Logic: Principles of Reasoning

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. It is a brilliant course and extremely educational.

However, the Logic textbook is known to use odd analogies, for example: "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)

"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 tell the truth, we can conclude that an alien spacecraft really did land in the parking lot." (LAN 05.2)

"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)

LAN Logic B 07.2 says:

• Intelligent design is a hamburger.
• God doesn't have to exist to not play dice.
• Kib's taters is holy.
• It's like finding ways to draw common sense.
• It's a vicious lack of cycle.
• Your mom's a fallacy!