MM
This course goes super in depth on how arguments work. I learned things in this course that'd I'd never heard of before and it gave me a more critical view on how people say things.
In this course, you will learn what an argument is. The definition of argument will enable you to identify when speakers are giving arguments and when they are not. Next, you will learn how to break an argument into its essential parts, how to put them in order to reveal their connections, and how to fill in gaps in an argument by adding suppressed premises. By the end of this course, you will be better able to understand and appreciate arguments that you and other people present.
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 1-5, 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.
MM
This course goes super in depth on how arguments work. I learned things in this course that'd I'd never heard of before and it gave me a more critical view on how people say things.
RH
This is a very very engaging and applicable course, and is truly presented with 10/10 efficacy! I couldn't be more sincere and adamant in my recommendation, no matter who you are or what you do.
AK
Many thanks, i have had fun in the course. Material was easy to comprehend and flow easy to follow . I am just giving it 4 stars, as i think more practical examples should be provided
RF
The course gives a clear technical insights with regard to analysis of arguments which will help in better understanding it thereby promoting learning also on how to construct one.
MT
Great course, I learned a lot from it especially deep analysis, checking arguments and rebuilding, Thank you very much, great presentation from the professor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
PP
An extraordinary course that would help to make the right decisions, convey your thoughts to others and thinking in a structured and organized way. Highly recommended for everyone!
DL
I found this course to be very interesting. I certainly gained a better understanding of arguments, my own shortcomings and steps I can take to improve/put into practice. Thank you.
DM
It was something completely new to me. I had a bit of a rough time understanding to begin with, but pushed through. Glad I did. I'll be continuing with the remaining four soon. Great stuff.
MR
I really like the course. It has built the foundation of speaking and argumentation for me. Professor Walter Sinnott teaches complex things in an easy and comprehensive manner which is admirable.
CW
I've taken several online courses on logic and argumentation. This one stands out by virtue of the professor's enthusiasm and clarity of explanations. Worth every minute I've spent on it.
VS
This course has helped me breakdown the structure of arguments and I think it is very useful if you struggle with essay writing as this course helps you understand the fundamentals of arguments.
TH
Not a bad course at all! Even though I didn't pay for the course, I still very much came away from it learning something. The proff is very easy to understand and makes it interesting.Thank you!
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I loved this course. The professor is fun and clear and intelligent; the course is complex enough to hold interest and applicable enough to every day life that it will always be useful to each and every person. I personally am a retired person living in "the sticks" of the south of France (Provence) with little access to university learning. I will forever be grateful to Coursera for bringing advanced learning into my living room!!! Thanks to Coursera and to Professor (Doctor) Walter Sinnott-Armstrong...
I do not want to rate this course at this stage but I would like to make the following comment in relation to the course resources and in particular the answers to the exercises in the optional text book.
For students who do not have a copy of the text book, providing answers to questions from the text book without showing the actual questions is not very useful and to be quite frank, ridiculous. I would like to think that the course designers would take some sort of appropriate action to remedy this.
How exactly this would be done is up to the course designers but I would suggest that another downloadable PDF document showing all the questions would be extremely useful and necessary.
I look forward to a response.
Regards, Trevor Farley
Great ideas and excellent material presented, but, they tend to repeat themselves and extend the videos too much, making them tiring, I believe that, making it more to the point, would be appreciated by most of the students.
I found this course very challenging as I find critical thinking very difficult. However this course was extremely rewarding and I will be taking the other three modules in the Think Again series.
I've taken several online courses on logic and argumentation. This one stands out by virtue of the professor's enthusiasm and clarity of explanations. Worth every minute I've spent on it.
Very good course and very humorous professor! Every day we are facing so many propaganda and misleading news from media, if you do not know how to draw valid and sound argument and make good reasoning, it will be easy for you to be misled. Taking this course helps you to distinguish good arguments from the bad ones, therefore, I strongly recommend everyone study this course if you want to be an independent and critical thinker!
This is a very very engaging and applicable course, and is truly presented with 10/10 efficacy! I couldn't be more sincere and adamant in my recommendation, no matter who you are or what you do.
This course was very informative! I would recommend doing the rest of the courses after you've finished this one, because this one is mostly philosophy and grammar of arguments.
The course material and the course itself is great. Very valuable information for someone in any career field. The teachers were nice. I unfortunately ended up having to drop the course a week in.
I was very disappointed that this course turned out not to be for me. The first couple lecture videos the instructor often pulled examples from physics, astronomy or other sciences to better explain the philosophical points he was reviewing. I am an English Literature/History gal myself and had NO IDEA what he was talking about.
It was so frustrating because I was always able to follow along with the instructor at first but every time he went to expand on his thoughts he COMPLETELY lost me and I suddenly had no idea what he was trying to say. After receiving a 33.3% on a quiz because I did not comprehend the definitions of some very easy vocab words I gave up.
Great course, great teachers, just be aware you may get really confused with his lectures if you are not familiar with basic high school/college level science.
I thought this course was about understanding arguments/disputes/how people think etc. NOT linguistics and grammar/syntax
I found this course very challenging as I find critical thinking very difficult. However this course was extremely rewarding and I will be taking the other three modules in the Think Again series.
Excellent course, extremely worthwhile and very challenging for me. I used this course to help with my logic training for LSAT. I will be continuing on to complete all parts of the full course.
Interesting course. It seems to me that we have been learning to play scales before going into music, or learning the names of the letters before learning to read. I wonder how much of all this word by word analysis is useful in real life, real arguing. It is interesting, but it also adds to the difficulty and prompts abandon of the course. Like having to memorize the Periodic Table of Elements before going into the wonders of Chemistry. The Suzuki Method in music or the Silabario Matte (to learn reading in Spanish, starting directly with basic words like "ojo"="eye"), show that starting with structural analysis it isn't the only way to learn things.
Really gets into the semantics here which I wasn't expecting, not quite the course I went in for.
This course has helped me breakdown the structure of arguments and I think it is very useful if you struggle with essay writing as this course helps you understand the fundamentals of arguments.
Explains very simple things in a complicated and repetitive way.
Think again of having this course simplified and delivered to students in their early years of education. Elementary school if possible. Doing so would have a positive effect of the future of humanity in avoiding conflicts as this course have the preliminary information for a critical and healthy mind
This is a very hard course but also very rewarding. It's average Joe's antidote to chaos in a world of fake news.
the final test was a little bit difficult!
Ack! I could not listen to these guys for more than 30 seconds without wanting to throw a cat out of a window. They might have something to say, but I will never hear it.