Coursera
Explore
  • Browse
  • Search
  • For Enterprise
  • Log In
  • Sign Up

Think Again II: How to Reason Deductively

OverviewSyllabusFAQsCreatorsRatings and Reviews

HomePersonal Development

Think Again II: How to Reason Deductively

Duke University

About this course: How to Reason Deductively Think Again: How to Reason and Argue Reasoning is important. This series of four short courses will teach you how to do it well. You will learn simple but vital rules to follow in thinking about any topic at all and common and tempting mistakes to avoid in reasoning. We will discuss how to identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments by other people (including politicians, used car salesmen, and teachers) and how to construct arguments of your own in order to help you decide what to believe or what to do. These skills will be useful in dealing with whatever matters most to you. Courses at a Glance: All four courses in this series are offered through sessions which run every four weeks. We suggest sticking to the weekly schedule to the best of your ability. If for whatever reason you fall behind, feel free to re-enroll in the next session.We also suggest that you start each course close to the beginning of a month in order to increase the number of peers in the discussion forums who are working on the same material as you are. While each course can be taken independently, we suggest you take the four courses in order. Course 1 - Think Again I: How to Understand Arguments Course 2 - Think Again II: How to Reason Deductively Course 3 - Think Again III: How to Reason Inductively Course 4 - Think Again IV: How to Avoid Fallacies About This Course in the Series: Imagine that a friend denies that modus ponens is a valid form of argument. Can you prove that it is valid without using modus ponens itself and thereby assuming that it is valid? If so, how? If not, what does this show about the validity of modus ponens? How can phrases like "and", "or", "if", and "not" work as "truth-functional connectives"? In this course, you will learn how to evaluate deductive arguments for validity. In particular, you will learn new ways of representing the information that is contained in the premises of a deductive argument. Using these new representational devices (devices that we call "truth tables" and "Venn diagrams"), we will be able to apply rules to determine whether or not a particular deductive argument is valid. Suggested Readings: Students who want more detailed explanations or additional exercises or who want to explore these topics in more depth should consult Understanding Arguments: An Introduction to Informal Logic, Ninth Edition, Concise, Chapters 6 and 7 by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Robert Fogelin. Course Format: Each week will be divided into multiple video segments that can be viewed separately or in groups. There will be short ungraded quizzes after each segment (to check comprehension) and a longer graded quiz at the end of the course.


