UMass Philosophy 110: Introduction to Logic
Fall 2020 – Prof. Kevin Klement
Taught remotely
Course description and goals
An introduction to symbolic logic, including sentential and predicate logic. Its purpose is to familiarize you with certain formal methods for representing and evaluating arguments and reasoning. These methods can be used not only for philosophy, but for any subject matter. Like mathematics, the methods you will learn are highly abstract, formal and symbolic. If math can be tricky for you, be prepared to devote extra time to this course. This is an analytical reasoning (R2) course.
Contact information
Prof. Klement’s office is South College E319. Email: klement@umass.edu.
Website
The website for this course is located at https://logic.umasscreate.net/. You can also log in through the UMass Moodle LMS (https://moodle.umass.edu). There you can find interactive lecture notes, homework exercises, check your grades, and more.
Textbook
The textbook for this course is Gary M. Hardegree’s Symbolic Logic: A First Course. You can download a PDF of this text from our website.
Requirements and grading
Your final grade in the course will be determined by your scores on the following, each of which is worth a maximum of 100 points:
| Grade scale | |
| 380–400 pts. | = A |
| 360–379 pts. | = A− |
| 340–359 pts. | = B+ |
| 320–339 pts. | = B |
| 300–319 pts. | = B− |
| 280–299 pts. | = C+ |
| 260–279 pts. | = C |
| 240–259 pts. | = C− |
| 220–239 pts. | = D+ |
| 200–219 pts. | = D |
| 0–199 pts. | = F |
- Points earned for the online “credit exercises”
- Unit 1 exam
- Unit 2 exam
- Unit 3 exam A
- Unit 3 exam B
- Unit 3 exam C
Your final grade is based on the four highest of the above six scores. The lowest two are dropped, whatever they are. Therefore, your grade is based on a score out of 400 (see scale to the right).
Five of the six are exam scores. The Unit 1 and Unit 2 exams, and Unit 3 exam A will be administered at the end of each of these units. The Unit 3 exams B and C will be given during the final exam period, and will cover the same material as Unit 3 exam A.
You can also earn up to 100 points from online exercises. These are found on the course website along with the rest of the homework and are marked as “credit exercises” or “CE”.
A missed exam counts as zero points. If you are happy with your grade based on the credit exercises and first three exams, you may elect not to take Unit 3 Exams B and C. If you are not happy with this initial grade, you may attempt to do better by taking these two additional exams. It is not a good idea to skip earlier exams or neglect the credit exercises, especially since you can work on them until all possible points are earned.
Homework exercises
Recommended exercises are listed for nearly every class period. These fall into three categories: (1) textbook exercises, (2) practice exams and (3) credit exercises.
Textbook exercises and practice exams do not count directly towards your grade, but it is nonetheless imperative to gain experience with the kinds of problems you will encounter on the exams. The textbook exercises can be found at the end of each chapter of the textbook, and are given designations such as “1A” which means Chapter 1, Exercise A. Answers to them are also given in the book so you can check your work. However, I have also created online versions of them if you prefer to do them on the computer, and have the computer check your answers. (This is especially helpful for those problems where there are multiple correct answers, since the book lists only one.) Practice exams are only available online, but there is no harm in doing them on paper if you prefer.
You can earn points for the credit exercises if you log in to the course website and complete them there. Although they don’t give you hints like the other online exercises sometimes do, you may work on them as long as you like until you get every question right or the deadline passes. There are 10 sets, each of which is worth up to 10 points, for up to 100 total points maximum, which can be used as if it were an exam score. These must be completed by the time of the next exam after they are assigned for points to be awarded.
It is recommended that you do the online exercises on a traditional laptop or desktop computer rather than a smaller portable device. Use an up-to-date browser: Firefox or Brave is recommended.
Academic honesty
Academic honesty is defined in the University Academic Regulations document (page 5), available at http://www.umass.edu/registrar/sites/default/files/academicregs.pdf. Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses that strike at the very heart of academic life, and will result in serious penalties, including minimally (but not limited to) receiving an F in the course.
Policies
Common courtesy demands that you come to class on time, and refrain from leaving early without special permission. Phones must be turned off for the duration of class.
I would like to hear from anyone who has a disability and may require special accommodations regarding exams, note-taking or similar. Please obtain the appropriate paperwork from Disability Services and inform me far enough ahead of time to make the appropriate arrangements.
Schedule
Subject to change.
| Day | Material | Exercises |
|---|---|---|
| Tu Aug 25 | Course introduction | |
| Th Aug 27 | Chap. 1, §§1–9 | 1A, 1B, 1C |
| Tu Sep 1 | Chap. 2, §§1–11 | 2A, 2B, CE1.1 |
| Th Sep 3 | Chap. 2, §§12–13; Chap. 3, §§1–5 | 3A, 3B, 3C |
| Tu Sep 8 | Chap. 4, §§1–15 | 4A, 4B, CE1.2 |
| Th Sep 10 | Chap. 4, §§16–25 | 4C, 4D |
| Tu Sep 15 | Unit 1 Review | CE1.3, Practice Exam 1 |
| Th Sep 17 | — Unit 1 Exam — | |
| Tu Sep 22 | Chap. 5, §§1–8 | 5B |
| Th Sep 24 | Chap. 5, §§9–10 | 5C, CE2.1 |
| Tu Sep 29 | Chap. 5, §11 | 5D |
| Th Oct 1 | Chap. 5, §§12–14 | 5E, 5F, CE2.2 |
| Tu Oct 6 | Chap. 5, §§15–16 | 5G |
| Th Oct 8 | Chap. 5, §§17–20 | 5H, CE2.3 |
| Tu Oct 13 | Unit 2 Review | Practice Exam 2 |
| Th Oct 15 | — Unit 2 Exam — | |
| Tu Oct 20 | Chap. 6, §§1–12 | 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D |
| Th Oct 22 | Chap. 6, §§13–19 | 6E, 6F, 6G, 6H, CE3.1 |
| Tu Oct 27 | Chap. 7, §§1–12 | 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D |
| Th Oct 29 | Chap. 8, §§1–7 | 8A, 8B, CE3.2 |
| Tu Nov 3 | Chap. 8, §§8–10 | 8C, 8D |
| Th Nov 5 | Chap. 8, §§11–12 | 8E, 8F |
| Tu Nov 10 | Chap. 8, §§13–14 | 8G, 8H, CE3.3 |
| Th Nov 12 | Unit 3 Review | Practice Exam 3 |
| Tu Nov 17 | — Unit 3 Exam A — | |
| Th Nov 19 | Review | CE3.4 |
| Fr Dec 4 | — Unit 3 Exams B and C — | |