The goal of this book is to improve your logical-reasoning skills. These skills are also called "critical thinking skills." They are a complex weave of abilities that help you get someone's point, generate reasons for your own point, evaluate the reasons given by others, decide what or what not to do, decide what information to accept or reject, explain a complicated idea, apply conscious quality control as you think, and resist propaganda. Your most important critical thinking skill is your skill at making judgments─not snap judgments that occur in the blink of an eye, but those that require careful reasoning.

This book is also available as an adaptable Word file.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 How to Reason Logically
Chapter 2 Claims, Issues, and Arguments
Chapter 3 Writing with the Appropriate Precision
Chapter 4 How to Evaluate Information and Judge Credibility
Chapter 5 Obstacles to Better Communication
Chapter 6 Writing to Convince Others
Chapter 7 Defending Against Deception
Chapter 8 Detecting Fallacies
Chapter 9 Consistency and Inconsistency
Chapter 10 Deductive Reasoning
Chapter 11 Logical Form and Sentential Logic
Chapter 12 Aristotelian Logic and Venn-Euler Diagrams
Chapter 13 Inductive Reasoning
Chapter 14 Reasoning about Causes and Their Effects
Chapter 15 Scientific Reasoning

This course provides an introduction to critical thinking, informal logic, and a small amount of formal logic; its purpose is to provide students with the basic tools of analytical reasoning. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Understand what critical thinking is and why it is valuable; Distinguish between good and bad definitions, Recognize the differences between explicit and implicit meaning, and remove ambiguities of meaning from unclearly worded statements; Recognize arguments in writing, pick out good and bad arguments by their form, and construct sound arguments of their own; Diagnose the most common reasoning errors and fallacies, as well as identify ways of improving them; Understand the basics of sentential and predicate logic and gain practice manipulating meaning symbolically; Understand the rudiments of scientific methodology and reasoning; Evaluate arguments that rely on specific types of visual representation; Understand the basics of strategic reasoning and problem solving; Understand the particular challenges involved in reasoning about values and morality; Diagnose fallacies and evaluate arguments about values and morality. (Philosophy 102)

This seminar focuses on the cognitive science of moral reasoning. Philosophers debate how we decide which moral actions are permissible. Is it permissible to take one human life in order to save others? We have powerful and surprisingly rich and subtle intuitions to such questions. In this class, you will learn how intuitions can be studied using formal analytical paradigms and behavioral experiments. Thursday evening, meet to learn about recent advances in theories of moral reasoning. Overnight, formulate a hypothesis about the structure of moral reasoning and design a questionnaire-based experiment to test this. Friday, present and select 1-2 proposals and collect data; we will then reconvene to analyze and discuss results and implications for the structure of the moral mind.

This book explores the philosophical views on the meaning of love. The text explores a variety of topics used to define love, including attraction, relationship satisfaction, emotional, and ethical considerations. The author takes a rational, logical, analytic, and scrutinizing look at experiences and other forms of literature on the subject of love.

This book explores the philosophical views on the meaning of love. The text explores a variety of topics used to define love, including attraction, relationship satisfaction, emotional, and ethical considerations. The author takes a rational, logical, analytic, and scrutinizing look at experiences and other forms of literature on the subject of love.

Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint addresses in a novel format the major topics and themes of contemporary metaethics, the study of the analysis of moral thought and judgement. Metathetics is less concerned with what practices are right or wrong than with what we mean by ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’
Looking at a wide spectrum of topics including moral language, realism and anti-realism, reasons and motives, relativism, and moral progress, this book engages students and general readers in order to enhance their understanding of morality and moral discourse as cultural practices. Catherine Wilson innovatively employs a first-person narrator to report step-by-step an individual’s reflections, beginning from a position of radical scepticism, on the possibility of objective moral knowledge. The reader is invited to follow along with this reasoning, and to challenge or agree with each major point. Incrementally, the narrator is led to certain definite conclusions about ‘oughts’ and norms in connection with self-interest, prudence, social norms, and finally morality. Scepticism is overcome, and the narrator arrives at a good understanding of how moral knowledge and moral progress are possible, though frequently long in coming.
Accessibly written, Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint presupposes no prior training in philosophy and is a must-read for philosophers, students and general readers interested in gaining a better understanding of morality as a personal philosophical quest.

Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint addresses in a novel format the major topics and themes of contemporary metaethics, the study of the analysis of moral thought and judgement. Metathetics is less concerned with what practices are right or wrong than with what we mean by ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’
Looking at a wide spectrum of topics including moral language, realism and anti-realism, reasons and motives, relativism, and moral progress, this book engages students and general readers in order to enhance their understanding of morality and moral discourse as cultural practices. Catherine Wilson innovatively employs a first-person narrator to report step-by-step an individual’s reflections, beginning from a position of radical scepticism, on the possibility of objective moral knowledge. The reader is invited to follow along with this reasoning, and to challenge or agree with each major point. Incrementally, the narrator is led to certain definite conclusions about ‘oughts’ and norms in connection with self-interest, prudence, social norms, and finally morality. Scepticism is overcome, and the narrator arrives at a good understanding of how moral knowledge and moral progress are possible, though frequently long in coming.
Accessibly written, Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint presupposes no prior training in philosophy and is a must-read for philosophers, students and general readers interested in gaining a better understanding of morality as a personal philosophical quest.