Created by:  Duke University
Duke University

  • Dr. Walter  Sinnott-Armstrong

    Taught by:  Dr. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Professor

    Philosophy

  • Dr. Ram  Neta

    Taught by:  Dr. Ram Neta, Professor

    Philosophy
LevelBeginner
Language
English, Subtitles: German
How To PassPass all graded assignments to complete the course.
User Ratings
4.6 stars
Average User Rating 4.6See what learners said
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Welcome to the Course
<p>Welcome to <b>Think Again: How to Reason Deductively</b>! This course is the second in a series of four courses jointly titled <em>Think Again: How to Reason and Argue</em>. We are excited that you are taking this course, and we hope that you will stick around for all four courses in the series, because there is a great deal of important material to learn.In the series as a whole, you will learn how to evaluate deductive arguments.</p> <p>What is it for a deductive to be “valid”? And how can you tell the difference between deductive arguments that are valid and those that aren’t? In this course, we will answer these questions.</p><p>The first part of this course introduces the series and the course. It also clarifies some peculiarities you may find with this course. We encourage you to watch the "<b>Introduction to the Course</b>" video first as it will help you learn more from the materials that come later. </p>
1 video, 1 reading
  1. Video: Introduction to the Course
  2. Reading: Course Logistics (Start Here)
Propositional Logic and Truth Tables
<p><b>CONTENT</b>: This week we will teach you how such phrases as “and”, “or”, “if”, and “not” can work to guarantee the validity or invalidity of the deductive arguments in which they occur. It will also teach you to understand the functioning of these phrases using a device called a “truth-table”, which shows how the truth or falsity of propositions that use these phrases depends upon the truth or falsity of the propositions contained within it. We highly recommend that you practice the skills that you will learn in this week by doing the puzzles at betapuzzle.sonjara.com.</p><p><b>LEARNING OUTCOMES</b>: By the end of this week’s material you will be able to :<ul><li>define what a deductive argument is</li><li>define what it is for a deductive argument to be valid</li><li>identify truth-functional operators and connectives</li><li>build a truth-table for any truth-functional operator or connective</li></ul></p><p><b>OPTIONAL READING</b>: If you want more examples or more detailed discussions of these topics, we recommend <em>Understanding Arguments, Ninth Edition</em>, Chapter 6. </p>
14 videos, 8 practice quizzes
  1. Video: Introduction to Deductive Logic
  2. Discussion Prompt: Share Your Thoughts: Validity
  3. Video: Propositions and Propositional Connectives
  4. Video: "And" and the Truth-Functional Connectives
  5. Practice Quiz: "And" and the Truth-Functional Connectives
  6. Video: Using Truth Tables to Show Validity
  7. Practice Quiz: Using Truth Tables to Show Validity
  8. Discussion Prompt: Share Your Thoughts: Truth Tables
  9. Video: Rules Variables and Generality
  10. Video: Disjunction
  11. Practice Quiz: Disjunction
  12. Video: Combining Conjunctions and Disjunctions
  13. Video: Negation and Truth Functional Operators
  14. Practice Quiz: Negation and Truth Functional Operators
  15. Video: Negating Conjunctions and Disjunctions
  16. Practice Quiz: Negating Conjuctions and Disjunctions
  17. Discussion Prompt: Share Your Thoughts: The Variety of Truth-Functions
  18. Video: Commutativity and Associativity
  19. Video: The Conditional
  20. Practice Quiz: The Conditional
  21. Video: Conditionals in Ordinary Language
  22. Practice Quiz: Conditionals in Ordinary Language
  23. Discussion Prompt: Share Your Thoughts: Using Truth-Tables to Prove Reasoning is Always Valid
  24. Video: Biconditionals
  25. Practice Quiz: Biconditionals
  26. Video: Conclusion
WEEK 2
Categorical Logic and Syllogisms
<p><b>CONTENT</b>: This week will teach you how such phrases as “all”, “some”, and “none” can work to guarantee the validity or invalidity of the deductive arguments in which they occur. It will also teach you to understand the functioning of these phrases using a device called a “Venn Diagram”, which shows how the truth or falsity of propositions that use these phrases depends upon the truth or falsity of other propositions that use these phrases. We highly recommend that you practice the skills that you will learn in this week by doing the puzzles at http://philgames-neta.apps.unc.edu</p><p><b>LEARNING OUTCOMES</b>: By the end of this week’s material you will be able to : <ul><li>understand the information conveyed by a truth-table</li><li>use truth-tables to determine whether a deductive argument is valid</li><li>identify quantifiers and categories</li><li>build a Venn Diagram for any statement using quantifiers or categories</li></ul><p><b>OPTIONAL READING</b>: If you want more examples or more detailed discussions of these topics, we recommend <em>Understanding Arguments</em>, Ninth Edition, Chapter 7. </p>
8 videos, 5 practice quizzes
  1. Video: Categorical Logic
  2. Video: Categories and Quantifiers
  3. Discussion Prompt: Share Your Thoughts: Categories and Objects
  4. Video: How Quantifiers Modify Categories
  5. Practice Quiz: How Quantifiers Modify Categories
  6. Video: Immediate Categorical Inferences
  7. Practice Quiz: Immediate Categorical Inferences
  8. Discussion Prompt: Share Your Thoughts: How Venn Diagrams Work
  9. Video: Syllogisms
  10. Practice Quiz: Syllogisms
  11. Video: Categories, Individuals, and Language
  12. Practice Quiz: Categories, Individuals, and Language
  13. Video: Venn Diagrams and Validity
  14. Practice Quiz: Venn Diagrams and Validity
  15. Discussion Prompt: Share Your Thoughts: What Venn Diagrams Can and Cannot Represent
  16. Video: Other Ways of Expressing A, E, I, or O Propositions
WEEK 3
Representing Information
<p><b>CONTENT</b>: This week we will teach you how to use the tools that you’ve learned about in the preceding modules in order to represent information. Information can be communicated in very different ways – by means of different languages or signaling systems – but no matter how that information is communicated, it can be important to use that information in reasoning. In this week, you will learn how to reason from information that is communicated directly by means of truth-tables or Venn Diagrams.</p><p><b>LEARNING OUTCOMES</b>: By the end of this week's material you will be able to: <ul><li>understand the information conveyed by a Venn Diagram</li><li>use Venn Diagram to determine whether a deductive argument is valid</li></p>
2 videos, 1 practice quiz
  1. Video: Reasoning from Venn Diagrams or Truth Tables Alone
  2. Practice Quiz: Reasoning from Venn Diagrams or Truth Tables Alone
  3. Discussion Prompt: Share Your Thoughts: Representational Formats
  4. Video: Different Ways of Representing Information
  5. Discussion Prompt: Share Your Thoughts: Information by Venn Diagram
WEEK 4
Catch-Up and Final Quiz
<p>This week gives you time to catch up and review, because we realize that the previous weeks include a great deal of challenging material. It will also be provide enough time to take the final quiz as often as you want, with different questions each time. </p><p>We explain the answers in each exam so that you can learn more and do better when you try the exam again. You may take the quiz as many times as you want in order to learn more and do better, with different questions each time. You will be able to retake the quiz three times every eight hours. You might not need to take more than one version of the exam if you do well enough on your first try. That is up to you. However many versions you take, we hope that all of the exams will provide additional learning experiences. </p>
    Graded: Final Quiz

