Think Again: How to Reason and Argue

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Free Online Course: Think Again: How to Reason and Argue provided by Coursera is a comprehensive online course, which lasts for 12 weeks long, 5-6 hours a week. The course is taught in English and is free of charge. Think Again: How to Reason and Argue is taught by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Ram Neta.

Overview
  • Reasoning is important.  This course will teach you how to do itwell.  You will learn some simple but vital rules to follow in thinkingabout any topic at all and some common and tempting mistakes to avoid inreasoning.  We will discuss how to identify, analyze, and evaluatearguments by other people (including politicians, used car salesmen, andteachers) and how to construct arguments of your own in order to help youdecide what to believe or what to do. These skills will be useful in dealingwith whatever matters most to you.

Syllabus
  • PART I: HOW TO ANALYZE ARGUMENTS

    Week 1: How to Spot an Argument
    Week 2: How to Untangle an Argument 
    Week 3: How to Reconstruct an Argument 
    Quiz #1: At the end of Week 3, students will take their first quiz. 

    PART II: HOW TO EVALUATE DEDUCTIVE ARGUMENTS

    Week 4: Propositional Logic and Truth Tables 
    Week 5: Categorical Logic and Syllogisms 
    Week 6: Representing Information
    Quiz #2: At the end of Week 6, students will take their second quiz. 

    PART III: HOW TO EVALUATE INDUCTIVE ARGUMENTS

    Week 7: Inductive Arguments 
    Week 8: Causal Reasoning 
    Week 9: Chance and Choice 
    Quiz #3: At the end of Week 9, students will take their third quiz. 

    PART IV: HOW TO MESS UP ARGUMENTS

    Week 10: Fallacies of Unclarity 
    Week 11: Fallacies of Relevance and of Vacuity 
    Week 12: Refutation 
    Quiz #4: At the end of Week 12, students will take their fourth quiz.

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