This course is an introduction to many of the central issues in a branch of philosophy called philosophy of mind.

Modal logic is the logic of necessity and possibility, and by extension of analogously paired notions like validity and consistency, obligation and permission, the known and the not-ruled-out. This a first course in the area. A solid background in first-order logic is essential. Topics to be covered include (some or all of) the main systems of propositional modal logic, Kripkean "possible world" semantics, strict implication, contingent identity, intensional objects, counterpart theory, the logic of actuality, and deontic and / or epistemic logic. The emphasis will be more on technical methods and results than philosophical applications.

This is a textbook (or better, a workbook) in modern philosophy. It combines readings from primary sources with two pedagogical tools. Paragraphs in italics introduce figures and texts. Numbered study questions (also in italics) ask students to reconstruct an argument or position from the text, or draw connections among the readings. And I have added an introductory chapter (Chapter 0 – Minilogic and Glossary), designed to present the basic tools of philosophy and sketch some principles and positions. The immediate goal is to encourage students to grapple with the ideas rather than passing their eyes over the texts. This makes for a better classroom experience and permits higher-level discussions. Another goal is to encourage collaboration among instructors, as they revise and post their own versions of the book.

This is a textbook (or better, a workbook) in modern philosophy. It combines readings from primary sources with two pedagogical tools. Paragraphs in italics introduce figures and texts. Numbered study questions (also in italics) ask students to reconstruct an argument or position from the text, or draw connections among the readings. And I have added an introductory chapter (Chapter 0 – Minilogic and Glossary), designed to present the basic tools of philosophy and sketch some principles and positions. The immediate goal is to encourage students to grapple with the ideas rather than passing their eyes over the texts. This makes for a better classroom experience and permits higher-level discussions. Another goal is to encourage collaboration among instructors, as they revise and post their own versions of the book.

" This course will focus on issues that arise in contemporary public debate concerning matters of social justice. Topics will likely include: euthanasia, gay marriage, racism and racial profiling, free speech, hunger and global inequality. Students will be exposed to multiple points of view on the topics and will be given guidance in analyzing the moral frameworks informing opposing positions. The goal will be to provide the basis for respectful and informed discussion of matters of common moral concern."

This course introduces students to the basic concepts and methods of moral and political philosophy. Its primary focus is on the development of moral reasoning skills and the application of those skills to contemporary social and political issues. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Discuss several major theories of justice and morality, including utilitarianism, libertarianism, social contract theory, deontology, and the ethics/politics of virtue; Demonstrate how moral and political dilemmas are handled differently by each set of theoretical principles; Develop their analytical skills through interpreting the consequences of various moral principles and revising principles to correspond with their own conceptions of justice; Discuss the relationship between morality and politics; Formulate their own positions concerning moral and political principles, especially in regards to particular issues discussed in this course; Discuss the origins of western democratic politics and constitutional government; Address a range of difficult and controversial moral and political issues, including murder, the income tax, corporate cost-benefit analysis, lying, affirmative action, and same-sex marriage. (Philosophy 103)

This course is an introduction to problems about creativity as it pervades human experience and behavior. Questions about imagination and innovation are studied in relation to the history of philosophy as well as more recent work in philosophy, affective psychology, cognitive studies, and art theory. Readings and guidance are aligned with the student's focus of interest.

The Open Logic Text is an open textbook on mathematical logic aimed at a non-mathematical audience, intended for advanced logic courses as taught in many philosophy departments. It is open-source: you can download the LaTeX code. It is open: you’re free to change it whichever way you like, and share your changes. It is collaborative: a team of people is working on it, using the GitHub platform, and we welcome contributions and feedback. And it is written with configurability in mind.

The Open Logic Text is an open-source, collaborative textbook of formal meta-logic and formal methods, starting at an intermediate level (i.e., after an introductory formal logic course). Though aimed at a non-mathematical audience (in particular, students of philosophy and computer science), it is rigorous.

The Open Logic Text is a collaborative project and is under active development. Coverage of some topics currently included may not yet be complete, and many sections still require substantial revision. We plan to expand the text to cover more topics in the future. We also plan to add features to the text, such as a glossary, a list of further reading, historical notes, pictures, better explanations, sections explaining the relevance of results to philosophy, computer science, and mathematics, and more problems and examples. If you find an error, or have a suggestion, please let the project team know.