    FAQs
    How It Works
    Coursework
    Coursework

    Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

    Help from Your Peers
    Help from Your Peers

    Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.

    Certificates
    Certificates

    Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.

    Creators
    Duke University
    Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world.
    Ratings and Reviews
    Rated 4.6 out of 5 of 123 ratings

    RD

    Pros: I found the content very interesting. And there's an analogy with digital design (Boolean Logic) where F=1 and T=0 and so &=AND gate; V=OR gate; biconditional=XOR gate. Pretty useful content. Shorter 4week course. Well explained.

    Cons: The exam is very hard. I dont see whats the point of making many & and V and conditional and biconditional together like a huge formula, it takes too much time the calculation. On Venn Diagrams when starts to become shaded and with crosses at the same time (using only 2 categories) I guess is not explained very well on the lectures.

    Comparison with MOdule I: I found this module less applicable on the daily-life, more theoretical (but easier).

    It's worthy every time anyway.

    Puni Puniglietto

    I loved to take this course.

    The professor is clever, funny and clear.

    However, maybe because of being English my second language, I found difficult to get some issues ( i.e. "speech act" ) or understand the nuances in some exercises regarding "speech act" and" suppressed premises" (particularly in the final quiz, the more difficult questions to me were about the "suppressed premises").

    So I would have liked that these harder issues have had found a clearer explanation during the lectures. Also in the final quizzes, it would have been useful giving the reason for the wrong answer (besides explaining the right one).

    In fact, the quizzes are useful both for testing our understanding the matter and for learning from our mistakes too. In fact, we learn in a different and deeper way from our mistakes. To explain the reason for the mistakes is a good way to teaching and learning.

    Although these notes, the course give enough awareness about our logical and linguistic skill and I'm going to take another one: "Think Again II: How to Reason Deductively". See you soon!

    ms

    Excellent !

    Euclides José Lima Velloso

    Amazing course, something utile for everyone.



    You May Also Like
    Duke University
    Think Again III: How to Reason Inductively
    1 course
    Duke University
    Think Again III: How to Reason Inductively
    View course
    Duke University
    Think Again IV: How to Avoid Fallacies
    1 course
    Duke University
    Think Again IV: How to Avoid Fallacies
    View course
    Duke University
    Think Again I: How to Understand Arguments
    1 course
    Duke University
    Think Again I: How to Understand Arguments
    View course
    The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Reasoning Across the Disciplines
    1 course
    The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Reasoning Across the Disciplines
    View course
    The University of Edinburgh
    Intellectual Humility: Theory
    1 course
    The University of Edinburgh
    Intellectual Humility: Theory
    View course
    Coursera
    Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education, partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online.
    © 2018 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved.
    Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play
    • Coursera
    • About
    • Leadership
    • Careers
    • Catalog
    • Certificates
    • Degrees
    • For Business
    • For Government
    • Community
    • Partners
    • Mentors
    • Translators
    • Developers
    • Beta Testers
    • Connect
    • Blog
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Tech Blog
    • More
    • Terms
    • Privacy
    • Help
    • Accessibility
    • Press
    • Contact
    • Directory
    • Affiliates