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, and it is offered at Baltimore, Lancaster, Los Angeles, and Saratoga Springs, and was also offered at Loudonville.

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."
• "If there is nothing to fear but fear itself, then women should not fear serial rapists."
• "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."
• "I saw you at that party the other night. Everyone there was doing crack. So tell me, how long have you been dealing?"
• "Native Americans are disappearing. Ralph is a Native American. Therefore, Ralph is disappearing."
• "So, how long have you been beating your wife for?"
• "After high schools introduced SAT prep, SAT scores declined 10%. Therefore, we should eliminate high schools."
• "If I cannot be killed by infinite ninjas, then I am alive after infinite ninjas killed me"
• "If I open the door and bash this poor little kid's head in accidentally, should I go to jail?"

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)]

LOGC.B.LAN.08.01 Quotes the unimitatable TA Charles "LOOOGGIIC B!!!!!! LEEEEEEEEETT'S GOOOOOO"
THE POWER THAT IS THE CLOCK, AND ITS LOVER, ERIK!

LOGC.B.LAN.08.2 Continues to quote Charles:
"Ain't no power like the power of logic, 'cause the power of logic don't stop!" (say what?)
"Ain't no power like the power of logic, 'cause the power of logic don't stop!" (can't hear you!)
"Ain't no power like the power of logic, 'cause the power of logic don't stop!" (oh baby!)
"Ain't no power like the power of logic, 'cause the power of logic don't stop!"

At LOS, the Logic Instructor, Brian Talbot, is famed for his Logic call, used at handoffs. It is often imitated, but never duplicated: "LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-(deep breath)-GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!" Every year, the Logic class also holds debates with the Ethics class. Ethics usually wins.

JHU Sesh 1 '08 Logic A taught by Bill McGeehan is known for its suggestiveness : B horseshoe J, PMS, and all those perverted contraception in schools/eugenics debates. This class also had a really cool TA Kurt Pfund, whom we all called Mr Tumnus because of his uncanny resemblance to McAvoy

LOU.08.1.LOGC, taught by Jim Davis (no relation to the cartoonist) and TA'd by Dan — later the TA for SAR.09.1.LOGC —, featured such memorable moments as

• Jim's divison of the class into the four Harry Potter houses.
• a debate over evolution's status as a scientific theory where the jury determined that evolution was, in fact, not a scientific theory.
• debates in groups with ETHC students first on capital punishment and then on human cloning (mostly uneventful), followed by a debate on the merits of pirates vs. ninjas.
• among many others.

SAR.09.01.LOGC.A Jim Davis is the best logic teacher in the world. He is the same Jim Davis who put his class into Harry Potter houses and switched them periodically. Harry Potter houses are groups of 2-3 people that work together during logic problems, and earn points for their house.

LAN.10.2.LOGC.C was taught by Dr. Bernardo "Scarface" Cantens and TA'd by Jacob "Hipster" Sparxx. Bern was a kind of awkward but a really fatherly guy so we all called him Dad starting the first day. He was new to CTY so we had to teach him about how the CTY classroom environment is different from his normal college classroom but he caught on quickly and was overall a fun/effective instructor. Sparxx, the TA, was basically the best TA ever. He always wore a straw hat he bought from some random woman in the mountains while hiking, jeans that were rolled up, and was basically the epitome of your typical hipster. Sparxx is known for being very profound for his age, sitting in strange positions, and being very good at yoga. As for the course, we learned a lot about evaluating arguments, differentiating between a valid and invalid argument, fallacies, different forms of logic, conditional and inductive proofs, and read from Hume the last week. The course material was overall very interesting and involved a LOT of philosophy. We also enjoyed listening to the words of the peculiar Gleb and watching Monty Python videos.

JHU.10.1. LOGC.A Taught by Bill McGeehan and TA Kurt Pfund, the class kept up the tradition of not just learning LOGIC, but SUGGESTIVE logic. "F, or G? ...Orgy!" -Alexandra E. "No, YOU'RE a fallacy!" -Ryder Aside from being perverted all the time, this class happened to be musically talented. Disney's "The Lion King" soundtrack was a favorite. They even wrote a song and performed a song dedicated to Logic A, entitled "Hey Logic A," which made Bill teary-eyed and received whoops and hollers from the audience on the last day.

JHU.10.2.LOGC Bill McGeehan taught this class, with TA Linda Kang (AKA Snuffy, because she has a stuffed Snuffy doll and a Snuffy T-shirt.) Once again extremely suggestive, this session brought us such jewels as...