The project operates in the spirit of open source. Not only is the text freely available, we provide the LaTeX source under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which gives anyone the right to download, use, modify, re-arrange, convert, and re-distribute our work, as long as they give appropriate credit.

Table of Contents
I Sets, Relations, Functions
II Propositional Logic
III First-order Logic
IV Model Theory
V Computability
VI Turing Machines
VII Incompleteness
VIII Second-order Logic
IX Normal Modal Logics
X Instuitionistic Logic
XII Methods
XIII History

It is important for students not only to get an appreciation and understanding of philosophy but also to be exposed to the very words and ideas of those who have shaped our thinking over the centuries. Accordingly, the title of this collection hints at the facts that these readings are from the original sources and that these philosophers were the originators of many of the issues we still discuss today. Major areas of philosophy covered here are: Ethics, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, Socio-Political Philosophy, and finally, Aesthetics.

Para Todxs: Natal é um livro didático completo sobre lógica formal. Ele aborda noções fundamentais como consequência lógica e validade de argumentos, a sintaxe da lógica proposicional verofuncional (LVF) e a semântica de tabelas-verdade, a sintaxe da lógica de predicados de primeira ordem (LPO) com identidade (interpretações de primeira ordem), traduções (formalizações) do português para LVF e LPO, além de sistemas de prova em dedução natural (estilo Fitch) para LVF e LPO. Também são abordados alguns tópicos mais avançados, como a correção da LVF e uma introdução à lógica modal. O livro está disponível em PDF otimizado para visualização em tela, com links coloridos. Todos os arquivos fonte em LaTeX estão disponíveis, e podem ser também utilizados para gerar uma outra versão PDF otimizada para impressão. Posteriormente, versões especiais para visualização em tela de dispositivos eletrônicos, versões em folha preta, uma versão com fonte especial para disléxicos, além de um caderno com as soluções dos exercícios também serão produzidos. Um editor/verificador de provas para o sistema usado no livro está disponível online em andersonnakano.hyperphp.com, em versão traduzida ao português por Anderson Luis Nakano do editor original disponível em Open Logic Project.

This book is an introduction to philosophical ethics intended for use in introductory college or high school level courses. It has grown out of lecture notes I shared with the first students who took my online Ethics course at the Pennsylvania College of Technology almost 20 years ago. Since then it has seen more development in a variety of forms – starting out as a pdf document, and then evolving into a static set of WordPress pages and finally now as a book written in bookdown and hosted at GitHub. This text represents my attempt to scratch a couple of itches. The first is my wanting a presentation of the major philosophical approaches to ethics that I can actually agree with and that is integrated into my overall teaching method. I tend to teach philosophy to beginners and so there is a fair amount of discussion of the tools used by philosophers and of the ways in which their approach differs from that of their colleagues in other disciplines.

There are of course many good quality ethics textbooks out there, and yet none has exactly matched my way of wanting to present the material. Teaching ethics over the years has been a process of active exploration and constant revision of my approach as I have come to a more nuanced and richer appreciation of what ethical thinking and theorizing is all about, as well as some ideas about how I think the main strands of argument relate to each other. Yes this is a partisan effort, but it’s all subject to revision and refinement based on, I hope at least, the better argument. That’s what I am trying to get across here.

The second itch I am trying to scratch has to do with initiatives in open education, and I’d like this text to contribute in its own small way to the much larger and more influential open source movement and philosophy of which I consider it a part. Knowledge is only ours to share. Yes of course writers, developers and publishers do hard work that deserves compensation. But intellectual property, it seems to me, is a false idol that deserves to be smashed. So here is my effort to chip away at it – knowledge should free us and and not sink us into both literal and figurative debt.

Table of Contents:
I Some Preliminaries
1 The Examined Life
2 A Little Bit of Logic
3 Fallacies and Biases

II Ethics Culture and Religion
4 Relativism
5 Religion and Ethics

III Reconstructing Norms
6 Egoism
7 Social Contract Theory
8 Utilitarianism
9 Kant and the ethics of duty

IV Applied Ethics
10 Theory in Practice
11 Euthanasia
12 Liberty and its Limits
13 Crime and Punishment
14 Animals and Ethics
15 Ethics and the Environment

This book is an introduction to philosophical ethics intended for use in introductory college or high school level courses. It has grown out of lecture notes I shared with the first students who took my online Ethics course at the Pennsylvania College of Technology almost 20 years ago. Since then it has seen more development in a variety of forms – starting out as a pdf document, and then evolving into a static set of WordPress pages and finally now as a book written in bookdown and hosted at GitHub. This text represents my attempt to scratch a couple of itches. The first is my wanting a presentation of the major philosophical approaches to ethics that I can actually agree with and that is integrated into my overall teaching method. I tend to teach philosophy to beginners and so there is a fair amount of discussion of the tools used by philosophers and of the ways in which their approach differs from that of their colleagues in other disciplines.