Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Day 6 - Informal Logic. Marked Assignment Diary Entry Fallacies

Here's your first marked assignment - when complete please submit to D2L and into the Dropbox as you did with the Video Responses.

Marked Assignment: Identifying Logical Fallacies in Written Text.

Logic/Politics Diary Entry Fallacies

You are to read the fictional teen diary entry below (the sarcasm and humour within the entry are intentional - hey, teens have it rough in the modern world!). There are ten (10) logical fallacies contained within the written text of the entry. You are to create a two-columned chart. In the first column list (by cutting and pasting) each of the logical fallacies you identify from within the diary entry. In the second column identify the categorical type the listed fallacy belongs to (e.g. appeal to ridicule, appeal to spite, etc.).

You will be awarded one mark for each correctly documented fallacy in column A and one additional mark for correctly identifying its corresponding category (the type of fallacy that it is) in column B, for a total of 20 possible marks.  

Please call your work, "Logic/Politics Diary Entry Fallacies" and drop it into the appropriate Dropbox.
My Diary Entry for December 22, 2015
This is an image of a girl sitting on the floor at an airport, leaning against her luggage
On our flight to Tahiti we had a five-hour layover in Vancouver. Since I was bored I decided to buy something to read. My mother suggested a history reference book would be interesting, but she knows nothing. How could she? She is lightning years removed from being a teen. I heard that Anita Moolah on the other hand had just written a book about getting her life back on track. That sounds so much more relevant to my interests. After all, Anita was, like the most happening teen idol of my adolescent years, so she would be an expert on quality living. I couldn't believe how in a lame, grand finale attempt to appeal to my sense of intellect, mom tried to convince me that generations of people long dead had more to reveal than a downtrodden, induced with woes, former pop star - "Yeah mom, like her tens of millions of dollars in music sales and court appearances hasn't given her a little more wisdom on the subject of life than your standard little 'white picket fence' existence."

Anyway while we were standing in line for my book mom had the nerve to suggest I was becoming mature enough to begin paying for some of the things I need. I was like thinking, "Hello Mrs. Blondie! Do I look like a wage earner? Mom needs to better understand that honest people are often poor. Like, Oh my Gosh, the only reason I even needed this charming little reading article was because, despite evidence to the contrary, I still find it hard to believe that increased social interaction between parents and their children can't be comparatively replaced by expensive alternative solutions. But instead I gave mom my most lovely, little child-like smile and said, "I was just thinking about how bored we'll be, cooped up like human cargo with thousands of other passengers. Who wouldn't provide some form of small offering of entertainment to help their adoring child pass the time? Please mom - Under similar circumstances I would do that for a child. Parents have always been providers. I truly believe that's a role you should assume as a parent." That last part was kind of like re-educating mom that if you believe in fictional bunnies while growing up you are more likely to possess a greater volume of chocolate on Easter morning.
For marking, I'll only assign 10 marks each in Knowledge and Thinking - this is meant to be a very quick assignment reviewing your ability to pick apart a set of arguments, simple stuff really, I'm sure you'll do well.  All the rest of your assignments have an extensive rubric to follow, not to worry.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Day 2 - Video Responses to Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics

We will watch these three videos (you can see the text of these talks (subtitles) by clicking the button directly below the video indicating "27 Languages") and take good notes.

Metaphysics (Dan Dennett)
Epistemology  (Marco Tempest)
Ethics (Paul Root-Volpe)

I'm trying to get a look at your writing so I suggest a couple of things to include in  your writing as follows:

  • Define each of the terms (Ethics, Metaphysics, Epistemology) in  your writing.
  • Use examples from the videos to illustrate and support your ideas.
  • Use examples from elsewhere in society to illustrate and support your ideas.
  • Use at least one quote from each video to help illustrate and support your ideas.
  • Use your own ideas about whether you agree or not with what the videos are showing and that is what should form the basis of your writing.
Please submit to the Dropbox (Under "Assessments") in the D2L version of this course.  You'll sign in just like you would on a school computer at: 

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Day 1 - Welcome to Philosophy!


This is ME and how happy I am that you have chosen this class!

PRE-CLASS Questionnaire

1.  Why study philosophy?
2.  How would you eat soup with a fork?
How would you listen to music if the stereo was stolen from your car?
What could you use to support a falling down bookshelf?
How could you get rid of rain if your wipers don't work?
3.  Why you need to think differently in order to achieve.
4.  An introduction
5.  One of the many philosophers we will study.  Welcome ARISTOTLE!
6.  How philosophy can save your life: one man's story.

COURSE OUTLINE