• "Slave workers are often not paid..." -S.Kim
• "Don't climb the tree..." -K.Heinlein
• "Is that Leo...?" *SLAPS* -B. Mahadev, during break demonstrating independent eye movement
• "I will be a mother someday soon." -L

"YOU'RE PREGNANT?!?" -T "What? No! AHHHH!" *blushes* -conversation between TA Linda and T.King

• "Here, have a peach and taste the orgasm!" -B.M
• "GOODNIIIIIGHT BANGKOK!!" -C.Zhu
• "I'm the Spartacus of BLAMMO!" -D.Galvez
• "Camastres, Cesare, Darii, Ferio...uh, Cthulu?" *gets hit w/ paper balls* -A.Palacios
• "Are you calling me a MUTANT!?" -T.King
• "SNUFFY!!" -Everyone, upon seeing Kinda every day
• "Aw, C'MON!!! Do I really? ...Grrr... Fine." *gets on ground* "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!" -Linda
• "Caleb, stop throwing your sperm at Bella please." -B.M
• *slams fist on table* "That's a FALLACY!!" -D.Galvez
• "That's committing the fallacy of bull****." -T.King
• "Andrew, be quiet or we'll stuff you in a box and ship you to Bangkok." -B.M
• "Oh BABY!" -C.Zhu

LAN.11.2.LOGA Jacob 'Sparky' Sparks was the instructor and Joe Pulka aka Broseph, aka Jolka was the TA. They were both pretty awesome and let us listen to daft punk music in class. Brian and Jaya invented the I Theory. Our class was mostly squirrels of the ages of 12-13, but that did not stop us from being awesome. As it often happens when you put insane people in the same class (we pretty much all should've belonged in separate wards in a mental asylum), inside jokes ensued. Such as...

• "So meta-ethics is infibulation?" -Cherian
• "INCONCEIVABLE." -Angie
• "NO NO NO! TWO JALAPENOS, ONE STICK!" -Jessie
• "That's what the demon wants you to think!"

"Maybe you are the demon!" -Brian and Winston

• Dictionary wars: Yiran, Winston, and a few special appearances by 'the brick.'
• "SPLENDID!!!" -Abby
• "My friend is offering ONE...sexy picture of her clutching Strawberry kiwi lemonade to her bosom in exchange for ONE...order of korean noodles!" -Jessie and Abby
• "JOOOoOOOOOooOooooooOOOE!!" -Stephanie
• "I had to urinate on it" -Jessie
• "Clutch it! CLUTCH IT HARDER!" -Abby and Jessie
• "More than half of the people on the family tree have love children, and most of those are incestuous!" -Abby
• "Maybe your 'i' leaves your body and goes into the dream world at night!" *giggles all around the room* -Brian
• "That's what the demon WANTS you to think." -Brian, again
• "I really just wanna sit under this table right now..." -Sparky
• "You are the bastard son of _____ himself!!" -Yiran, Stephanie, and Abby
• "Where are my ko-re-an noodles!!" -Helen and Jessie
• "She threatened to STAB ME WITH A KIVO KNIFE!!" -Abby
• "Well, there's tater tots and chicken fingers and-" *guy in tight dress walks by* -Hema and Rebecca
• "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey Rebecca!" -Cherian
• "So, it's, like, your inner I-ness..." -Jaya/human Jukebox (and so the I Theory was born...)
• All hail the halo of communism and the egg of democracy!
• "Joe got some serious girl action last night!" *Joe turns red**Sparky diverts attention* -Winston

Et cetera. Basically, this class was the best thing ever.

JHU.11.2.LOGC Taught by the wonderfully politically incorrect Bill McGeehan and TA-ed by Meica Magnani. Her ever-present aviators were constant accessories in the classroom. This was the summer Kim Young-Chan, illegitimate son of Kim Jong-Il, entered our lives. See the Hall of Fame for more details about Young Chan the Hungriest Man. Also present in this class were The Triumvirate (Dixon, Muggo, & Mett), Arlex, Kevin the Sex Man, and a Swede, among others. Orgies were constantly present, as were discussions racism, pornography, prostitution, abortion, and anti-Semites. Best class ever. We went on to effectively rule the campus.

LMU.11.2.LOGC For around 9 years the Ethics class was undefeated. That is, until 11.2, when Logic finally came out victorious in one of the most surprising upsets LMU CTY has ever seen.

