Logic: Principles of Reasoning

Logic: Principles of Reasoning, commonly shortened to Logic, is a Humanities course in the CTY program with no prerequisites. Its course code is LOGC.

Course Description

Logic: PoR, as opposed to Mathematical Logic, is a humanities course, centering on logical reasoning applied to writing and arguments. The main activities of the class usually include reading and discussing philosophy, debating (sometimes against Philosophy of Mind classes), and writing argumentative essays, with the main emphasis on making arguments logical and strong. Students in this class are also introduced to formal logic, at a level roughly equivalent to a college freshman-level course.

Class History

The CTY Logic course was designed and first taught by the great and honorable Jonathan Cohen in 1985 at Dickinson, and from 1986 to 1988 at Franklin and Marshall.

The Logic textbook generally remains the same through the years and is known to use odd analogies:

• "After taking LSD, Alice said she saw a flying saucer land in the parking lot of her local mall. Since Alice has a history of telling the truth, we can conclude that an alien spacecraft really did land in the parking lot." (LAN 05.2)
• "If there is nothing to fear but fear itself, then women should not fear serial rapists." (SAR 06.1)
• "On the evening of the fourth, Mr. Wilson went out onto the veranda to watch the fireworks go up in his pajamas. We therefore conclude that he had a very exciting evening." (LAN 06.2)
• "I saw you at that party the other night. Everyone there was doing crack. So tell me, how long have you been dealing?" (LAN 07.2)
• "Native Americans are disappearing. Ralph is a Native American. Therefore, Ralph is disappearing." (JHU 07.2)
• "So, how long have you been beating your wife for?" (JHU 07.2)
• "After high schools introduced SAT prep, SAT scores declined 10%. Therefore, we should eliminate high schools." (JHU 07.2)
• "If I cannot be killed by infinite ninjas, then I am alive after infinite ninjas killed me" (LMU 07)

LOGC.B.LAN.07.2 says:

• Intelligent design is a hamburger.
• God doesn't have to exist to not play dice.
• Kib's taters is holy.
• We don't believe in evolution.
• It's like finding ways to draw common sense.
• It's a vicious lack of cycle.
• Your mom's a fallacy!
• Enough said about Professor Conway...

LOGC.B.LAN.07.1 gossiped using formal logic while typing their dreaded opinion articles:

B ⊃ N/ B//N

F <3 L/L <3 E//F <3 E

(F <3 E) ⊃ (L ≡ JB)/F <3 E//L ≡ JB

[Note regarding validity of first statement: we proved that love is a transitive property (we being Emily, Larissa, and sort of Nixxi)]