Course Syllabus

PHIL 1250 Reasoning and Rational Decision-Making

Course Description

This course is designed to help students think through and reason about the information in the world around them using different logical and epistemic theories. These theories and concepts will improve students’ ability to understand and analyze this data so that they can better process and confront the myriad of different problems and issues that plague our contemporary technologically and statistically driven society.

Justification

The goal of this course is to introduce students to the different philosophical methods that can be used to process, understand, and think critically about the data and information that make up their world. All schools in the USHE system teach a course similar to Reasoning and Rational Decision Making (as Phil 1250). This course fulfills the HU GE requirement.

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. Students will engage with philosophical texts in the major areas of logic and epistemology, including deductive, inductive, and informal logic. They will also engage with texts and case studies in, but not limited to, the social, behavioral, physical, and life sciences.
2. A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. By reading a variety of logical and epistemic arguments as well as a variety of scientific and technological case studies students will be able to discuss and analyze the different problems, issues, and concerns that arise in these different situations as well as offer challenges to existing solutions and develop their own understanding and solutions to these problems and issues.
3. A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. This class is, at its core, interdisciplinary. It will start with a thorough discussion of logical systems as ways of assessing and constructing knowledge. The point is to then apply these tools to the world around them. Students will learn how to draw from philosophy, history, art, science, medicine, math, and/or engineering in order to construct answers and solve problems. The goal is to use logical and epistemic tools to discuss, analyze, and understand the human experience so that we can deal with current problems that we face as human beings, particularly those problems posed to the human experience by the rise and dominance of science and technology.
4. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. Students will demonstrate that they can think critically and analyze scientific and technological situations and problems to discuss the factual and normative components of these cases. Students will use these discussions to then develop and present their own arguments and assessments of the cases. Students will demonstrate the ability to reflect on, respond to, and provide solutions for the conundrums that face our contemporary society.
5. A student who completes the GE curriculum can communicate effectively through writing and speaking. Students will critically examine a variety of philosophical positions. They will present their ideas, analyses, and solutions clearly through oral presentations and written documents.
6. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason quantitatively.  This class includes a discussion of different logical systems. This will include a discussion of symbolic logic, either deductive, inductive, or both. This discussion of deductive logic, also called symbolic or mathematical logic, and inductive logic will improve student’s ability to reason quantitatively. It can do this by discussing validity and invalidity, truth tables, Venn Diagrams, proof systems, probability theory, Bayesian logic, rational choice theory, game theory, and decision theory.

General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes

1. Through a study of representative contemporary issues and accompanying texts and primary sources, students will be introduced to different logical and rational principles and methodologies, including, but not limited to, deductive logic, inductive logic, informal logic, and formal and informal fallacies. Students will learn how these methods apply to the world around them to inform and solve a variety of different problems that we face in our world. Through a study of representative contemporary issues and accompanying texts and primary sources, students will be introduced to different logical and rational principles and methodologies, including, but not limited to, deductive logic, inductive logic, informal logic, and formal and informal fallacies. Students will learn how these methods apply to the world around them to inform and solve a variety of different problems that we face in our world.
2. EXPLAIN: Explain how humanities artifacts take on meaning within networks or systems (such as languages, cultures, values, and worldviews) that account for the complexities and uncertainties of the human condition. Class discussion, assignments, and projects will allow students to demonstrate their ability to read critically in order to understand, explain, and apply logical and epistemic tools to real-world cases, problems, and situations.
   
3. ANALYZE: Analyze humanities artifacts according to humanities methodologies, such as a close analysis, questioning, reasoning, interpretation, and critical thinking. Students will learn how and when information, statistics, and data constitute knowledge and when and why information and statistics justify different beliefs and actions. Students will then apply these skills to the world around them by using the tools they developed to engage with the scientific, medical, and technological world they inhabit.
4. COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Compare and contrast diverse humanistic perspectives across cultures, communities, and/or time periods to explain how people make meaning of their lives. By reading and discussing the origins and historical development of our contemporary scientific and technologic society and the plurality of different logical and epistemic tools that allow us to understand and navigate that world, students will show that they can critically engage with the information, data, and statistics in the world around them so that they can better understand their lives and the nature of our current human situation.
5. APPLY: Using humanities perspectives, reflect on big questions related to aesthetics, values, meaning, and ethics and how those apply to their own lives.  Students will be able to use the logical and epistemic tools developed in this class to write about and analyze the technologic and scientific problems and dilemmas that they face as contemporary members of our society. In doing so, students will show that they can construct arguments that utilize the logical and epistemic tools discussed in class to develop strong arguments with textual and statistical support that show critical thinking and logical and epistemic nuance.

Course Content

Utilizing the pedagogical methods discussed, the class will cover a variety of logical methods, including deductive logic, informal logic, inductive logic, and the different theories of knowledge, justification, and inference therein. Course content will offer students the opportunity to see philosophical concepts and theories from various authors addressing and engaging with a wide set of questions, methods, issues, and problems.