if the only practice you get is the in-class work and homework. The proofs you don t get to in class should be completed on your own, for your own practice. I fully expect everyone to be able to do ANY of the kinds of proofs that are in the text and my course packet (ESPECIALLY the Course Packet), even if you didn t get to them in class. I post the answer keys to the Course Packet exercises on my webpage after all the classes have completed it. If your class completes the work before the other classes, and you wish to have the key, you can email me and I ll send you one. Mid-Term grades I will give you your mid-term assessment shortly after Ex2 (which is your grade average at the mid point of the semester). For this, you will receive a sheet with all your daily grades, exam grades, and your class average. Final grades At the end of the semester, you may find your final grades online. I am NOT allowed to give out final grades over the phone or through e-mail. No visitors or children in the class without permission. Cell phones MUST be turned off and completely put away. I-pods, other mp3 players or electrical devices are not permitted in class. Laptops are not permitted (nor are they especially useful) in this class. The penalty if I see you using any of these items/devices (texting, surfing the net etc.) after class has started is -50% to your whole daily grade that day (and if you continue to use the device you may be asked to leave the class and receive an unexcused absence for the day). The penalty if I see you using one of these devices during an exam is an automatic zero on the exam. For your own sake it would be best to just make sure the device is off and out of sight. During an exam, you may leave your turned off cell phone on my desk in the front if you are worried about the penalty. (See also cell phone/electronics policy above under Blinn College policies). All Blinn students are provided with college e-mail accounts. It is every student s responsibility to activate his/her account and check his/her messages frequently. Alternatively, students may auto-forward e-mails sent to their Blinn account to another e-mail account they check regularly. Students who do not avail themselves of either of these alternatives will miss notifications about their absences, warnings about campus emergencies, and any information I may send out. NOTE: If you are having problems understanding or keeping up with the material in class, PLEASE come see me for help during my office hours, come to the Logic Lab during its hours, or seek help from the various logic tutors (who charge). See sign posted in classroom (G241) for names & numbers of Logic tutors. It is very important that you do not fall behind in the class (especially after the first exam). If you do fall behind, you may not be able to catch up. I provide you with my notes, various answer keys to Course Packet work, and various tutorials to help you understand the material. These are posted on my website (see info on first page). It would be to your advantage to download this material and use it!