SAR.12.1.LOGC (B) This was an awesome class. Since there were an unusually large number of logic students, the class was divided into two classes: 'Logic A' and 'Logic B'. Logic B had the older kids, which meant we only had ten students , with Jim Davis and TA Matt Lutz, who by general consensus of the class was pretty much the most awesome TA ever. Logic A being sadly lacking in imagination, they kept their boring name of 'Logic A'. Logic B, however, being incredibly cool and imaginative, decided to rename the class 'The Fighting Mongeese', in reference to the Futurama ep. "The Farnsworth Parabox". There was also a call and response for our class: Jim would shout "FIGHTING MONGEESE!" and we would shout "AWOOOGAH!" back (it was very important that we say it as loudly as possible). The Fighting Mongeese had many adventures:

The Logic Dance! (Wedge! Horseshoe! Dot! Etc!)

At the ending ceremony for the class, every Fighting Mongoose who was there went down to the stage wearing a fake beard, and performed the Logic Dance.

The Board of Many Socrates: Emily Cambias started this, when she drew 'Gothrates' on the board when the class was reading Plato on Goth Day. A few days later, 'Hawkrates' and 'Spockrates' were added. This started the snowball rolling, and after a few days there were many, many Socrateses. Some notable ones were 'Ewokrates', 'Hammockrates', 'Rockrates', and 'Sockrates'. The defining characteristic of all of these drawings was that the object in question sported a beard.

"YOU'RE WRONG BECAUSE YOU'RE UGLY." This is a totally legitimate argument. "YELL AT THEM UNTIL THEY CRY. THEN YOU WIN." This is a totally legitimate debate strategy.

JHU.12.2.LOGC (B) JHU's Session 2 Logic Class was taught by Beau Branson, with TA Quentin Fisher, also known as "that than which nothing greater can be conceived." Like SAR, JHU also had an unusually large amount of Logic students and as such was split into two classes, with B being the older students. Our class consisted of two Canadians, a South Korean, and a Spaniard, as well as an Arizona girl who owned no shorts. The students were: Ethan Mok, Anita Shieh, Richard Pei, Jaeyong Park, Grace Hua, Joe Shin, Kelvin Zhu, Emma Morgan, Daniel Matsumoto, Quinn Matos, Alexia Junker, Olivia Ireland, Dani Dafcik, and Katie Ippolito.

List of things:

• No, no , NOOO. Of course he's not the boy's father. Look at the turn ups on his jeans!
• "I have only written one sentence, this is a catastrophe!" "YOU'RE a catastrophe!"
• 444444444444444 과학을 빌어 먹을! 444444444444444444444
• Witha
• $2.50 , good deal!
• ....potato?
• Katie's high-quality hugs
• richard falling off a desk and faceplanting on the floor (twice)

JHU.13.1.LOGC.B

This class was taught by Dan and TA'd by Peter. Oddly enough, the boy/girl ratio was off so there were five girls and ten boys. This did not stop everyone from socializing and generally being goofy. There were two organized debates at the end of the session over recreational marijuana and capitalism/socialism. From the class: -Trees are bad! -Cannibalism! -(various marijuana jokes) -There were plenty of alternative names used for marijuana, including but not limited to mujiwuji and mowwywowwy. Extra points for every word that wasn't "marijuana" were granted during the final debate, so serious (cough) research would be punctuated with random words like "mowwow". -One good memory was the complete and utter crushing of the Math Logic class in The Logic Game. The Logic Game was invented by Dan the Logic Teacher and the Math Logic teacher. It consists of lots of formal logic signs and resembles a board game, except all the markers are actually poker chips. The Logic class smashed the Math Logic class with a score of 58-27. The prize was two bags of Jolly Ranchers. -A game was invented during one of the class breaks- Tag Tog. It came into existence after some people were poking fun at a girl's (Reena's) British accent (falsely claiming that she pronounced "tag" as "tog"). The game was basically tag, but you could also "tog", which basically meant hitting people with a frisbee. This was probably the one and only time the entire class was up and running, as usually they spent their breaks doing separate things. - Once upon a boring evening session filled with proofs and refutations, someone (was it Josh?) was reading out bad pick up lines from his phone. Eventually the class went silent and he read out this gem: Are you a soldier? Because my privates salute to you. The entire class went even more silent, and then burst out into laughter. - Matt had an obsession with taking a banana out of the cafeteria and walking to class with it after lunch. Reena kept whacking it out of his hands and letting it fall to the floor, where it started to split. It then became mushy and gross and Dan (the teacher, not the kid) would force him to throw it out. One time before evening session, Matt threw it at Wyatt's head, where it began to split. Wyatt picked it up and threw it back, leaving a puke-like stain on Matt's shirt. Matt threw away the old banana and went to the bathroom before class to clean himself up. When he returned he had somehow acquired a second banana. It is still unknown where he got it. - The banana shenanigans ended with Matt collecting a banana from everyone in the class after lunch and then stuffing all the bananas in Wyatt's luggage.